1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Polishing the Bow Rub Rail

It takes pretty much a full day to sand and polish each 12′ stick of stainless rub rail, but I’ve got most of the pieces done. The only ones remaining are the V-shaped one at the bow and a 7′ long piece that for the life of me I can’t find. The pictures from late 2007, when the refit began, show there were rub rails all the way around. Hopefully, that last one will show up in my garage before long. If anybody in the Mid-Atlantic region has some spare 1″ rub rail, please let me know in the comments below.

Anyway, I made another polishing jig that I thought would speed up the process for the V-shaped bow rub rail. There were a lot of scratches there, presumably from the 6′ chain on the anchor rode. Which has me thinking I need to make a bow pulpit/roller so I can raise and lower the anchor easier and without damaging the shiny paint and aluminum. All in due time…

Good news!

The uninsured boat that exploded next to mine, damaging the tent, my new Awlgrip paint, and blowing out a window in 2015 finally got hauled away. It was still there on the day I polished the bow rub rail, then gone the next. Good riddance to bad rubbish, if you ask me.

Two jigs to polish the bow rub rail

Lots of 1970’s paint residue and staining on the stainless

Then there are the scratches and gouges…time to break out the sander

First, I remove the scratches, paint residue, and stains with 150 grit

It was around this time that I realized two jigs were going to make the process longer than just one. While using two jigs allows me to clean up the top edge, which has lots of paint residue on it, I have to do the bottom edge separately after flipping the rail. Then it occurred to me that the KISS method (Keep It Simple, Stupid) was the way to go.

Turns out one jig works best

With one leg of the rail on the ground, the portion attached to the jig is at the perfect angle to sand and polish the face and both top and bottom sides in one go. I’ll just do all of the sanding and polishing on each leg separately.

After one pass with 220 grit , I follow up with 320 Wet or Dry and a dab of water

Next I hit it with 400 grit

Next is 600 grit, where the shine finally starts to come out

1200 grit makes it shinier still

I’ve had this stuff sitting in a drawer for 10 years!

The final sanding is done with 1500 grit.

The first polishing pass with black ebony compound

Wrap up the buffing with brown Tripoli and then white diamond compounds

Gouges at the bow? What gouges at the bow?

In the pic above, I’d finished the sanding course with 1500 grit. Even without polishing, it’s a lot shinier than the rail was before I started.

First buffer pass with black ebony compound, then brown Tripoli

Final pass with white diamond compound

And that’s a wrap!

Speaking of wrap, notice that in the pix above I’ve wrapped my buffer adapter (a commonly available 5/8″-11 coupling nut) and the bolt that holds it all together with masking tape. This acts as a pad so that when (not if) the buffer slips off the surface I’m polishing, the tape protects the surface from the rapidly rotating steel. I also double up the buffing wheels, which gives me more polishing surface to work with and seems to keep the pads on the stainless. With just one wheel, it was slipping off pretty regularly.

Well, until I find that other piece of stainless rub rail, I’m done polishing outdoors at the boatyard. I still have to polish the stanchion poles, but I’ll be doing that over the winter in my garage.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Exhaust Showerhead Parts

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Polishing Even More Stainless

Bad news: my boatamalan* painter has gone off the grid. He came by the tent a month ago and we talked about next steps for the v-berth head. He was going to come by that Thursday and get to work. But when I arrived on the weekend, it was clear he hadn’t come by. Since then, he hasn’t responded to phone calls or text messages, and his coworkers have indicated that he doesn’t come to work regularly anymore. I know he’s been a disgruntled employee for a while now, and for good reasons by the sound of it, but he’s also had health problems. Since he doesn’t respond, I have no idea if he quit his job or is in the hospital. I haven’t given up on him yet, but for now all paint operations are suspended indefinitely.

* Boatamalan: portmanteau indicating highly skilled boat workers of Central American origin. They’re actually from Honduras, but Boatamalan rolls off the tongue better.

In the meantime, I’ve been polishing stainless…lots and lots of stainless…and also getting the glass installed in the portholes. On the stainless, it’s not just a trivial matter of making things pretty. Each rub rail and vent involves many screw holes and other openings into the boat, so they’ve got to be installed before I can even wash the dust off the outside. I’ve got the process pretty much nailed down, but each 12′ rub rail takes about 6 hours to polish, and more complicated pieces take even more time.

All the big trees around the tent have been removed

The tree removal crew got rid of the rotten old trees next to the tent without causing any damage. That’s pretty amazing considering how many big limbs were hanging over the tent. The tent’s a lot brighter inside than it used to be. In summer, it’ll be hotter, too. Gotta get this thing done…

9 portholes are ready to install, 5 to go

Lower rub rail is 16′ long, with a bend near the end

Two polishing jigs help hold it in position

The floppy end is hard to polish

2 screws and a broken board stabilize the floppy end

First, sand lightly to clean the surface and identify scratches and gouges

Use 150 grit to remove scratches and gouges

Next, go to 220 grit

Next, ramp up to 320 wet or dry paper dipped in water

Then 400 grit wet or dry

Followed by 600 grit wet or dry

Then 1000 wet or dry

1200 wet or dry

And finally 1500 wet

After sanding with 1500 grit, the stainless is pretty shiny. Hitting it with the buffer really knocks it home. There are three courses for buffing, first using black emory, then brown tripoli, and finally white diamond compounds.

That’s some good lookin’ stainless

8 hours later…Shiny!

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Engine Room LED Lighting