1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Re-skinning Tent Model XXX (for the last time?)

With the damage finally repaired from the big 2018 Nor’easter, I spent four days spread over a couple of weekends transforming and reskinning Tent Model XXX. The transforming part involves adjusting the height of the roof line, which had to be raised so the crew could fix gouges and re-paint the nonskid and Awlcraft 2000 shiny paint on the hard top. A lower roof line makes for a smaller structure that doesn’t catch wind quite as much. It’s our sincere hope that this is the last time I ever have to reskin this tent…time will tell. And for a little retrospective, check out the history of tent building over the course of this project.

Step One: roll out the top skin

Shrink wrap is heavy stuff. That 149′ roll weighs 210 pounds and it’s slippery as an eel. The boat’s 46 feet LOA, but the tent’s closer to 52. And the top skin has to go all the way from the front to the deck level at the stern. Previously I’ve lifted the skin up to the back end of the hard top straight off the roll, then tossed the leading edge over each frame while pulling more up from ground level. That reduces waste, but it’s a lot of work for an aging geezer. So this time, I’m cutting the top skin off the roll and schlepping the whole thing up the ladder. It’ll sit on the aft deck until I”m ready to spread it out from the top.

Next, start cutting off the starboard wall skin

She sure looks better from outside the tent.

…and then hang the new wall skin

You wouldn’t know it from the pictures, but it was scorching hot that day. The humidity in the Mid-Atlantic is bad enough during summer, but I was racing against the shadow of the tent as it grew smaller and smaller. Around 1:30pm, the sun is dead overhead and there’s no getting away from it. Fortunately, I’d finished hanging the starboard skin by then.

Next, the port side

Off comes the plastic

Signs of the Nor-easter’s power show up in broken scaffold framing

That piece of 3/4″ marine plywood wasn’t directly load bearing. I used it as a cross brace for the scaffolding to keep it square, so all it would normally ever be subject to is push-pull forces. But once the Nor’easter ripped off the big overhead vent, it left a gaping hole in the roof that the wind came through, providing lift to the structure enough to move the nose of the tent over 8″ or so. Something had to give, and that ‘something’ was the cross braces.

Another plywood cross brace snapped clean

The port wall skin is off

I don’t know if you can see it in the pic above, but the front of the tent was moved  over about 8″ from the storm. The uprights are all square to the ground, then they take a lean around the front salon window. To fix the scaffolding would require major disassembly and rebuilding of Tent Model XXX, so I’m going to gamble a bit and leave it as-is. The scaffolding is still solid and the exterior paint work is basically done. I just need it to hang on for another year or two.

Starting to hang the new skin

Bright and early the next morning

Today is Top Skin Day!

Top skin cut off, with frames up high

The top skin plastic was loaded with nonskid overspray. It’s very abrasive stuff, so I had to be very careful when pulling the plastic off the top.

Frames adjusted down

The boat looks pretty good from this angle!

That toe rail looks great in the sun!

Ready to drape the top skin

Clamps hold the plastic in place in a few spots

Next day, the top skin gets attached to the sides

First, use the propane heat gun to attach the panels, then cover the joint with preservation tape

I can only do about four feet of joint at a time. So I climb the ladder, work the heat gun, tape the joint, climb down, move the ladder, and repeat…and repeat…and repeat.

Next, a batten gets screwed into the board backing each joint

A few years ago, I figured out that I could extend the life of the tent skin by about 2x by using battens on each joint. That approach really helps keep the joint together, even if the tape and welded joint lose their bond.

Last step: shrink the side wall plastic

I was getting seriously sick of climbing that ladder.

Next, I did the back panel and port side

There’s nothing quite like working a propane heat gun on a 90° day.

Gotta hurry up…the sun’s going down

I really, really hate that ladder.

End of the day, the top is joined to the sides

My buddy’s outboard is in the way, so I can’t shrink the front

My buddy is doing a complete refit on a 25′ center console, and he was concerned about somebody stealing his outboard. So he put it near the tent, where the passive infrared alarm sensors keep a watchful eye out. Unfortunately, it’s in the way now that I’m reskinning the tent.

Next day, I shrunk the top a bit theninstalled the vent

When the big Nor’easter came along, it ripped the vent fan assembly off the roof, which left a big, gaping hole in the top plastic. So even though I like the idea of a roof vent to get rid of summer heat that basically turns the tent into a land-locked hot air balloon, I’m not cutting any more holes in the roof. Instead, I relocated the vent assembly to the side of the tent. To do that, I had to attach some 2×4 framing to the PVC pipes.

That’s ugly, but it works very well

Rain clouds were coming as I finished the battens

The starboard side is looking good

The little porch roof makes a big difference on rainy days…and that’s a wrap

Without the little porch roof in place, water runs down the tent skin and inside through the door opening. It makes a big difference having that in place.

It took several hours to fold up and dispose of the old shrink wrap and get the area back in order. The marina owner has been very understanding through all of this, and I do my best to keep things neat.

As I was driving away it started raining and was pouring buckets by the time I got home. I have to say, I was beat. It’s hard work reskinning the tent. But until the boat is weatherproof, it’s essential to keep it covered. The V-berth is weatherproof, since I installed the deck hatch. I’ve got the four salon bilge vents done, which makes the salon weatherproof. There are four more bilge vents in the aft stateroom that need to get done, and I have to install the swim platform. Once that’s done and I figure out what to do about the porthole seals, it will be weatherproof…after I have the aft deck canvas done.

There’s still a ways to go. But I believe I can get it all done before this tent needs reskinning again. Let’s hope this is the last time.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Back Into The Starboard Salon Cabinetry

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Tent Model XXX 3

With the vapor barrier between the gravel boatyard lot and the tent envelope, it’s much, much drier inside. Tent Model XXX is working out very well. I got the top frames re-positioned and the top skin on while the weather was nice and the wind was light. Booyah.

When I was last at the tent, the skirt was ready for shrinking

For the next step, I cut off the roof shrink wrap film and adjusted the top frames

The roof for Tent Model X was low over the cabin top but high over the aft deck hardtop so we could repair the hardtop and replace the windshield. Both the hardtop and the windshield needed work because of the bastard thieves who stole my stuff back in May 2014. With the hardtop work done and winter coming, I’ll drop the roof height there and raise the height over the cabintop. I need to do that because when the 34′ Searay gas boat next to mine exploded in July 2015, shrapnel from it damaged my paint…repairing that means I need scaffolding again. I can’t get a break!

Roof frames adjusted…ready to pull plastic

Lifting the shrink wrap for the top skin is heavy work!

Once I pull the shrink wrap up from ground level, over the back frames, and onto the hardtop, I walk it forward, tossing it over the frames all the way to the nose. This is definitely young man’s work.

Fortunately, there was zero wind

I used small clamps to hold the edge of the plastic tight at the joint where the top skin meets the side skirt. Next, I screwed a line of battens around the joint and trimmed the plastic to fit, leaving enough material for me to weld the two sheets of film together.

Battens are mostly done as the sun goes down

Rain made a big belly out of my tent!

I hadn’t shrunk the plastic yet, so when it rained a pocket of water collected over the hardtop. No harm, no foul though…I just pushed up and the water ran down the sides. Gotta get the plastic shrunk before it takes a beating.

Climb ladder, weld plastic, tape plastic, screw batten, descend ladder, move ladder, repeat

I use my heat gun and shrink wrap tape to weld the two panels together, then I screw a line of battens over the welded joint. This approach has worked well and held up to snow storms and hurricanes even though for Tent Model X I only used battens every few feet. For Model XXX, the battens are pretty much continuous all the way around the base of the skirt and at the joint above.

Almost done…new door cover looks better than the old one

I finished shrinking the plastic the next day.

Tent Model XXX is done!

Hinged front door is much better than the old zippered one

The small breaks between the battens top and bottom are where the upright frames overlap. Otherwise, the battens are nearly continuous, and that’s keeping things nicely tensioned…far better than Model X with fewer battens.

Nice, dry space for my ShopSmith

Using old shrink wrap as a vapor barrier has been a HUGE improvement over Tent Model X. Some water vapor still manages to get up inside the tent, but it’s noticeably much drier inside. Now, if only I could get rid of the surface rust on the iron parts of my ShopSmith. I figure I’ll think of them as battle scars once the refit is done.

That’s a wrap for Tent Model XXX. It’s looking really good so far. Even after shrinking the plastic a week ago, it’s still tight as a drum. I’m about as ready for winter as I’ll ever be.

Next up on our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Making a Data Inlet

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Tent Model XXX 2

I got the vapor barrier installed under the boat and the uprights and scaffolding positioned on one side of the boat in my last article on Tent Model XXX. Now I need to get the other side done and lift the skirt/wall shrink wrap plastic into place.

Dawn Breaks on Tent Day 2

Explosion damage from the Searay that blew up

The tent frames are broken here, and the side and top skins got slashed by flying shrapnel. Even the top of the top skin got slashed by shrapnel that flew way up above the tent, then crashed back down on top of it.

First, cut down the old plastic, move the uprights, and add a layer of vapor barrier

The old skirt plastic makes a great vapor barrier, and it’s the perfect size to cover just past the keel to the edge of the new tent footprint.

Convert the uprights from “3rd leg” to scaffolding version

Position 2″x12″ scaffolding boards, then screw in the skirt strips along the top

I use separate pieces of shrink wrap for the skirt/walls and the top. Welding two pieces of shrink wrap together and taping while the plastic is hot makes a pretty strong joint, but eventually they fail if they’re not reinforced with wooden battens. I installed battens every 3~4 feet on Model X, but I eventually learned that it was a mistake not to use continuous battens all the way around. When I shrunk the tent, the plastic was nice a tight for a few days, but then it stretched at the screw holes in the battens and got kind of floppy. It got even looser when snow loads and wind had worked on it for a year. So for Tent Model XXX, I’m tying the top of all of the uprights together with strips of scrap 1/2″ plywood, and I’ll use continuous battens around the bottom of the skirt and over the top of the joint between the skirt and the top skin.

Roll out the new 26′ shrink wrap all the way to the front

In the picture above, you can see where the Searay’s hull blew apart from the explosion. That’s in addition to the hull to deck joint being blown out all the way around.

Slice the 26′ shrink wrap at the center for a 13′-wide sheet, and get ready to lift.

The sun’s going down…gotta get on it!

A batten or two on the nose and the bottom, and clamped along the top…time to go home

Dawn Breaks on Tent Day #3

What a mess! Time for some house cleaning

Secured with some battens, the skirt is 70% done …but the sun is going down!

Slice off the old skirt and get ready to hang the new one

I have to leave the top part of the old skirt in place because it’s fastened to the tent’s 1-1/2″ PVC pipe rafters. Without that, the top skin would fly away with a puff of wind. Because the old plastic is covered with grit, it can cause serious damage to the paint if the plastic is allowed to rub up against it. This all makes the process more complicated and labor intensive, but there’s only so much I can do in a day.

End of Day 3, the skirt is pretty much ready for shrinking

By splitting the 26′ shrink wrap, I was able to do the 12′ high skirt with practically no waste. Next time, I’ll finish up the battens, then cut off the top, reposition the rafters, and get the new shrink film top sheet installed.

Next up on our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Tent Model XXX 3

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Tent Model XXX

I hadn’t planned to still be in the boatyard this winter, but the 34′ Searay that exploded next to my Roamer in July 2015 threw me completely off schedule. In addition to blowing out a window and damaging my brand new paint, the explosion also shredded my tent and broke a few frames. With winter coming, I’ve got to once again remodel the tent into the version with scaffolding going around the perimeter so the paint can be repaired, and then I’ve got to put a new top on it. I’ve also got a few more tweaks I  came up with that should make Tent Model X even better than it is already. So I’m now calling it Tent Model XXX.

I know…it’s goofy naming tents, but with all of the exploding boats, thieves, fabricator incompetence, and window problems I’ve been having, I’ve got to get a chuckle in where I can. 😉

I learned way back when I started this project that poorly made boatyard tents can take more time to fix over and over again than just doing it right and making a strong tent from the get-go. My article on all of the various tents I tried before settling on the current one–Tent Model X–explains the evolution of the design. Though it would be nice to just make one tent and call it done, the modular design makes it fairly straightforward to convert it from a tough winter tent that can withstand a snow storm to a giant paint booth that can hold up to hurricanes.

The basic tent upright…inspired by the pyramid glyph in ancient Egyptian

12′ and 8′ 2x4s are screwed together to make the basic upright.

3/4 plywood triangles add stability

“3rd leg” stabilizes the upright against wind and tension from the shrink wrap skin

I use the 3rd leg version when I don’t need scaffolding. It makes a tent that’s just a bit wider than the beam of the boat, which is good in winter when snow loads are a concern. Smaller roofs have smaller snow loads.

In “scaffolding mode,” height and width of the scaffolding are easily adjustable

I’ve been using these uprights for five years, and they’re holding up well. Time to swap out the old shrink wrap film and change the tent from 3rd leg to scaffolding mode.

Dawn breaks on Tent Transformation Day 1

One thing to note in the picture above is that there are four exhaust fans running near the top of the tent. Like many boatyards, my tent is sited on gravel and it is near water. The surface of the gravel dries out during the day, but dig down a couple of inches and the gravel is always wet from water vapor leaving the water table and condensing on the gravel on its way to the atmosphere above. When I put a plastic film over the top of my tent frames, it captures all of the water vapor inside. Without the fans running, my tent drips like a rain forest. So one of the improvements I’m going to do in the transformation from Tent Model X to Model XXX is to re-use old shrink wrap as a vapor barrier under the boat from stem to stern.

Re-using last year’s clear shrink wrap as a vapor barrier

Scrap pieces of 2×4 and plywood hold down the edges of the shrink wrap all around the perimeter.

Every scrap of plastic sheeting gets layered across the gravel

With the boat already blocked, I can’t just lay out a single continuous sheet of plastic. So instead, I put layer after layer of plastic sheeting under the boat, with scraps of wood holding everything down. Most of the water vapor should be stopped by the first layer, but each subsequent overlapping layer will help. Needless to say, the best approach would have been to lay out a sheet of plastic in the shape of the footprint of the tent structure, then block the boat and build the tent from there. Hopefully I’ll never need to do this again, but maybe this information will help a reader of this article who is similarly afflicted with a big boat refit and needs to make his own tent.

July 2015 explosion damage to the tent skin

That Frankenstein-looking stitching on the top skin was where I repaired the plastic after it was blown apart by the exploding Searay. There’s no way that repair will hold up to a snow storm.

Remove battens from the sides and bottom of the skirt and start slicing

After the theft in May 2014, I’m very leery of just taking down the old tent and building a new one, since doing that would leave the boat wide open to intruders. I’ve got great alarm systems on board now, but I’m a fan of “out of sight, out of mind.” So I’ll start by relocating the uprights and replacing the skirt plastic that makes up the walls of the tent. Then I’ll cut off the top, reposition the top frames, and reskin the roof.

Good looking Awlgrip paint job!

Disconnect uprights from 1-1/2″ PVC pipe roof frames and move outwards

Leaving the PVC roof frames in place will hold up the old roof skin while I relocate the uprights and reconfigure them for scaffolding. Fortunately, we got a warm spell with zero wind while I was doing this. Finally, the goddess of the seas is smiling upon me. Either that, or the bitch is setting me up for another zinger like she’s done so many other times on this project. 🙂

Reconfigured for scaffolding, and note that vapor barrier all around

Access door zipper is worn out

Zipper doors are fine for shrink wrapped boats that are visited occasionally over a winter, but they suck for a big project like this. This zipper door at the front of the tent is how I access my ShopSmith Mark V table saw/bandsaw/sanding station/router/shaper/planer, so I’m going to use a hinged door here instead.

End of Day One

Uprights are repositioned and skirt framing is done

I used strips of scrap 1/2″ marine plywood to tie the tops of the uprights together. They follow the shape of the gunnel and provide a top attachment point for the walls/skirt sheeting, which I’ll install next. But it’s been a long day, so that’ a wrap for now.

Next up on our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Tent Model XXX 2

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Transforming the Tent (once again)

Back in May 2014, some lousy bastards came on my boat in the middle of the night and cleaned me out. They took practically every tool I owned. They grabbed all of the materials on the boat, including gallons of epoxy, cases of tape and sandpaper, leftover Awlgrip products from the paint job. And they took all of the parts that weren’t bolted down, including new stainless strainers, shaft couplers, the stuffing boxes, and other parts I needed to complete the installation of my Cummins engines. The also took OE Chris Craft parts that haven’t been made in many decades, like all of the chromed bronze pieces on the exterior and various aluminum extrusions. My guess is that the metal went to the recyclers, since bronze was worth ~$2.70/lbs in May 2014 and aluminum was around 80 cents a pound

Fortunately, between my homeowner’s and boat insurance policies, everything was covered except for my rather large deductibles. Because there were two insurance companies involved, there were two claims, so I got stuck with deductibles for both. Still, given the magnitude of the loss, I’m very glad to have had insurance. I replaced all of the tools over the course of several months last year; my homeowner insurance provider was very quick in settling the claim. The boat insurance provider was a bit more challenging because I had trouble completing the claim. The new parts were easy enough to document and provide replacement prices for, but the OE parts were very difficult, especially the aluminum extrusions for the windshield frame and the drip rail around the hard top.

I eventually decided to have  fabricator make a new windshield frame, and he got started on that back in October 2014. He’s still not done with it though, and I’m once again getting nervous about my choice of a fabricator. The drip rail was more challenging, but we finally came up with a solution that involves breaking open the brand new Awlgrip paint on the hardtop and applying fiberglass to the unfinished seam of the hardtop perimeter.

Since we’re back to doing paint work, Tent Model X, which over years of trial and error (some of which were monstrosities) has become the best and most versatile boat shed/paint booth in the universe ;-), needs to once again be converted to a paint booth.

Dawn breaks on Tent Model X — survivor of the brutal winter of 2014-15

It ain’t pretty, but it’s perfectly functional.

Off with the old shrink wrap top

The battens (wooden strips secured with screws) at the seams and at regular intervals around the outside are  the key to a large shrink wrap tent that can take abuse.

Take off only what’s necessary and leave the rest untouched

Next, bump out the sides and raise the top frames

Bump out the sides far enough to make stable scaffolding part of the structure

Lift the new plastic up, up, UP over the top frames

Add additional lumber frames as necessary

The better the fit, the stronger the structure

Ditto for the stbd side

As the sun sets, don’t forget to add padding to every corner the plastic will contact

Some time around midnight, the new top plastic is on, battened, and shrunk

Done

Actually, not done. Before leaving for the night, I reset all of the passive infrared motion sensors and motion-activated video cameras in and around the tent (just in case the thief bastards come back), then set the alarm and went home.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the Galley Bulkhead

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: The Boatyard in Winter…2014

It’s been six years since we first started this refit of our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46. The winter of 2008 wasn’t too bad, from what I remember. 2010 was a humdinger, because that was the year of the great Mid-Atlantic snow storms. That was during the unfortunate paperwork SNAFU, when I thought I’d never get the boat titled. Snowmageddon is what they called it, and it pretty much shredded the shrinkwrap tent I’d left the boat in…three feet of snow will do that to a “temporary structure.” But in all of these winters and all of these tents, never before have I experienced a winter as nasty cold as 2014.

Fortunately, Tent Model X had the benefit of all of my years of experience making tents that were destined to fail, sometimes spectacularly. It took every dump of snow on the chin and shrugged it off. Unfortunately, it’s beyond my willpower to get enthusiastic about working in an unheated, uninsulated aluminum boat in an unheated, uninsulated tent when it’s 4° F outside and blowing 25 knots out of the WNW. We’re finally past that brutal cold, though, and heading rapidly toward spring. Time to get back to work!

25° F can make any boatyard peaceful

I’ve always liked the boatyard in winter. It’s usually dead quiet except for the clanging halyards on sailboats. But when the high temperature for the day doesn’t go above 25°, even I’m hesitant to get in the truck and drive an hour each way to the yard. The days are already short enough, but when you add in time to let the temp come up just a bit and can only work so many hours before you start freezing up, it’s hardly worth the trip.

Sometimes, it’s worth it though

Even though some of the trips to the yard aren’t especially productive because it’s so cold, it gives me time to stare at what lies ahead and think about how I’ll accomplish certain tasks. The biggest challenges on the horizon are to get the prop shafts and engine installed, and I’m STILL working on resolving some issues with the windows.

Setting up shop under the bow

One of the plywood battens going around the inside of the tent at the deck level failed just above where the door is. The plywood snapped, so the plastic is a bit flappy there, but the battens are still keeping everything in place so I’m not terribly worried about it.

Taking advantage of a lull between storms to move equipment

Shopsmith Mark V is ready to go

It was a tight squeeze getting it in there, but my trusty Shopsmith is ready to work. I bought it specifically because so many tool functions can be packed into a relatively small space. I’ve already used it many times as a table saw, horizontal boring machine, drill press and as a milling machine when I made the aft enclosure window openings and modified the center windshield aluminum extrusions. The bandsaw attachment is extremely useful, and eventually the 12″ disk sander, shaper, router and jointer will be put to good use.

Inside the boat, lights help add hours to the day

Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to take advantage of the light because it’s just been too cold…and wet. The boat is blocked up out in the most remote part of the yard, which also happens to be the lowest, and with all of the snow we’ve had the ground is very wet. The water table is up to the gravel under the boat, and water vapor rises until it runs into the underside of the tent, where it collects and falls back onto the boat. Even on the coldest days when the water turns to ice, the tent plastic collects enough heat from the sun to melt the ice. I have to keep a vent fan running 24/7 to stop it from raining in the tent.

I’ve got a propane heater, but propane is a very wet fuel and it rains even worse when I use it. I’ve got a kerosene bazooka heater, and it heats up the space pretty well, but with the big vent fan running it pulls the heat straight out of the boat.

Ah well. This last week the harsh winter finally broke. Over the weekend it was 60°. Time to get back to work.

Up next on our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Engine Beds.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Tent Model X

With the shaft strut barrels and stainless steel rub rails installed, it’s time to tear down the scaffolding, carefully remove the old shrink wrap that’s covered with abrasive sanding dust and paint overspray residue and use the structural parts of Tent Model IX for a more robust, much smaller winter tent. This will take a long weekend to pull off (and maybe more) so I’ll have to do this step-wise. The boat isn’t waterproof yet, so I need to maintain a protective tent cover while tearing apart and relocating the structure that supports it. This is a more complicated way of doing it than to just rip the whole thing down, but if rain falls while the tent is down it could result in a bunch of problems I absolutely need to avoid.

First, I removed the bottom battons and lifted the shrink wrap skirt

Getting the skirt out of the way made it a lot easier to remove all of the scaffolding…and there was lots of it.

Lordy…what a mess.

Better order another dumpster

It seems the Boatamalans had a bad habit of throwing all of the used sandpaper, tape, plastic masking film, drink cans, bottles, fast food wrappers etc  under the scaffolding. There were also many nearly new rolls of expensive tape and a whole box of Mirka Abranet 320!

Slowly working my way back, removing the scaffolding but leaving the tent structure in place

Stbd side scaffolding is gone and trash cleaned out

The only thing left on the starboard side is my Miller Trailblazer 280NT. That will come out after I relocate the uprights closer to the hull, leaving the welder outside the new tent structure.

Port side…removing junk and relocating tent uprights much closer to the hull

Time for my paint compressor to go home

This compressor is a beast. It’s an Ingersoll Rand T-30 with water cooling and an oil-free design. That’s not oil-less, like the cheap newer compressors; rather, each piston uses two different sets of rings (teflon air rings on the top and conventional oil and compression rings below) with air pressure piped between the two ring sets to keep crankcase oil mist from entering the air side of the compressor. The water cooling greatly reduces water in the air supply. It’s old technology but works very well. With that monster of an old-school motor on it, it also weighs a lot…and that makes moving it a real chore for one man.

Getting Egyptian

Bits of 1-1/2″ PVC pipe worked well as rollers on the hard ground. All I had to do was keep moving the pipes to the front of the skids as I rolled it out of the tent.

Ready to go home at the end of a long day

There are only a few tools from Harbor Freight that I would give an unqualified recommendation for, but their 1-ton engine hoist is one of them. Egyptians wish they had hydraulic rams back in the day!

Day 2 started with moving the starboard side tent frames in

In the picture above, the tent skirt is looking a bit baggy. That’s because I’ve moved the tent’s rear uprights in so they’re about 6 inches away from the stainless rub rails I just reinstalled. Also note the cloudy skies…it’s a good thing I left the tent cover intact.

Relocated starboard tent uprights

Relocating the tent uprights forward of the Miller Trailblazer

After relocating the rear uprights, I started relocating the front ones and cutting and splicing the 1-1/2″ PVC pipes so the tent would be much narrower. I laid down a bunch of plastic to protect the paint when working with the pipes. Not only can falling pipes scratch the paint, but the purple PVC primer and glue would cause HUGE problems if it fell on the paint.

Time for the Trailblazer to go home

I lifted the welder with my hoist and put the PVC pipes underneath so I could roll it on out.

PVC pipes are not off-road rated

The pipes would allow the welder to slide over the top of them, but they wouldn’t roll over the deep gravel in the yard.

Gettin’ Egyptian II

By putting scraps of 1/4″ plywood under the pipes, the machine rolled right out. After loading the Trailblazer in my truck for the trip home, I built the new upper wooden center supports for the forward tent pipes.

Off comes the nasty old tent skirt and top plastic

I carefully cut off all of the old plastic, taking care to keep the abrasive sanding dust off the new paint. Then I moved my two-stage compressor and refrigerated air drier out of the way; they were a breeze compared to the other equipment. The weight difference between the old school Ingersoll Rand compressor and the newer Campbell Hausfeld is about 2x, even though the lighter unit has an 80-gallon receiver (the IR compressor sits on a 30-gallon one). Since I’ll still be using air on the project, I built a new shelf for the drier and made space for the upright compressor inside the new tent structure. But then I stopped for a few minute and took in how the boat looks in natural light, since even when the top blew off the tent recently the skirt was still in place to block the view.

Stupid pipes are in the way…but she still looks pretty good!

Next, after moving the compressor inside, I put up the new skirt plastic

This time, I’m using wooden battens all the way around the top of the skirt. The battens have two jobs: 1) hold the skirt up more rigidly than the shrink wrap line or tape can (which I used last year and previously); and 2) more securely fix the top sheet of plastic to the skirt. What I’ve learned is that shrink wrap plastic can be welded and taped together, but that joint inevitably fails where battens (so far) have not. It takes more time to do it this way, but that’s better than having the tent fail (again).

The sun was past its zenith, but the job still wasn’t halfway done

Short winter days make it hard to get certain jobs done. Ah well…it won’t be the first time I worked a shrink wrap gun at night.

7pm and the top plastic isn’t even tacked in place yet

It took until 11pm to get the side skirt partially tensioned and the top plastic sheet fixed in place with battens. I also welded and taped the seam between the skirt and top sheet. Then I had to clean up the mess. By 12:15am I’d been going at it for 17 hours and had to call it a day. I was so exhausted that for the first time in many, many years, I was actually concerned that I might fall asleep on the drive home. To keep myself awake, I broke out the heavy artillery and turned on liberal talk radio…better to get temporarily high blood pressure from listening to nonsense that doesn’t stand up to critical thinking than to fall asleep while driving. 😉

8am the next day…

I fired up the shrink wrap gun and tensioned the rest of the tent the next day, then cleaned up more of the mess in the yard.

I give you…Tent Model X: the last tent (I hope) I ever build

Battens on the bottom, sides, and at the joint with the skirt hold the plastic securely and help maintain a tight tent covering

Lots of space in the entryway

With no NW-facing exhaust fan vents to let blasts of wind in, the tent should hold up better than it has before.

6-inch gap separates the stainless rub rails from the tent uprights

Though there’s no scaffolding structure to keep the uprights…upright, each one has lumber attached at an angle and braced that should keep them from moving into the boat.

A new moving blanket and pads protect the cabin top

The tent is much tighter to the hull than it was last year

With the paint job done, we don’t need space on the sides of the boat. And as the area of the top of the tent gets smaller, so too will the snow loads if we get a bunch falling this winter.

To the left of this pic, you can see the inner batten that holds the top plastic to the skirt

OK, so the tent is a wrap. I’ve got a couple of projects up in the air right now while I wait for parts to show up. Things that have to be done before splashing next year include: install the glass and windshield, finish the engine/shaft install, install the hydraulic steering system, finish and install the swim platform,  and then start cutting plywood for interior bulkheads.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Update on the Bow Seat Windows

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Tent Collapse!

I arrived at the boat on Saturday with a full day planned out only to find the tent over the cabin top and foredeck inverted into a swimming pool. We’ve had a series of nasty thunderstorms nail the Mid-Atlantic region over the last month or so. On Friday, we got hit with 3″ of precipitation in two storm events over six hours! But since they were thunderstorms, all of that rain was actually packed into downpours lasting only 30 minutes each. The winds were pretty severe, too, gusting to 53mph. During one of the storms, I’m guessing one of the center tent frame fittings snapped, which caused the highest point of the plastic to sag. Water flows downhill and the rest, as they say, is history.

Well…that’ll ruin your day.

Fortunately, the toe rail was protected by four heavy coats of Imron MS1 on Wednesday and four more on Thursday. Nothing on the boat was damaged and, looking at the bright side, I had an opportunity to test the runoff capacity of the scuppers at the aft end of the toe rail. When I put a shoulder to the plastic and pushed up, several hundred gallons of rain water drained very quickly down the side decks without flooding the helm area. Yea!

Center PVC pipe joint failed.

I originally used 45° joints on the upright PVC pipes and 22° joints at mid-span and the center. This combination gives a fairly flat roof and less sail area, with just enough arc that normal amounts of rain run off easily. While the 45° joints are deep, with 1.5″ of pipe glued inside the joint, the 22° ones only have a 1/2″ glue joint. The combination of torrential rain, high wind and relatively weak joints on a roof with inadequate pitch proved to be problematic.

With a bunch of new PVC connectors (the deep kind!) and 45° fittings, I repaired the tent frames and repitched the roof. My concerns about sail area from a tall roof have been trashed; let’s see if a steep pitch makes the tent more durable.

Steeper pitched new roof line.

I still have to replace the joints on the one flat-roof frame that didn’t break, but the four steep frames re-tensioned the tent plastic reasonably well. I was able to close up the torn section of plastic at the front of the boat with 4″ shrink tape. On par for the season, two more storms came rolling through on Sunday, the day after I finished the repairs. So far, it looks like she’ll hold.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Final Sanding and Primer on the decks

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Transforming Tent Model IX (again)

I built Tent Model IX to be transformable. It was a tough winter tent that could survive a 3′ dump of snow or a Mid-Atlantic wind storm. As it turns out, it held up just fine during Super Storm Sandy,  too. But a key design feature was that I could transform it relatively easily into a spring paint shed, which has much more volume than the storm-tested winter version.

As a paint shed, I knew we would be painting the hardtop first, so we’d need room up top to stand and paint. That extra height is a liability, though, when the winds from thunderstorms come raging through. So I planned to transform the tent again and lose that additional height once the hardtop was painted. We were also applying Awl Quik everywhere, which is a great product, but the longboarding produces HUGE amounts of dust.

With most of the Awl Quik sanding finally done, it was time to cut the tired, dusty plastic off the top, adjust the PVC frames to drop the height down over the hardtop, and install a new sheet of fresh shrinkwrap plastic from stem to stern.

Ohhhh, that feels sooooo much better. 🙂

After removing the top plastic, I lowered the frame height over the hardtop.

Next, I stretched new shrink film over the top.

This shows how much higher the tent was with standing room on the hardtop.

It looks about the same from the front.

The plastic is maybe cleaner than the old stuff.

The “Before” profile (very before, since it wasn’t shrunk in this pic.

The “After” profile has a lot less windage in the rear.

On the inside, there’s a world of difference.

• No dust flies when you brush the tent.
• No center supports for the tent to get in the way or scratch surfaces.
• Plenty of headroom, even over the cabin top.

Unless we get hit by a tornado, this should be the last time I write about tents. 🙂

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Prepping and Priming the Aft Enclosure.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Tent Model IX Transformation Complete

It has been a very busy two weeks since I last posted. Too busy working on the Roamer when I’m not doing my day job, then too tired from working on the project to write articles about it. I have, however, been taking pix along the way.

With the scaffolding finally done around the waterline, the next step was to put a shrink wrap skirt around the boat from the ground to 10 feet up. I was able to reuse the clear shrink wrap from the winter tent for my 1968 Chris Craft Commander 42 by splitting the tent lengthwise from stem to stern. I put the clear plastic on the sides of the Roamer starting at the rear of the tent, which faces north. This will let lots of light in but the greenhouse effect shouldn’t be too bad–now that spring has arrived and summer is on the way, we don’t need more heat from direct sunlight in the boat.

Toward the front of the boat I used white shrink wrap for the skirt that was recycled from another person’s winter tent. The bow faces south, so reflective white plastic helps keep the heat out. To keep the shrink wrap secure along the bottom and sides, it’s important to use battens screwed from the outside, through the plastic and into the tent frames–I use 1×2 pine or even scraps of 1/4″ plywood. I know battens are the key to tent longevity because a previous humongo tent that I built –Model V– didn’t have battens and it blew apart on a fairly regular basis!

Once the skirt was done, I put the top shrink wrap plastic back on and re-shrank it.

Believe it or not…this is all according to plan.

I ran a line of shrink wrap woven cord around the frames 10′ up and tensioned it. Then I installed the clear skirt on both sides, using screwed battens to hold the bottom in place. I then used the shrink gun to weld the shrink plastic to the woven cord and taped the seam to make it permanent.

I also added a new set of frames over the hardtop. Let me tell you, that’s a long ways up and there’s no way to get a ladder up to square or connect things. With a powered high lift with extended reach (because there’s no room between the boats) I could have had the tent up in a day. But I don’t have that particular tool, so it took two days+.

End of a long day…the tent frames are done.

Putting in and attaching the two outboard PVC frames at the rear was a real challenge. A jet pack would have come in very handy. 😉

White plastic at the front to keep out the sun, and plenty of headroom for the painter.

Note the use of battens. They don’t have to pin down the full height of the plastic from ground to top, but 4′ strips vertically on every upright frame and small battens every 4′ along the ground seem to do the trick.

The skirt’s done, so on went the top.

I reused the shrink film from the winter version of Tent Model IX. It’s dusty as can be inside and out, but we still have lots of longboarding and priming to do before the final paint gets applied. The old plastic will work just fine.

It’s a little baggy on the rump.

There’s only so well you can fit plastic film to frames 25′ in the air without a jet pack or Ivy High Lift. The heat gun should tighten that up well enough

Trimming off the excess bits.

After cutting the top plastic to size, I welded it to the skirt with the heat gun and taped it while the plastic was still hot. This was a difficult job because, as with the last six weeks or so, the wind in the Mid-Atlantic region has been brutal–10-20kts pretty much every time I pull out the shrink wrap or heat gun.

In fact, it’s been so bad that I’m considering quitting my day job and offering my services as Windmaker to sailors who are stuck in the doldrums. Want an exciting regatta? Pay me to break out the shrink wrap and light off the propane heat gun for a few bursts. You’ll have breezes in no time! It’s kind of like being a Rainmaker–all you do is pull out a can of varnish and a brush, and the weather gods send a squall your way!

Finally…tented but baggy

You might be able to see in the photos how the wind coming from right to left is causing the tent to act like a bunch of sails between the frames…hard to describe but incredibly irritating to experience.

This should shrink up quite nicely.

On the lee side of the boat, the tent puffs out…just like a sail…but not fun at all!

Finally shrunk…

There were about a dozen times when the wind puffed the shrink film out just as soon as I put the heat to it. This causes the film to balloon out and, depending on how fast it happens, stick to the heat gun. Other times it just balloons out far enough to get closer to the fire than is wise. The effect is the same either way: you get a big hole in the film. And because you’ve heated the shrink film, as soon as you cut the heat it begins to shrink–making an even bigger hole!

I cannot express in words the frustration, but it’s safe to say that I will burn in hell for shouting condemnations at the weather gods for the last six weeks. Probably scared some of the other people in the boatyard, too, with all the hollering! 😉

The lee side was easier and turned out quite nicely.

I’m thinking of calling this one Boatyard Burka.

See? The heat gun cured most of the rump sagginess.

Tent Model IX Transformation Complete

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Helm Door Openings, Rounds, & Fillets.