1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Spraying Mahogany Panels in the Origami Spray Booth

I’ve got a stack of mahogany plywood that needs to be sprayed with ICA base clear before I can install it on the boat. With the origami spray booth ready to go, we finally got to spray.

Goood day to spray

Mahogany plywood suspended for spraying

Fume extractor and filter box are ready to go

Devilbis Camair QC3 filter drier ensures clean, dry air from the compressor

My Boatamalan* painter was supposed to show up by 11, but he’s been very busy at work and didn’t get there until 5:30. I strung up some lights so he could spray even after dark. With the extra time, I suspended even more mahogany panels.

*Boatamalan: portmanteau indicating highly skilled boat workers of Central American origin. They’re actually from Honduras, but boat + [Guat]amalan has a nicer ring to it.

Spray water on the gravel to hold down dust…then get to spraying ICA

There’s about 150 pounds worth of plywood hanging from the roof. I noticed that as the weight and the length of time grew, the PVC pipes started sagging a bit. So I added some upright sticks to support the center and the end that meets the tent.

Fourth and final coat

Shiny!

Good lookin’ mahogany!

After moving all of the plywood back onboard the following morning, it was time to fold up the origami spray booth.

Pop off the roof, drop the wall…

Fold in the right wall…

Fold in the left wall…

Put the end wall in place…

Tie the roof in place…

And move the filter box up against the tent.

It only took about 25 minutes to button up the spray booth. Not bad for the first time. And it worked well. The base coat is nice and clean. Now I need to get those panels installed.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the New Mahogany V-berth Bulkhead Panel

 

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Making an Origami Spray Booth

I haven’t posted in a while because I got knocked down for a couple of weeks with the nastiest cold I’ve ever had. I’m back in the saddle now, so I got busy building the folding spray booth I’d been pondering for a while.

Good spot for a folding spray booth

I considered using wood or metal tubing for the frames but settled on PVC pipe. I’ll use 1-1/2″ for the walls and 3/4″ for the roof.

Recycling PVC pipe from earlier versions of Tent Model XXX

Wall panel with door opening

Walls and roof modules done

Looks about right.

Folds up nice and tight to the tent

Next, I shrink wrapped each panel

PVC is challenging to shrink wrap because it doesn’t have the rigidity of wood or metal. When it gets hit with the heat gun, its rigidity becomes about the same as a wet noodle. Shrink too little, and wind will cause the plastic to flap, which can kick up dust…not good for a spray booth. But shrink too much, and the PVC pipes contort. I didn’t do too bad with the roof and wall panels…just a little tight in a spot or two.

My origami spray booth!

It was a bit windy when I set it up, so it took longer than it would on a calm day. Plus, I’m using shrink wrap strapping to hold all of the parts together, and getting all of them in the right spot was a bit of a trial and error process. Still, it only took two hours to set up.

Filter box is protected from the elements under plastic to the left of the door

The view from the inside

The gabled roof should provide adequate structure to suspend plywood panels with string. That’s the theory, anyway. Time to test it out.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Spraying Mahogany Panels in the Origami Spray Booth