tef-gel « 1969chriscraftroamer46

Back in September 2018, I had a canvas crew come in and make the windows for the transom enclosure. This is all part of the process of making the boat weather-proof in preparation for that tent finally coming down and the boat splashing.

First, they installed flexible canvas track, then slid this skinny strip of canvas into it

The little strip of canvas has the track bead stitched into it already

There’s half of a zipper sewn onto the canvas strip, too

Hopefully, they don’t plan to leave that huge gap in the corners

From the outside, the white Stamoid Top canvas looks great!

Next, they attached some plastic pattern material to the strip of canvas

The other half of the long zipper got installed next

Then they started marking everything with pencils. We decided four panels would be best.

I’d never seen the process for making canvas…it’s pretty cool

The tape line shows the arc along which I’ll install the snaps

These guys primarily work on fiberglass boats, where corrosion concerns aren’t much of an issue. Because the transom is made of aluminum plate, I’ll drill and tap the holes before applying Tef-Gel to the threads to keep the stainless snap screw isolated from the aluminum.

I do not like drilling holes in my Awlgrip paint job

Tef-Gel is expensive, but well worth the investment if you own an aluminum boat

I use the Tef-Gel as the tap lubricant when cutting the threads

My theory for using Tef-Gel as the tap lubricant for aluminum is that aluminum oxide forms immediately if bare aluminum is exposed to air. Based on my experience with the formerly hateful portholes, I want no aluminum oxide forming in or around these screw holes. Tef-Gel has teflon in it, so it has lubricating properties, and a layer of it remains behind as the threads get cut. The aluminum threads are never exposed to air, so aluminum oxide never has a chance to form.

The crew is coming back with a panel to test fit, so I put some snaps in temporarily

That looks good!

With the center panel fitted, next the guys used more plastic sheeting and marked off the next panels.

I resumed tapping holes and installing snaps

With the snap installed high up, there’s only a very small gap at the corner

We’ll use little pieces of velcro to close those corner gaps completely.

Two more panels back for test fitting

The tinted Strataglass window is just slightly lighter than the side glass windows

The transom door is now finally installed

Hinges and the latch are caulked and done

Roll-up canvas window panel looks great!

Nice!

The crew came back one last time to pull the flexible track and install it with caulk. I’d specified caulked installation when I got their bid, but they apparently don’t usually caulk the track so they forgot. Unfortunately, their caulk application method wasn’t what I expected.

I like fillets but not with caulk

It’s been my experience that caulk works best when it’s bonding two surfaces together. Any caulk that squeezes out should get removed with a plastic squeegee and cleaned off with solvent before it starts to cure. Any caulk that’s exposed to weather eventually loses the bond to the surface, and that’s when water starts coming in and attacking the rest of the caulk seal.

But this pro team of canvas installers just put a fillet on the caulk that squeezed out. It actually looked OK, but I know that edge would eventually start peeling back and lifting clear of the hardtop. Then it’d peel back more and collect dirt, and eventually it’d be a maintenance project. I wanted to avoid that, so I got busy with a plastic squeegee and started removing the excess before the caulk started to kick.

The caulk is still nice and fluid, so it comes off easily enough

After removing the bulk of it with a squeegee, I wipe it with Pettit brushing thinner to remove any caulk residue

By the time I got to the interior, the caulk was starting to kick and was harder to remove

Two hours later, I’d fixed the problem left by the pros

Then I had to deal with an uninvited visitor

This thing was terrifying. Where I’m from, wasps don’t get this big. Apparently, this is a Maryland Cicada Killer wasp. At 1-1/5″ long, my buddy here wasn’t quite as big as an Asian murder hornet, but it sounded like a helicopter squadron when it flew past my head while I was removing the caulk.

Then, in a panic, I had to do the math: do I escort the Maryland murder hornet out so it doesn’t kill me, in which case the caulk might cure to the point that I couldn’t remove it? Or do I keep going with the caulk and hope the murder hornet takes a tour of the front of the boat while I wrap up the caulk removal? Which would you do? Comment below please!

I kept going with the caulk removal. The Maryland murder hornet buzzed me twice more but never stung me. I finally caught it in a resin cup and released it outside so it could go kill cicadas like it’s supposed to.

The last step for the canvas was to remove all of the snaps and get ready for final install

Next, I wiped the paint with brushing thinner to remove Tef-Gel from the surface

Add a little dab of caulk

Reinstall the snap, then wipe up the excess with brushing thinner

And that’s a wrap for the canvas. I don’t want it to get dirty or scratched, so I’m storing it at my house until the tent comes off.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Doors

In 2013, I started refurbishing the (hateful) aft stateroom portholes. The paint was falling off, letting aluminum oxide form under the coating on the frames. Most of the aluminum latch dogs had locked up on their stainless steel machine screws because most of them don’t get opened very often, water gets in, and aluminum oxide fills the gap between the stainless screw and the aluminum latch. The coating had also failed on the dogs because the aluminum was painted even in the rough contact areas where the latch dogs lock onto the openable window frames to clamp them closed. And then there were the gaskets…rock hard rectangles of old rubber that long ago had compressed and taken a set. Because they were hard and had taken a set, water would stream in past the gasket and get into the cabinetry as well as the stainless and aluminum screws (yes…aluminum screws) that held the glass and screen frames in the porthole frame. The whole time I was dealing with the messes caused the OEM’s approach, I vowed to take different approaches when I put them back together.

I started with having them completely stripped then coated with Awl Grip aluminum primer, Awlquik, 545 primer, then top coated with Matterhorn white for the main frames and Awlcraft 2000 Navy Blue for the exterior screen frames, to match the blue accent stripe. In 2016, I got the screens installed in the portholes, and later that year I installed the new tinted glass. While the original screws that held the screen frames in place were stainless machine screws, the window frames were held in place with aluminum panhead screws (without washers), most of which had turned to AlO3 powder from water intrusion into the threads. None of them appeared to have been installed with grease. So when I put them back together I used stainless screws and washers for the panheads. I also used Tef-Gel, a terrific teflon product that seals the threads and isolates the screw metal from the frames. So, I had beautiful portholes, and the materials I was using should resolve most of the problems with the OEM build. But there were still those old gaskets…

I’d been pondering on what approach I should use there since 2013. Late in 2019, after looking at all of the currently available options, I decided to make my own gaskets out of super soft and durable silicone. I made the gasket molds and waited for the silicone kits to arrive. Once the kits arrived, I made my first gasket and tried it out on a porthole…it worked great! The last step was to finish assembling the portholes.

Found it!!!

I mentioned a few posts back that I took some time off of the project to do some things around the house, which included cleaning my garage and basement. That wasn’t entirely truthful. I had been trying to find the box of porthole hardware, and I was getting frustrated that I couldn’t find it. I thought I’d turned the boat upside down already. Cleaning the garage and basement came next (upside: I put lots of stuff on ebay and they’ve been selling like hotcakes!). I was organizing the sandpaper stash in the aft stateroom when I found the box! Booya!

Aluminum latch dogs still had aluminum oxide inside the bore

I picked up these stainless brushes in various sizes years ago…finally got to use them!

Nice and clean

I smoothed the contact surface of the dogs, too

My ShopSmith 12″ sanding disc with 220 grit made them nice and smooth.

The stainless screws for the latch dogs had been painted, but they polished up nicely

Putting the screws in a drill and spinning the head and shaft on 220 grit sandpaper cleaned them up pretty quickly.

Can you say tedious? I live it…sometimes

I had a bunch of 1/4″ nylon washers but none in the dimension for the latch dog screws. I’d looked for them online, but the only ones I found in the right ID had a bigger OD that wouldn’t look right. So I drilled out the 1/4″ washers to 3/8″. I had to do it in 1/64″ increments, and there are 36 of the dogs. Anything more aggressive than 1/64″ bigger, and the drill bit would bite into the washers and just spin them. It was tedious, but these are mission critical parts because they’ll isolate the lock nut from the painted frame.

Engine assembly lube is great stuff

Assembly lube coats the stainless latch dog machine screw and the bore hole

Almost ready to install

Chase the threads with a tap

Generous application of Tef-Gel inside the threaded hole and on the screw threads

Super important step: avoid paint-to-paint contact in high stress areas

I’ve used this product in other places, including when I rebuilt the bow deck hatch. It’s called Slick Strip–an adhesive-backed ultra high molecular weight polyethylene tape that’s available online in different thicknesses. I used the thinnest– 1/32″. After wiping down the contact areas to remove dust, I pulled off the blue backing and applied the Slick Strips to the window frames and latch dogs.

The adhesive is pressure sensitive, so you have to press all of it into 100% contact with the substrate

I cut off another little strip for the latch dog

Not bad!

It was around this time that I realized I might need an intervention…

Yes…I was beveling the edges of the Slick Strip on the latch dogs. I don’t want them to pop off when the two straight edges impinge on each other. But maybe this is a bit over the top? I eventually decided it was worth the effort…only took an additional five minutes to trim all of them.

Contrasting the OEM approach and mine

In the picture above, from lower left to right, are the stainless screws and washers (with Tef-Gel) I’m using to hold the window frames in place. I’m also using new #18 stainless flathead screws to secure the portholes to the mahogany surround panels instead of the corroded aluminum screws you can see next to it. Next is the stainless undercut flathead screw (with OEM aluminum oxide dust clogging the threads!) and one of the few aluminum panhead screws I was able to remove from the hateful portholes back in 2013. And finally, unpainted aluminum latch dogs and polished machines screws, with Tef-Gel, assembly lube on the bolt, a nylon washer to keep the locknut off the paint, and Slick Strips to protect the paint in the clamp area.