1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: The Starboard Salon Aft Bilge Vent Duct II

Slowly but surely, I’m getting closer to having the Roamer weatherproofed. There are eight bilge vents that exhaust through the mahogany toe rail. Three of the vent ducts are done in the salon, and I’m getting close to finishing the last one there.

The duct box is glued and screwed together

I just need to sand down the OEM sealing coat on the mahogany and it’ll be ready for fiberglass.

Fully saturate the interior and all exposed edges with epoxy

It’s always amazing to me how much resin these things soak up. Next…you guessed it…

Fillets!

I do love my fillets.

Next, I laid on the fiberglass cloth and rolled out the bubbles

I also sealed the duct face panel with a heavy coat of epoxy

Leave it and come back the next day

Next morning, trim off the excess fiberglass overhanging the edges

Not a bad looking vent duct

I decided to seal up the exterior surfaces of the duct with white tinted US Composites 635 epoxy. I’m using the 2:1, no-blush hardener for all of this. Even during the roasting hot summer, it’s got a pretty long pot life and it cures by the following morning.

I do like a heavy coat of that tinted epoxy

For places that have zero UV exposure, epoxy as a sealant and tinted top coat is a good approach.

Next day, I put a coat on the duct wall and another one on the electrical panel

That sure did turn out nice

With sticky epoxy in the salon, I got to work on some things in the V-berth. It’s been a while since I was in there, and I look forward to wrapping that room up.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the Starboard Salon Aft Bilge Vent Duct

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Last of the New Tinted Glass Has Arrived!

Over the Christmas weekend, it seems Santa Claus swung by the boatyard and dropped off the last of the glass for my Roamer. These were the panes that had to be redone from my second glass order because both Consolidated Glass and I messed up. Pro Tip: for anything but a square window, always make sure you make a pattern that fits exactly how you want, then take the measurements from the pattern. My mistake was in putting full faith in the accuracy of my Bosch laser measurer without keeping in mind that it doesn’t take its measurements from the bottom edge. Three of the four edges were only off by an eensy-beensy bit, but that ended up with helm windows that just wouldn’t fit.

Crated glass!

Consolidated does a great job crating

That pour-in low density urethane foam they use as packing material does a great job keeping the glass from moving around.

Red foam dots keep the panes separated

Starboard side fixed pane fits perfectly!

Nice fit on the slider, too!

Port side looks good, too

These four panes were an expensive mistake. After botching it the first time, I was super nervous when I slid them home. But they all fit the way I’d wanted them to fit the first time around. It was not a pleasant thing taking the four brand new, wrong-sized panes to the boatyard recycling spot, but there’s no other use I could think of for these custom cut tempered panes. Oh well…what’s done is done. Time to move on.

Yeah baby!

I really like the tinted glass look over the original clear. From the inside, it’s really not so dark. One thing that surprised me was the difference in sound that the new glass made as I step from the helm down to the salon. It’s quieter. Now if only I had the sliding doors done… They’re on the plan for 2017.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: More Exhaust Riser Insulation

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing New Glass in Portholes

With the new tinted glass installed in the salon and the forward hatch assembled, I’ve been spending time putting glass in the portholes, too.

Nicely painted porthole, wiped down and ready for sealant

Sikaflex 291 LOT applied all around

In goes the glass, then another bead of 291 LOT to seal the flange

I applied a strip of tape around the inside and outside edges of the window frame and flange, so the sealant that squeezes out mostly ends up on the tape. It’s a lot easier to pull the tape (and the sealant with it) than not to use tape and have a sticky mess to clean up.

New stainless screws and washers

When I disassembled the hateful portholes, I found that many of the original aluminum flange screws turned to powder when I tried to remove them. Not that I ever intend to take these apart again, but I decided to go with Tefgel-coated stainless screws when reassembling the portholes. I also used washers to protect the paint, since even the slightest breach in the paint coating will turn into the spot where corrosion in the aluminum frame begins. I’ve been buying bulk screws, washers, and bolts from Albany Fasteners. The prices are good, quality has been top notch, and they ship quickly.

Screw together, wipe off excess sealant, and pull the tape

One down, eleven to go!

Putting the first porthole together took two hours, start to finish. The second one took about ten minutes less. By the third, I was down to an hour and 45 minutes, and that’s about as fast as I can go. It looks like it shouldn’t take this much time, but it does. The tinted glass does look great in the white frames. It’ll be nice to get these installed over the winter.

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Disaster Narrowly Averted & a Polisher upgrade

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Assembling the Forward Hatch

With the big glass order having arrived, I could finally set about closing up exterior holes…like the forward hatch, which has been beautifully painted since 2014. Before that, for several decades it wasn’t exactly a pretty thing. I think it looks even better with tinted glass rather than the original frosted white glass.

New tinted glass + 1969 Chris Craft hatch flange coated in new Awlgrip

The original bow deck hatch

New fasteners and Sikaflex 291-LOT sealant

The original hatches came with painted over stainless screws, and they used conventional window glazing that gets hard and eventually cracks and loses the bond. Then you get water into the screw holes and corrosion sets in. Fortunately, there wasn’t too much white aluminum oxide in this hatch. But instead of tightening the screws directly onto the painted surface of the flange, like Bomar did originally, I used stainless washers to protect the surface of the paint. I also used Tefgel on the screw threads and in every hole, and I used Sikaflex 291-LOT rather than conventional glazing. Hopefully, the modern materials and approach will keep this looking good at least until my Viking funeral several decades from now. 🙂

Good lookin’ hatch!

It was roasting hot during the summer when I installed the glass, too hot in the tent to work, so I cleaned the sealant up and went home by noon. I came back the next day to install the latch hardware.

Latch hardware needs cleaning

First, sand all of the oxide from the aluminum spacers

I applied a generous dollop of Tefgel on the contact surfaces of the aluminum spacer, then installed the screw with more Tefgel.

More Tefgel in the screw holes

One screw down, three to go

Clean the screw & washer, then apply Tefgel

…and more Tefgel

One hinged prop is installed

Remember I mentioned how hot it was in the tent that day? If you look at the glass, you can see some spots where the Sikaflex oozed out after I’d cleaned the glass and gone home. Maybe there’s an air bubble nearby that expanded from the heat before the material cured. It’s a small thing, but I think it’ll catch dirt so I’ll razor that off next time I’m on the bow.

The latch prop needs some cleaning

The aluminum bar for the latch prop has some surface imperfections, so I sanded it with 320 grit and left the surface looking brushed.

Threads need some cleaning

Not a bad brushed look

More Tefgel on the cleaned threads

One side’s done! Now repeat.

Done!

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing New Glass in Portholes