Using a Shop Smith Mark V on a Chris Craft Roamer refit

[roamer46]

I lost track of one of my 2" 6061 aluminum raw water intake standpipes. I've been going through my garage, the tent, and the boat trying to find it, but no luck so far. It's making me nuts, because I know that if I give up and just find somebody to make a new one machined with National Pipe Straight threads on one end, the old one will pop out of the woodwork, make me trip and fall, and I'll probably be paralyzed for life. So I'm periodically wasting hours and hours on nights and weekends digging around trying to find it. While digging through the mahogany lumber stack, I decided it was time to finally saw up the original toe rails into 1" x 1" cleats that I'll use to build out the interior. It's not the kind of progress I need to be making, but I now have a good supply of cleats and the lumber stack is cleared of the old stuff.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Recycling the Original Mahogany Toe Rails

Cheers,
Q

[roamer46]

I finally got the mahogany plywood sprayed with ICA base coat clear. Four coats in the first round. Next I'll sand that and we'll hit it with another four coats of the base. Then sand again and topcoat. It's looking good so far.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Spraying Mahogany Panels with ICA Base Coat Clear

Cheers,
Q

[roamer46]

I got all of the mahogany panels sanded, then we sprayed the second round of four coats of ICA base clear. It's looking very nice! I'll sand the base once more, then we'll top coat with semi-matte.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Sanding and Spraying the 2nd Coat on the Mahogany Panels

Cheers,
Q

[roamer46]

And now all of the panels are top coated with ICA semi-matte clear. They turned out real nice!

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Sanding and Spraying the Top Coat on the Mahogany Panels
Cheers,
Q

[roamer46]

I spent a weekend insulating the back-side of the mahogany panels we just sprayed. With some of the aft stateroom cabinet pieces, it was challenging remembering which ones needed insulation and which ones didn't. Anyway, after a sticky epoxy weekend, all of the panels are insulated...they're ready to install.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Insulating Mahogany Wall Panels

Cheers,
Q

[roamer46]

Finally! I got the port-side V-berth mahogany panel installed. If I do say so myself, it looks pretty good for a weekend warrior!

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the Port V-berth Mahogany Wall Panel

Cheers,
Q

[nuhobby]

Stunning! That's got to feel good seeing that after all your work.

Chris

[roamer46]

Thanks, Chris! It certainly does! I'll get the other panel installed over this weekend...can't wait!

In other news, this isn't directly related to my boat refit, but it's one of many things that's happened this year that contributes to the boat not splashing.

The transmission went out in my truck late last year. $3500 later, the tranny was working fine, but a month later the engine started sounding like it was coming apart. We barely made it home, and a compression test revealed low compression. Codes indicated bad catalytic converters. Dents on the exhaust pipe indicated the tranny shop had beaten hard on the exhaust, which might have caused the cats to fracture and come apart, blocking the exhaust system and sending ceramic particles up into the cylinders. With new cats in, the truck ran OK but still had low compression on a few cylinders. But recently I tested it again and found the compression was restored! 190~200psi in all cylinders! Here's hoping the magic that fixed the truck gets sprinkled on the boat. It'd be good to have things go my way after some of the unfortunate things that have happened over the years to delay the project.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: My Life WAS An Old-School Country Western Song

Cheers
Q

[skou]

Ooh, cat guts!

OK, I pulled the rear cat off
of a friend's Taurus. It was
clogged with the remains of
one of the forward cats.

Since he is using his sister's
address, (out of the greater
Phoenix area) he doesn't need
to be tested. I replaced the rear
cat, with a bent piece of exhaust
tubing.

Now, mentioning cat guts.
I've got 2 orange tabby boys,
and a grey and white female.

Oh, the boys are twins, from
the same litter.

We're not counting the 5 feral
cats outside.

steve

[roamer46]

I can't tell you how sick I am of cat guts!!! lol

I got the starboard V-berth panel installed. Those two curved panels were the biggest interior challenge I've knocked out so far. I am sooooo glad to be done with them. It's starting to look like a boat interior again!

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the Starboard V-berth Mahogany Wall Panel

Cheers,
Q