Aluminum Chris Craft Roamer refit project

[6Boys]

You do amazing work.

[docwelder]

HA! When I get finished with this, I've got a house, project car, plus the back-40 to deal with. Deferred maintenance stuff will keep me busy until I need this canoe for my viking funeral! LOL

i been following your amazing craftsmanship for a few years now. noahs arc took less time it's gotta be close to maiden voyage launch time??

[q240z]

Well...Noah got the ark done before the storm hit. Remember, my project has been hit with a paperwork SNAFU (2 year pause), massive burglary (1 year delay), two massive storm damage setbacks, and then earlier this year I got fired by a corrupt boss, so now I've got a civil rights complaint ongoing and I'm looking for work. That sort of stuff slows these things down.

That said, I could see the boat maybe splashing next year. It depends on how many hundreds of affidavit questions I have to respond to in between job applications.

Keep your fingers crossed!

[q240z]

Before I can splash the boat, she's gotta have helm doors. But before she can have helm doors, I have to make helm door openings. So I took the last of the big sticks of mahogany out and machined them down to make timbers for the interior portion of the helm slider door openings. I had a bit of a machine SNAFU that needed fixing but eventually got some pros to help get it squared away. Note to self: next time an unmarked 220v motor capacitor dies, don't guess what the rating is!

Anyway, we're still making progress and things are looking good.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Helm Door Frames in Heavy Mahogany

Cheers,
Q

I started with this


And ended up with these

[q240z]

I got the three mahogany plywood panels cut and fitted for the transom. The curve of the deck made those more challenging than you might think. But they turned out OK.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Deck Transom Mahogany Panels

Cheers,
Q

[q240z]

I made some solid mahogany filler pieces to fill a gap between the aluminum transom step-through and the plywood. They're only three little pieces of wood, but getting the fit just right was surprisingly time consuming.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Transom Door Step-through Mahogany Filler Pieces

Cheers,
Q

[q240z]

With almost all of the remaining aft deck mahogany pieces cut and dry-fitted, I finally got around to varnishing them with six coats of 2-part ICA base coat. I did it in two sessions of three coats each, and sanded with 220 between the two sessions. While waiting for the dust to settle before applying the second round of ICA, I installed some of the aft deck mahogany pieces I varnished a while back. As more and more of the aluminum framing and spray foam insulation gets covered, this just keeps getting prettier and prettier.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Varnishing the Last of the Aft Deck Mahogany

Cheers,
Q

Six coats of ICA catalyzed clear varnish


Installed aft deck mahogany pieces

[q240z]

The ribbon stripe mahogany plywood across the transom, the big mahogany door frames at the helm doors, and the zigzag floor boxes are permanently installed! That turned out super nice!

I also decided on some major shifts to make life more sustainable while I'm going through the discrimination, harassment, and wrongful termination complaint process against my former employer. I moved my former knockabout/liveaboard boat in the Swamp to a much more pleasant and cheaper location far away from the nastiness in DC. That boat will be going up for sale in the spring and the Roamer should be splashed shortly thereafter. Please keep your fingers crossed that the goddess of the seas doesn't decide to haul back and kick me in the nether region again for getting too far ahead of myself.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing Pretty Aft Deck Mahogany

Cheers,
Q

[q240z]

There are just a few jobs left and the aft deck will be done. One of those involved making moldings for the transom threshold/step-thru. I goofed up when I was >this< close to being finished with one of the more complex pieces, and had to start over. But they ended up looking really nice.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Transom Threshold Moldings

Cheers,
Q

Before


After

[metalman21]

I have followed this thread for a long time. You are doing a very nice job.
I did a similar project back around 1980 to a 1955 32' Chris-Craft all wood boat so I understand the time required, If I thought it was 1 hour to do something I figured it would take 4 and in reality it took 8 hours. I guess I had a lot of energy back then.

[q240z]

Thanks metalman21!
You got that exactly right! I used to think my wooden Chris Craft was too much work...
Man, that boat was a breeze compared to this Roamer!

[Tarmstrong]

Thanks metalman21!
You got that exactly right! I used to think my wooden Chris Craft was too much work...
Man, that boat was a breeze compared to this Roamer!

I too, have been following since you started...and have posted here before. I am trying to get my calendar straightened out for next year and need to know the damn launch date so I can buy you some single malt and maybe a cigar. I keep getting exhausted thinking about the hours you are spending...on this beautiful build.

Please advise of launch date ...

[Gump]

I too, have been following since you started...and have posted here before. I am trying to get my calendar straightened out for next year and need to know the damn launch date so I can buy you some single malt and maybe a cigar. I keep getting exhausted thinking about the hours you are spending...on this beautiful build.

Please advise of launch date ...

Same here. I’d like to come see this thing splash.
Q, what state are you in?

[q240z]

Single malt and cigars sounds great! I'm aiming for splashing sometime next year.

Gump, I'm in Maryland on the Chesapeake, south of Annapolis.

I finally installed all of the aft deck mahogany pieces I've been writing about for a couple of months. That's basically a wrap on the complex wood work out there. It turned out really nice...lots better than what we started with!

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Varnishing and Installing More Aft Deck Mahogany

Cheers,
Q

After


Before (circa 2008)

[Gump]

Awesome Q! Maybe I can coordinate a trip to visit my relatives down in VA beach around your splash time.

[q240z]

I've got sliding helm station exterior doors (mostly)!

I still need to figure out the lower door guides, prime and paint the exterior, then install the glass, but the door plan is coming together nicely.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Deck Helm Doors

Cheers,
Q

[q240z]

Happy New Year!

It's been a while since I had time to mess around online. My discrimination and wrongful termination suit against my former employer is moving forward, and I've been buried with thousand page affidavits, responses to affidavits, Merit System Protection Board and federal court filings. I also had to do a valve job and get the genset running on my other boat, the one we used to live aboard, in preparation for selling it this year.

Anyway, I posted an article about the aft deck canvas that I had made. It turned out real nice and is a major step toward getting the boat weather proof so we can splash later this year.

Cheers,
Q

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Deck Canvas

[Welder Dave]

Good luck on the wrongful dismissal suit. I went through that many years ago. Big companies try to drag it out hoping you'll lose interest or funds to pursue it. Also make sure your lawyer has your best interests in mind and not just taking your money. It's too bad wrongful termination suits aren't like car accident suits where the lawyer only gets paid (a percentage, usually around 35%) if there's a settlement. This is what keeps them somewhat honest with you that your case is worth filing.

[Gump]

Where ya at Q?

[q240z]

Hey!

Long time no post. I've been swamped with the discrimination/wrongful termination lawsuit against my former employer. I've also been getting my other boat (a 1968 Chris Craft Commander 42) ready to put up for sale. And the missus and I have been knocking out lots of house projects. We're thinking it's time to get the heck out of the state we live in, and the current housing bubble won't last forever.

I finally caught a break from the lawsuit, and the Commander is ready for its next captain. So that left me some time to post an article about the aft stateroom doors I made for the Roamer.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Stateroom Doors

Cheers,
Q

[Gump]

Looks good Q!
I was starting to worry about you!

[q240z]

Hey!
As people who followed this thread know, I was fired from my day job back in February 2020 and that basically brought this refit to a hard stop. I filed three different claims against my former employer, the Pesticide office of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and have been going slowly broke on lawyer fees ever since. My primary claims were: 1) sex-based discrimination, 2) hostile workplace, and 3) wrongful termination, in which 1 led to 2 and ended with 3.

I got a new supervisor in 2018. It was his first time as a supervisor, and he started abusing his power literally the second week. There were six staff in the branch, mostly young, attractive women. I was the only man. The male supervisor was extremely nice to his female staff, but he was a real jerk to me. He began piling on more and more work to the point that it was impossible to keep up, all while letting his harem of lady staffers take long lunches and spend work hours planning weddings and doing online shopping. Then he claimed my performance was unacceptable (I'd been rated Outstanding the previous six years before his arrival) and initiated the process that managers have to go through to fire federal employees.

The union was worse than useless. Other managers who were obligated to stop the discrimination claimed to see nothing wrong. Filing claims with the Office of Civil Rights started a long, drawn-out process that's still ongoing three years after it started. So that was it: I got fired. And because being fired from the government for unacceptable performance is extremely rare, it made me radioactive in the job market. So I was unemployed and unemployable since 2020, which made it virtually impossible to do anything on the Roamer refit. I eventually had to sell my other boat, a 1968 Chris Craft Commander 42, to help pay bills.

But last month we finally had the first trial before a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Administrative Law Judge. It was a 4-day trial. My attorney did his best, but he made it clear that EEOC ALJs work for the Executive Branch and in 99% of all cases they find for the agencies, which are also in the Executive Branch. The agency's attorney was also in the Executive Branch. My attorney warned that it could take up to a year for the judge to finally issue his decision, on the principle that he'd have his clerks dig deep into previous cases to find excuses for my supervisor doing what he did.

But within two weeks he issued a bench decision that gave a bare-butt spankin' to my previous supervisor, his immediate superiors, and the EPA generally for grossly violating anti-discrimination laws and policies. The judge decided in my favor on all of the substantive claims!

Per the judge's order, we're negotiating the settlement now and should wrap it up within the next couple of weeks. My life (and the Roamer refit) will very soon be back on track! In preparation, I went and washed the boat and started figuring out what I need to do to get the boat out of the tent and splashed.

Stay tuned!

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: MAJOR NEWS!

[duaneb55]

Holy landlubber Batman!!

That's great news and must be a huge relief.

As for the union being useless, let me put my surprised look on. Bet they never hesitated to take your dues though.

[Tarmstrong]

I was hoping things would work out OP…and was missing the posts with updates. Good effort on sticking with the fight with your former employer…sometimes the good guys win.

Now, please hurry up and post that splash event and location…we need a good party!

[N2 Welding]

Wow score one for the little guy. Sorry to hear you had sell the other boat and go through the whole thing of being discriminated against and loosing your source of income in such a cruel way. Happy for your win.