1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 refit

[jim rosenthal]

How high will the raw water pump lift seawater coming in via a flooded inlet? At some point, I will need to replace my original AC units and I will most likely use self-contained ones as you have.

[q240z]

The March BC-4C-MD-AM I went with pumps 15gpm at the 4' max head height on my boat. Figure out what your max head height is, then check out the pump curve for the pump you want to use. Here's mine: https://www.marchpump.com/wp-content...Pump-Curve.pdf

[jim rosenthal]

Thank you. I had an AC tech on board recently, and he thinks that it might be possible to use one larger modern SC unit instead of two smaller ones as it now has.

[q240z]

The modern ones are soooo much quieter than the old stuff. Scroll compressors basically require no more juice to start than they do to run. The old piston compressors were always 2x the amp draw for starting than for running.

That said, one of my priority items is to confirm that the engines will light off when the boat gets splashed. I thought I was ready to start them, but neither passed the test.

On the starboard side, the injector pump lost prime because of a crack in the OEM fuel return line on the pump body. That was allowing fuel to leak out and air to leak in. And the steel line is in an awful place. To replace it requires R&Ring the injector pump...


The port side lit off almost immediately, but then died when I released the key. That happened a few times, and I discovered the key switch is shot. It doesn't send power to the RUN circuit, which energizes the locking RUN solenoid on the injector pump. Additionally, there was a bad battery connection (entirely my fault) that ended up blowing the main fuse.


So...the good news is both engines clearly are willing to start, so long as they get fuel and electricity where they need it. I've already fixed the battery connection problem, and the new key switches are ready to be picked up. The bad news is that fixing the fuel system is going to be a big project.


You can see the tests in the video at the linked blog article.


1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: First Try Starting My Cummins Main Engines


Cheers,
Q

DSC01371.jpg

[krush]

The modern ones are soooo much quieter than the old stuff. Scroll compressors basically require no more juice to start than they do to run. The old piston compressors were always 2x the amp draw for starting than for running.

Unless your compressor is made by Copeland, it probably is not a scroll, but instead rotary.

https://na.industrial.panasonic.com/...ry-compressors


3 types of compressor cut open: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhNb2gBhghE

PS: Looking awesome. You'll love the cummins 8.3. Best engine ever made!

[q240z]

Thanks!

Steve at Flagship said he upgraded two of my compressors to Emerson scrolls. IIRC, they ran out of rotaries for the 12 and 18k units when they were building my order. The 9k unit in the v-berth is rotary.

[Dan Mapes]

Unless your compressor is made by Copeland, it probably is not a scroll, but instead rotary.

https://na.industrial.panasonic.com/...ry-compressors


3 types of compressor cut open: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhNb2gBhghE

PS: Looking awesome. You'll love the cummins 8.3. Best engine ever made!

Thanks for the link on compressors, I always wanted to cut one open LOL.

[q240z]

Well, launching in November is starting to look challenging, too.


I figured I should come clean about why the boat's not floating yet: we're still doing paint repairs, and nobody allows open air spraying of Awl Grip. So the boat has to stay in the tent until all the repairs are done.


Repairs, you ask?


Yes. Repairs.


As in Hispanic Jackson Pollock grafitti removal and crack repairs from very expensive fairing compound that didn't adhere to the aluminum in spots. Also, professional fairing team incompetence.


Anyway, this is my longest blog article ever, with lots of pictures showing the various problems. I haven't given up yet. Who knows, we could still splash this month if it warms up enough to spray again.


1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Why My Boat Didn’t Splash in October 2022


Cheers,
Q

[q240z]

This post is about a very important item that I made a while back but never got around to posting about it until now.

The missus wants a washer and dryer, which means the boat's got to have a dryer vent. Going out the porthole made the most sense, but I needed a gasket between the glass and the plate that the vent exits through and I couldn't find one with the right dimensions. So I made one out of silicone using the same basic process as when I made the porthole gaskets. It turned out really good...so good that a mouse munched on a bunch of it! Fortunately, enough uneaten gasket remained for my porthole.


1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Making a Silicone Gasket for the Laundry Closet Porthole

Cheers,
Q

[q240z]

The dryer vent outlet plate I made FINALLY came back from the paint shop along with some other items I'll be writing about soon. It's too cold to paint in the tent, so it's good that Weaver Boatworks let's the painter there do side jobs with their spray booth.

The plate getting painted was the last thing I needed to put the laundry closet dryer vent porthole together. I gotta say, it turned out really well. I installed it and the last transom porthole, so now all the portholes are installed. The boat's getting very close to being weather-proof.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the Last of the Portholes

Cheers,
Q