1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 refit

[SKYCHENEY]

Yachtsmanbill,
I really like your new hair style.

[yachtsmanbill]

Had to change the Obamamine avatar... like most folks, it wudnt werkin' no' mo. ws

[q240z]

As bad as it sounds, I'm sure you'll figure it all out. It will just take more time, money, and effort. I'm very sorry to hear this but in the end, the boat will probably be in better shape. You will probably end up having to get a windshield built which will/should be of better design and quality than the original.

Hang in there. It's a setback, but I have confidence in you.

I think you just came up with a good name for the boat: "more time, money, and effort"

On the windshield, the new plan (until Saturday), was to assemble it piece by piece on the boat and have my fabricator TIG all the pieces together. Then we were going to take it to his shop for final welding and machining radii into the welded corners. Great plan! Would have been far better than the OE way, which just had all of the pieces mechanically fastened together. Now, all the time spent dinkin' around with it over the winter...complete waste.

Anyway, my insurance adjuster suggested a custom marine window manufacturer, but it turns out they don't do custom windows anymore. He referred me to another guy, and another guy...it started looking like nobody's doing custom windshields anymore. They're all too busy with OEM work.

So I started asking if I could buy extrusions, since I've got a capable fabricator here who can weld it together. One guy said he couldn't sell the extrusions for liability reasons. He said if I sell the boat and the windshield fails, it could come back on him if he supplied the extrusions. Made no sense to me, but then he suggested I call Desman Glass. The good news is that Desman will work with me to get a windshield in the boat. The bad news is that they're in South Carolina. But Ron, the owner, said he'd be happy to sell me his extrusions, assuming they'll work in this application.

There might just be a spark of light at the end of the tunnel.

[rsmith]

I'd put $$ on it's someone at the Yard that either works there or is related to someone that is. Do your own detective work don't depend on the cops! Don't think it's over. A detective told me that 90% of the time they come back to get that one thing they missed or couldn't carry out.

[captddis]

We had the same problem here. It was crack heads and they sold irreplacable antique boat hardware for scrap.
The scrap yards are very careful here. You need photo ID and they take your picture.

[smoothmove]

I'd put $$ on it's someone at the Yard that either works there or is related to someone that is. Do your own detective work don't depend on the cops! Don't think it's over. A detective told me that 90% of the time they come back to get that one thing they missed or couldn't carry out.

I started thinking the same thing when Q mentioned that they took a half can of Awlgrip. Who would know that's valuable?
Eric

[yachtsmanbill]

Wheres A.B.A.T.E. when ya really need them???? Somebody didn't like my new avatar so I had to
put up my step brothers picture instead. Ive looked in to it and it CAN become an FCC issue altering a member in good standings identity. DO NOT MESS WITH MY FAMILY

ABATE: A Brotherhood Against Totalitarian Enactments

[q240z]

I'd put $$ on it's someone at the Yard that either works there or is related to someone that is. Do your own detective work don't depend on the cops! Don't think it's over. A detective told me that 90% of the time they come back to get that one thing they missed or couldn't carry out.

I figured they might come back. But the only stuff of value they left is pretty big...the 2-stage compressor, Shopsmith, the tracksaw table, NIB washer, dryer, and refrigerator. They'd have to take a saw to the tent frames to get those big tools out, and the appliances...that'd take a serious level of dedication.

As far as doing my own detective work, it's tempting but probably not worth it. Given what my deductibles are and the amount of work left to be done on the boat, if I spend more than a day playing detective it's not cost effective. I decided to focus instead on prevention (12V alarm w/lots of PIR sensors, cameras, strobe lights, sirens, and a cellular auto dialer) and getting replacement tools.

It'll be a nice surprise to see a familiar face on one of those IR game cams!

[C-45]

Sorry to read about the theft, I hope you get lucky and they find your stuff. Boat sure looks a lot nicer than when I saw it back in 2008.

[q240z]

It's been a while, but I'm slowly getting back to where I was before the theft. I'm still not too enthused about writing articles, because I can't get anything done because every time I try I find that I need a particular tool that was stolen. Jim R very generously traded a cordless drill he had for a burger at Happy Harbor restaurant on me, but it's the little stuff that is the hardest to document, harder still to remember, but when you really need them and they're not there, the project grinds to a disappointing halt.

Anyway, here's the latest update. Hopefully, I'll be back into the swing of things soon. 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Alarmed

Cheers,
Q