1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 refit

[TROUBLE]

Welcome back


Art

 

[Vincentc]

Glad to read you are returning to work. Your alarm efforts make sense. A second loss could be too much to deal with.

 

[bostonhatteras]

Despite all your recent troubles, you seem like a guy that can see some humor in situations. Here a good one for you.

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

 

[q240z]

bostonhatteras, that's hilarious. lol

The struggle recently has been trying to find projects I can start and bring to completion. I'm constantly starting projects only to find that I can't find a tool or supplies I need to continue. I'm submitting supplemental claims to the insurance company, and they're being very good about it all, but it sure is frustrating not being able to get stuff done.

I won't be splashing the boat this year, but the swim platform is one of the bigger exterior items that still needs to be installed. The timing was right, so I fixed some bad patches and epoxy coated the whole thing using West System resin with their UV resistant 207 Special Clear hardener. After all of the BS since May, it was nice to start a project and see some real progress.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: The Swim Platform

Cheers,
Q

 

[q240z]

The project hasn't stopped, but I haven't been faithfully blogging as I did before.

Over the summer, I got my hydraulic steering installed. This article covers the first part of that effort.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Hydraulic Steering

Cheers,
Q

 

[jim rosenthal]

Glad to see you are pushing ahead on this.

Incidentally, the only other Roamer that I know of locally is going to be for sale. Same engines as you have.

 

[q240z]

Thanks, Jim.
Is that Roamer a 46 with Cummins 450 Diamonds? I'd be very interested to know what sort of performance I should expect.

 

[pizzazsdaddy]

Beautiful work q240z.
I'm saddened by what happened to you. Happy to see you working the project again. I sure we all support your efforts. Your work is beautiful.

 

[eze2bme]

Glad to see that you're continuing. Looking forward to some good winter reading from your project!

 

[jim rosenthal]

I think it's a 46, it may be bigger, though. It does have Cummins C-series. Probably 450hp. I'll find out.

 

[q240z]

Thanks, Guys!

The engine install should finally wrap up over the winter, and I've got a bunch of interior stuff I've been working on but haven't written about. Life keeps getting in the way!

Cheers,
Q

 

[jim rosenthal]

Quentin, the Roamer for sale is a 57 foot model. The listing doesn't contain performance figures. You might email SeaEric off line and he can give you an idea of her performance with those engines, same ones you have.

I've seen this boat many times and she is a showpiece- absolutely lovely boat.

 

[q240z]

Holy smokes! She's a beaut!
http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/196...0-Re-Power-2762859/Annapolis/MD/United-States

 

[jim rosenthal]

She IS. This is a boat that was always well taken care of, and had judicious and suitable updates done right. She's a sweetheart.

 

[q240z]

With those teak decks, she needs to stay in a shed.

In other news, I posted another blog on the steering project.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Hydraulic Steering II

Cheers,
Q

 

[sabaugebenz]

While I haven't done this yet, I spoke to Mike at Sam's Marine and he gave me a reference for custom fiberglass frames. The guys name is Broadus Rose.

 

[q240z]

I considered the FRP frame approach but finally decided on welded and painted aluminum. To keep the windshield frames consistent with the bow seat windows, I'm going with Motion Windows again.

 

[q240z]

I got the props back from the prop shop, and they're ready to install. It's a bit of a guess whether or not they're even in the ballpark, but this set came with the boat and the prop gurus think they'll be good enough for the seatrial next year (keeping fingers crossed).

One thing that surprised me was that I couldn't find any Prussian Blue to check the fit. Not a single auto parts store in my area carried it. They can order it, but it's not on the shelf. Most of the counter people I spoke with didn't even know what Prussian Blue is. I ended up ordering online, and even that took ten days to get here.

What is this world coming to???

Anyway, here's the latest-- 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Props

Cheers,
Q

 

[Avenger]

Next time try asking for Dykem. MSC and McMaster carry it as would any machine shop supply house.

Oh, and your prop nuts are on wrong.

 

[q240z]

HA! I wondered if anybody would mention the nuts.

I was surprised when I temporarily installed the props loose on the shafts. The nuts didn't fully seat up against the step up to the taper. The small nut went up to about 3/16" away from the step when tightened by hand; the big nut got tight 1/4" away. That worked out to a 1/16" gap and 1/8" gap, respectively, between the nuts and the prop hubs. I tossed the small nut on and snapped the pic without thinking about proper nut order. When I removed the nuts, there was a bit of brass shavings left behind.

It turned out that the threads that were cut on the shafts become inconsistent as they get to the end, where they're cut off just before the taper step. A buddy of mine who just had his props and shafts replaced had the exact same situation. In my whole life, I'd never installed new nuts on props, so I'd never experienced that situation.