Future Brown Water Cruiser: 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit

[q240z]

Well, it took three days but Tent Model XXX has officially been retired. I took all of the lumber, plywood, and screws that were still serviceable back home, along with the compressor, refrigerated air drier, and airline plumbing. My back's killing me. lol

There's a bunch of refit debris still under the boat, but I'll deal with that after the Travel Lift moves it to the water. Cleaning up the area made the boat look even better!

I've been told the marine insurance underwriters should be getting back to me with their (hopefully) approval to splash tomorrow.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Retiring Tent Model XXX part II

Cheers,
Q

[q240z]

With the boat de-tented, I had two last items on my pre-splash punch list: final test fire of the engines to prove starting reliability, and then install the raw water impellers. I got both of those items done yesterday. So the only thing delaying launch now is the insurance underwriter's approval. Once I get that, I'm off to the boatyard. :-)

I can't figure out how to get video links to work correctly here, but there's a short video at the linked blog article showing both engines lighting off as seen from outside the boat.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Final Engine Test & Impeller Install

Cheers,
Q

Last pre-launch punch list item: impellers

[q240z]

Well...after some drama with the Travelift, they got the Roamer over to the lift well. The bottom got wet. I discovered a small leak at one of the new Forespar Marelon seacocks. They lifted the boat clear of the water. I fixed the leak. They lowered the boat again. The fix held, but then I heard a drip...drip...drip sound from another seacock. Though the OEM Chris Craft-branded seacock for the original genset was dry and tight when I moved the boat to Deale in 2009, it developed a problem in the interim and has to be replaced.

The boat is sitting in the slings and on blocks in front of the Travelift well. I have a new Forespar seacock on the way.

This has been a disappointing day. That said, the boat did look good sitting in the water.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Splash Day! (sorta)

Cheers,
Q

[q240z]

While awaiting a new seacock to replace the one that leaked on Splash Day (sorta), I started digging into what's turned out to be another challenging problem from splash day: my starboard engine won't start!

I'd test fired it without an impeller in the yard a half-dozen times. On splash day, it started and ran great on the second crank. Perfect idle, good pressures, and when the Travelift operator yelled out "GOOD WATER," I knew the raw water was flowing out the exhaust the way it should. And then the engine died, which triggered the low oil pressure alarm. I hit the key, heard the starter try to engage, but it wasn't turning the engine over. Tried it again...and one more time. The engine seemed stuck.

I had a video camera rolling in the ER when I lit off the engine, so you can see exactly what happened. It's at the linked article, along with a video of Splash Day, when they had to use a big forklift to pull the Travelift out of the soft gravel. For some reason, my videos don't display here.

On the engine:
It bars over normally when I put a wrench on the alternator pulley nut, so it's not hydrolocked or catastrophically busted (probably).
Electrical connections are tight.
I checked the aftercooler and muffler--the former is dry inside and the latter has ~3" of water in it, so there's no way raw water got into the engine.
It can't be a fuel problem, because the starter engages but won't roll the engine over.

I'm stumped. Thoughts?

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Splash Day Breakdown

Cheers,
Q

Only 3" of raw water in the muffler

[q240z]

Drumroll please...the starboard engine LIVES!

I went through all of the electrics and found nothing wrong. Just as I was beginning to dread the thought of having to pull the starter, I noticed something funny with one of the starter bolts. Turns out it was finger-tight! The mechanic who sold me the engines must have used that as the negative battery cable attachment point, but didn't snug it up when he removed the cables and shipped the engines to me. I torqued it to spec and the boat test fired four times flawlessly!

Now I'm just waiting on the new seacock, which should arrive tomorrow.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Starboard Engine is Back in Business!

Cheers,
Q

[rslifkin]

That'll do the trick! I was going to suggest swapping the starters between engines just in case something stupid happened to that starter, but that's an even easier fix.

[q240z]

My 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 is floating in Rock Creek, MD, after a successful splash with a nearly dry bilge, followed by an idle speed maiden voyage out to the Herring Bay jetty and back! Oh...and the loose starter bolt problem ended up not being the actual problem. It was voodoo, man!

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Splash Day Redux

Cheers,
Q

[q240z]

The engines light off so fast, it's amazing. The missus was onboard today getting ready for the big passage to our home port. When I started the engines, her eyes went wide open and she said "That started faster than my Subaru!" If the missus notices something mechanical like that, you know it's impressive.

That said, I don't want to get a $10,000 ticket from the Coasties, so I finally got the transom name installed. As I was writing that now, it seems to me that $10,000 is a cruel and unusual punishment if the USCG catches you navigating a documented vessel without the name and home port on the transom. Such is the state of our republic.

Anyway, it turned out fine and now we're 100% legal. And in the process of getting the USCG documentation up to date, I learned there were far more previous owners of this boat than I previously believed.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the Transom Name and Home Port

Cheers,
Q

[rslifkin]

That key switch problem is an interesting one. And a good catch!

[q240z]

Yeah...never seen anything like that, rslifkin.

In preparation for moving the boat, I wanted to get a depth sounder head unit installed while I waited for the new seacock. I've had the "new" transponder installed since 2009...only used once! While I was in the helm wiring chase, I decided to remove the rat's nest of wires for the tent alarm system. It looks much better without that.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Retiring Tent Model XXX’s Alarm System & Depth Sounder Install

Cheers,
Q

Before


After

[q240z]

We made the transit from Deale to Port Tobacco, MD, yesterday. 108 miles in 7 hours 45 minutes, from cast off to tie off, with two hours of idling at 6 kts through snotty Chesapeake yaya at the Patuxent River confluence. The rest of the time we were cruising at ~15.5 kts @ ~1850 RPM. This is the first big boat I've owned that felt like it was effortlessly moving us along at that pace.

I'm beat. It's been a very busy and stressful last few weeks. But now the boat's only 15 minutes away from my house, and it's floating and can fire up and go anytime...much better than slogging away in a plastic tent an hour away. (video link at the linked blog page; I'm having problems getting my videos to post properly)

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Transiting to Our Home Port!

Cheers,
Q

15.5 knot cruise


Moored at our new home port

[rslifkin]

That looks like a nice clean wake for that speed. I guess those Roamers get onto a clean plane pretty early.

[q240z]

I agree. And that was with ~1/2 trim tabs deployed.

Unlike Chris Craft's fiberglass and mahogany cruisers, this model of Roamer has almost no keel in the water. The keel is 8" of 3/4" aluminum plate inside the hull rather than 24 inches x 5" wide of vertical keel in the water on our 1968 Commander 42 and a bit more on our 1967 Constellation 52. Less wetted surface area = less friction, which I suspect helps it pop up on plane.

[rslifkin]

Interesting. The one bigger Roamer (a 48 I think) I've seen in person had a small keel I think. My 381 will plane at around 14 kts, but the wake is still a bit taller. As you go faster it flattens out further. But the 380 and 381 hull is a bit odd compared to a lot of CC's other hulls. More rounded and convex up forward, doesn't carry chine flats all the way aft, has a decent bit of keel down there, relatively large rudders, etc. I think it was designed more to run well at low speeds than their other hulls even though it still planes.

[q240z]

Things went well when traveling to our new home port, but there was a problem with a diesel leak I discovered while shutting down at my new marina. It ended up being a simple fix (loose injector nut) but it's another example of what appears to be shoddy workmanship by guys other than me who touched the engines/boat. I understand maximizing profit, but have some pride...if you loosen a starter bolt or injection nut for a good reason, tighten the thing up when you're done, ferchrissakes!

Anyway, it wasn't a perfect transit to our home port, but as engine problems go for a boat that hadn't moved under its own power since the 1980s, I figure this is pretty much a quibble.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Home Port Trip Follow-up

Cheers,
Q