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Great work as always!

I've been meaning to ask what the Instrumentation looks like on the final boat plan.

Recently I picked up a used German watch; it's a company that has a long history of providing Nautical instruments... Muhle Glashutte. Normally they're pretty expensive, but a used one in an unpopular size was a good catch for me (small 34mm case, which I 'fattened' by putting it on a wide leather cuff):

Chris

Thanks! Nice watch!

You can see the rechromed and rebuilt gauges at https://1969chriscraftroamer46.com/tag/original-gauges/

I finally got around to varnishing and installing that mahogany veneer on the helm station bulkhead. It sure does look purdy compared to what we started with.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Helm Station Mahogany III

Cheers,
Q

As-found


Cleaned up and ready to get purdy


Finally! Purdy! (though it'll look better once the clamps come off)

I started building the helm side cabinets recently, before I installed the bulkhead veneer. They're looking pretty good, too!

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Helm Station Mahogany III

Cheers
Q

The mahogany plywood panels were starting to pile up, so I did some varnishing and installed a few. The aft deck looks sooo much better with them installed.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Aft Deck Mahogany Plywood Install I

Cheers,
Q

You know how on big projects, you slave away forever doing the prep work, and everything looks pretty ugly the whole time, and then BAM! It all comes together in a flash and looks great?

The helm station mahogany kinda went like that.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Helm Station Mahogany IV

Cheers,
Q

I need to wrap up all of the electrical stuff in the ceiling of the aft deck before the headliner installer can come in and work his magic. So I've been getting the helm station radio box I made fitted and attaching electronic bits to make sure it will work as intended.

"Progress"

But I had to laugh as I pulled the brand-spankin'-new JVC stereo out of the box. I bought this thing in...must have been 2014...and at the time it was a good little modern car stereo. Fast forward to 2019 when I finally opened the box and...drumroll please...it's got a CD player!

Put differently, I've been so slow on this refit that my brand new electronics are obsolete by the time I finally get around to installing them! LOL

Then again, I've got a 1946 Zenith AM/FM console at home with a Cobra Head 6 platter auto-changer that'll spin everything from 78s to LPs. Obsolete tech is sorta my thing. But still, it made me laugh.

1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Helm Station Radio Box II

Cheers,
Q

That’s a sweet-looking radio box, Q. And I have to commend you on the thermostatically controlled fan — that’s an important detail that few would even think of, much less implement.

Ditto for coating the electronics. I’ve designed several electronic devices for vehicular and/or military environments, using either a commercial spray-on conformal coating or a thermally-conductive epoxy potting compound (depending on shock & vibration requirements). Those work like a charm, but I’ve never tried coating with plain epoxy.

I’m curious — what’s the headroom beneath that box? Too low, it’s a head-banger for tall people. Too high, and shorter folks would have trouble reaching it.

Thanks, BuckeyeDennis!

The radio box is directly above the helm gauges, so you'd have to be a freakishly tall hunchback to knock your head on it. The aft deck has a 6' 8" ceiling, so the radios are at ~6' 6". The missus is 5' nothin', but she can reach them with a bit of a stretch.

roamer46 wrote:Thanks, BuckeyeDennis!

The radio box is directly above the helm gauges, so you'd have to be a freakishly tall hunchback to knock your head on it. The aft deck has a 6' 8" ceiling, so the radios are at ~6' 6". The missus is 5' nothin', but she can reach them with a bit of a stretch.

My son is 6'8", but he has only a touch of scoliosis, LOL!

Now what's freaky, he went on a study-abroad trip to Ireland last summer, with a group of about 20 college business students -- both boys and girls. In that small group, there were two other boys about his height!