I am now reconsidering replacing my incandescent bulbs in my instrument panel with brighter LED bulbs. It may not be a good idea. The reason is that when I am running at night (which is rare, so I don't have a lot of hours in those conditions), I don't want excessive brightlight distraction from the...

After months of calisthenics in the bilge, I finally finished cleaning the engine room and painting. I used Interlux white mixed 50/50 with their flattening agent to create an eggshell finish without glare. I did the same with the light grey bilge paint. Everything below the waterline inside is grey...

Has anyone tried replacing their 12 volt instrument lights with an LED upgrade? Batteries Plus makes a bayonet style bulb the correct size, and is only .5 watt....lumens unknown.

I tried to call the Mariner's Museum and left messages the last two days for the Chris Craft Archivist and his assistant. Neither have returned my call with answers to the request for color stills showing the blinds. I was reminded though by another museum staff that the library contents have been m...

Yo' Doug, This is not a design question....this is an authenticity question....Martha wouldn't have the answer. I have "down-dated" my boats/cars to reflect the often impractical but original aspects. I want to experience the vehicle (water/land/air) "in situ" . So I run my antique cars on bias ply ...

I am installing period correct wooden window blinds in the salon of my 1955 42' Corvette. I have the '54 and '55 Chris Craft catalogs which show black and white images. Does anyone have any original blinds? And if so, what is the color of the wooden blinds and the color of the tapes. It appears from...

When I see these pictures of your beautiful boat and the immense work and dedication to restoring it, I am inspired and motivated to keep up with my 1955 42' CC Corvette.

it's important to keep the look the designers had and keep this trim ring. It creates a shadow line in builder's terms and defines the port lights. Originally CC used copper/brass because it was soft and easy to bend creating the beaded edge and then the compound curves around the oblong port lights...

Let's start a seperate thread on halon fire suppression systems....but to my original posting regarding engine room paint here is what I've discovered: I spoke with the Interlux technical team today as several of them were riding together to a meeting, so I had a real concentration of expert opinion...

It seems to be a tradeoff between mildew proof latex like Petite cabin paint, great stuff!! or the high solvent Interlux bilge paint in white color. I'm questioning how breathable the solvent based bilge paint will be when they suggest an epoxy primer follow by two coats of their paint. I wish more ...

My 1956 twin hemi engine room is dark, the interior hull sides are painted with original grey alkyd bilge paint and the bulkheads are sheathed in Celotex sound deadening dingy colored material. All is original. I want to paint it white I think, accepting that the engine crankcase gases will yellow i...

The originals were chrome plated brass, I think. But they were a bear to get out...I had to buy an upholstery tack removing tool...which was a great addition to my tool arsenal. But I replaced these spiral nails with Stainless Steel micro screws of the same approx size when I rechromed my window tri...

It is important to note that my friend John Rothert is a much better swimmer than am I.

Hello Group, Thanks for the encouraging words that the leaks are normal and to just go boating,...but after a $19K refit, I expected a much tighter, non leaking hull. In my 15 years of ownership, I have had many years of leak fee, dry hull...but also one "high water" incidence which still gives me n...

transon stb view being varnished.jpg I just hauled my 42' 1955 CC Corvette for the 3rd time in a year. Previously I had the sides refastened from the chine to waterline. Then I found a leak under the bottom wedge/trim tab...filled it...leaking completely stopped. But Hagerty insisted I do a complet...

The boat yard and I agreed that we could apply a "dutchman" spanning two frames to repair this hole rather than major plank removal surgery. Evidence of an old bonding or grounding system was found nearby presumed to be the cause of the isolated damage/hole. The dutchman was an 18" (approx) board ha...

Here's a couple of photos of the hole from the outside and inside. I've been drying out the wood with a heat gun. I'm going to try CPES tomorrow.

I have hauled my 42' 1956 CC cruiser for bottom refastening. The yard has identified a hole about the size of a half dollar piece, midships two planks up from the keel. It was not leaking but bottom scraping revealed a soft spot which easily was dug out and through the inner skin. It is not on a fra...

Hello Johank, Contact the Mariner's Museum in Newport News, Virginia, USA. They have all the shop drawings for your hull. Originally, there were large cradles that supported these big boat along critical frame members. But for your trailer consideration, I would say a large I-Beam aluminum trailer w...

Joanroy, You say your copper port hole liners "are pretty hard...and the paint pops each year". I had the same chronic problem. I may have posted this under another topic. But after all possible techniques to resolve this....I sanded to a reasonable condition and still had a pitted copper surface. I...

Joanroy, I have used Interlux Brightside one part poly for the last two repaints. It's a durable finish and much better than the Petite EZpoxy I used before. Interlux told me their fillers are the highest quality...not just chaulk like the competition. So after a reasonable sanding and deglossing, I...

I've just discovered that only one photo is able to be attached. I tried to attach 3 and when I previewed it only showed one with a note: "recommended file" Is this a Forum limitation?

hanging in slings missing padding on chine blocks at launch.jpg I've constructed the custom "hull specific" hauling chine blocks for my 42" express cruiser hull. Attached are photo showing the contours and the blocks applied during the relaunch. Note the lines used to retrieve the blocks from the w...

Hello Jim,
I did that....and there was no saved draft. I 'll have to start over..this time in a less intense narrative.
Thanks,
Keith

I wrote a long message yesterday with one attachment. I did not send it and wanted to edit it today before I sent. So I hit the tab for saving it as a draft. Today, I went to my control panel to manage my drafts and it was not there. I hate to have to rewrite it...where can it be? Thanks Keith Colonna

OK Boat Buzz brothers....here's the deal: I will buy this boat (at the reasonable and heretofore undisclosed price) since I already own "the only Chris Craft 42' Corvette"..the 1955 prototype and world's most rare CC, documented in the CC Essential Guide by Jerry Conrad. You always need a spare! I l...

Hello Peter, Thanks much for the drawing of the interior frames and of your bare frames. I was at the Mariners Museum this week looking at all the shop drawings of the 42' cruiser series from 1956. The Forum members are right....my fasteners (looks like silicon bronze) are damaged from electrolysis....

strut block repair complete and all in awe.

Gentlemen, We've confirmed that the reason the planks are buckling out is because of bad fasteners...not a single one can be removed....the heads are red and just crumble....even bronze fasteners won't survive 60 years of electrolysis in salt water. We are also certain there is no rot behind these p...