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If it doesn't pertain to metal, wood, wire or fabric—but it is about vintage Chris-Crafts, ask your question or give your advice here.

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Tom Kenny
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Post by Tom Kenny » Thu Jan 31, 2013 8:55 pm

If you know which end of a saw or screwdriver to hold then everything will be fine. There are enough of us out there that are willing to work with you and guide you through all of the initial 'hoe to' questions.

What you will find fairly quickly is that there is disagreement within the wooden boat community on what is the best product to use and what is the best approach to follow. All of that will come out once you start on you first repair.

My initial recommendation is to address any leaking or weeping that you might have on the bottom. Your survey should point that out. The point is - sea water should not leak or weep into the boat from the bottom. If you can count the number of times your bilge pumps go on in one day then you need to do some repairs to stop them from coming on that much. All boats always have some water in the bilge. Keeping it to a minimum is the objective.
Tom Kenny
1961 55' Chris Craft Constellation
Independence - ftkltd.com

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Don Vogt
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Post by Don Vogt » Thu Jan 31, 2013 9:24 pm

Not to be picky, guys, but the 00 is the first, so 04 is number 5.
1938 Chris Craft 17' Deluxe Runabout "Jennifer II"

Peter M Jardine
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Post by Peter M Jardine » Thu Jan 31, 2013 9:41 pm

Absolutely right Don... oops.

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Post by joanroy » Thu Jan 31, 2013 10:21 pm

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laclede
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Post by laclede » Thu Jan 31, 2013 10:45 pm

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Carefree67
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Nice color scheme

Post by Carefree67 » Thu Jan 31, 2013 11:41 pm

Laclede, my husband and I were in your position about a year and a half ago, owner of a big new boat and not a clue how to drive her. Since then we have made some safety improvements (who knew the intake for the head would come without a shut off valve) and have repainted her (same color as yours). We are a little south from you (Tacoma) but would love to chat with you as to what we have found in the area by way of mainntenance, reputable mechanics and such. Shoot me an email if you are interested.
1967 36' Crusader

laclede
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Post by laclede » Thu Jan 31, 2013 11:46 pm

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laclede
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Post by laclede » Thu Jan 31, 2013 11:57 pm

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Oberon01
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Post by Oberon01 » Thu Jan 31, 2013 11:58 pm

You couldn't be in a better place anywhere to get the best possible advice on how to manage and prioritze this project. You will have everything you need in the way of talent, experience, and passion in the PNW-you are never going to be alone or making decisions in a vacuum. If there is nothing catastrophic, get her stabilised and safe and then set out a plan. Arrest whatever deterioration you can and move forward. I hope you can get her back into regular use and work on her as you go, I think it is more important to use and enjoy her than it is to make her perfect. What a survivor she is.....
1926 Mullins 16' Outboard Special
1940 CC 19'Custom
1946 Gar Wood 22' 6" Sedan
1946 16' Peterbrough Falcon
1947 CC 16' Special Runabout
1947 Chris Craft 22' Sportsman
1948 CC 25' Sportsman Sedan
1959 Feather Craft Islander Express Cruiser
1961 CC 21' Continental
1965 Glastron Futura 500 V -164
1965 CC Sea Skiff 24'

laclede
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Post by laclede » Fri Feb 01, 2013 12:43 am

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57skiff
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Post by 57skiff » Fri Feb 01, 2013 9:24 am

Your pictures bring back a lot of memories---my folks had a 41' 31ft sedan cruiser which was my dad's pride and joy! I remember the vertical tracks to secure the ventian blinds,the shape of the 6volt lights (with the 1/2 shades)the hand pump on the sinks(learned to rebuild the diaphram},the alcohol stove , the hand operated bilge pump--thanks for the memories!

Rugger8
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Post by Rugger8 » Fri Feb 01, 2013 4:49 pm

laclede,

You can see some pics of my boat here.

http://www.chris-craft.org/registry/vie ... at_id=1200

If you have not checked out the hull registry, you can find other boats like yours here. In fact, you really need to register your boat as well. You get there by going to the Chris Craft home page and then clicking on Resources and then Hull Registry. You can then sort by year or by size of the boat, etc. Many of us have put some of the boat's history and stories there.

Separately, I have the original Hercules W engines that may have been in your boat. Also have spares that would need a rebuild, so if you want to go to original engines as well, I can help you there.

Glad the survey is going well. But you are going to probably need to do some things that are not original. For example, you will likely need to put in a holding tank if it has not already been done, etc.

Jeff

laclede
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Post by laclede » Fri Feb 01, 2013 5:49 pm

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laclede
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Post by laclede » Fri Feb 01, 2013 5:50 pm

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Rugger8
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Post by Rugger8 » Fri Feb 01, 2013 6:05 pm

Arrgghh. that's not good. However, all hope is not lost. A lot of this work can be done yourself, which will greatly reduce the costs. Also if you can find a real good cabinet maker, they typically have the skill set to work on a wood boat, but you will have to do your research on the proper way to repair it, which you can do here :D Take it a project at a time and you can get through it.

Jeff

laclede
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Post by laclede » Fri Feb 01, 2013 7:26 pm

Jg
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laclede
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Post by laclede » Sat Feb 02, 2013 2:34 pm

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Horstuff
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Post by Horstuff » Sat Feb 02, 2013 4:15 pm

Laclede,

When I bought my boat there was a similar codition which allowed water seepage into the boat. I got that fixed, but after the repair it still took on a lot of water because it takes a couple weeks for the new wood to swell up. I was going nuts with worry about the bilge pump failing... The boat is 50 miles from me and I quickly learned that relying on the yard guys to check it was unreasonable. The pump was going off every few minutes at first, and there was no way I could expect them to keep an eye on that.

So, I bought a system called The Boat Nanny. Installed it myself, no big deal, and was done in an hour. That thing immediately allowed me to sleep again at night. It will send you an email or text message or both if the pump goes off, which allows you to keep a baseline idea of how it's working. If it doesn't go off when you expect it to, there's probably trouble.

There are cheaper systems out there, but I'm happy with it. It also tells you condition of the power, both ac and batteries, as well as a motion and noise alarm among other things. It sends me a text every day at noon telling me the status of all systems. Every time, I love seeing that "Water - OK" message.

Bobby
1948 27' Super DeLuxe Enclosed Cruiser

joanroy
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Post by joanroy » Sat Feb 02, 2013 4:30 pm

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Rugger8
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Post by Rugger8 » Sat Feb 02, 2013 4:31 pm

laclede,

This really is a first priority for you. The fact that the bilge pumps were running when you pulled her indicates that these were 12v pumps running off of your battery. What you will have somewhere in there is most likely a 30A 110v shore power cord that will go to a battery charger that maintains the state of charge of the batteries. The battery charger steps the voltage down from 110V to a charging level of 13-14V. you need to get a multimeter and see what voltage your batteries are running at. At rest, they should be around 12.8V. If they are below 12.5V, they really need to be charged. You also need to find all of your bilge pumps and make sure they are working. If your shore power is not on, then yes, your batteries will die and your boat will eventually take on water and if not checked sink. You may also have a circuit breaker panel or fuse blocks. If you are not getting power to the bilge pumps, that would be the first place to check. If you have questions, let me know.

Jeff

Rugger8
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Post by Rugger8 » Sat Feb 02, 2013 4:35 pm

Joanroy makes a good point. If your batteries are low when you test them and you can't figure out the shore power situation and the battery charger, then run the engines for a while until the batteries are charged. Depending on how much you are drawing with the bilge pumps, you can probably get away with charging the batteries every couple of days. But in all likelihood, you have shore power and a battery charger and just need to figure that out.

Jeff

Rugger8
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Post by Rugger8 » Sat Feb 02, 2013 4:41 pm

Another thing to check on is what type of batteries do you have. Your boat was originally made to run on 6V batteries. Since you have updated engines, I assume someone has upgraded your DC (Direct Current) electrical from 6V to today's standard 12V. But I would check that as well.

Jeff

laclede
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Post by laclede » Sat Feb 02, 2013 4:53 pm

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Rugger8
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Post by Rugger8 » Sat Feb 02, 2013 4:59 pm

laclede,

If you know the former owners of the boat, I would ask them first. I am sure they would be willing to give you an overview, because obviously, it has been in the water for a long time, so there is some sort of charging system and a phone call to them can likely answer all of these questions.

As for the monitoring system, I don't have any knowledge of it.

Jeff

laclede
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Post by laclede » Sat Feb 02, 2013 7:11 pm

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Jim Bell
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Post by Jim Bell » Sat Feb 02, 2013 7:20 pm

Rugger8 wrote:laclede,

If you know the former owners of the boat, I would ask them first. I am sure they would be willing to give you an overview, because obviously, it has been in the water for a long time, so there is some sort of charging system and a phone call to them can likely answer all of these questions.

As for the monitoring system, I don't have any knowledge of it.

Jeff
Very good advice. It would be hard to believe the PO would not have a auto charger to keep the batteries charged on shore power for the auto bilge pumps. Also, you said the electrical went weird when you hauled the boat. If I was in slings the boat would not be grounded, which would cause the issues you refer to. ==

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Tom Kenny
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Post by Tom Kenny » Sat Feb 02, 2013 7:26 pm

I went back and looked at the pictures you posted. DSCN0132 you can clearly see a disconnected battery cable resting on top of the deck boards covering the bilge. It looks like it belongs to the port side battery bank. DSCN0133 is a good shot of the port side battery box which does not seem to contains any batteries. DSCN0132 center aft shows something sitting in front of the hot water heater. Zooming in on the picture it appears that it might be another battery box with the nylon battery straps hanging out. All bigger boats that I have inspected with only one or two exceptions all have two banks of batteries. One for the engine and one for the electrical utilities such as lights, radio, etc. There is usually a form of battery combiner switch that can be engaged to have the engines draw current from both banks of batteries, if necessary.

Your first purchase may be a battery for that port side battery box and have the yard hook it up.

Just an observation and thought.
Tom Kenny
1961 55' Chris Craft Constellation
Independence - ftkltd.com

laclede
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Post by laclede » Sat Feb 02, 2013 8:46 pm

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laclede
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Post by laclede » Sat Feb 02, 2013 11:04 pm

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Tom Kenny
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Post by Tom Kenny » Sun Feb 03, 2013 1:00 am

The Hull Card for your boat from the Mariners Museum sometimes lists the original owners name if the boat was built to order.

You can also try and locate a set of lloyds Register of Shipping at a major library or large museum. There should be a set in the PNW area. You only need to locate the ledgers for you boats year and perhaps the year before and after as well. Use the "240424" number that you found as the se3arch criteria. The journals are listed by registration date and will contain everything that LLoyds registers for that year, by date. It took me two days of slow careful reading before I found my boat.

There are no pictures or advertising just the legal details.
Tom Kenny
1961 55' Chris Craft Constellation
Independence - ftkltd.com

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