Messin' with jpegs...46 Roamer aft enclosure plan

Our Roamer refit is moving along pretty well. In July, the welder will show up with a trailer full of aluminum and begin work on the aft enclosure and side decks. As all 46 Roamer owners know, the transition from aluminum to teak on the side decks is notorious for leaking and destroying the aft salon bulkhead and adjacent cabinetry. We're having the side decks redone in aluminum to solve that problem forever. As part of that job, the welder will also build the aft enclosure.

This is how Sa Va looked when we got her




And this is how it looks now, except that the tarp is gone and the boat's been tented with shrinkwrap




And this is kinda what I'm thinking it should look like when it's done. No hacking on my uber-skills with MS Paint, please. The plan is to have a single slider door on each side of the helm station, up-down slider windows on the sides and rear of the aft deck. There will be a single small door on the port side of the aft deck to access the swim platform. In addition to being a slider, the window there will be hinged as well, so it can be swung open in order to exit aft. That's the plan right now, anyway. Any constructive thoughts, comments, etc?

Thanks!

Acellist, how's yours coming along?

acellist, your boat's looking mighty fine there.

The decision to convert the aft deck to an upper salon happened just last weekend, so we'll have to rethink the interior now. I'll post something here when "light dawns on rocky dome."

Well, I understand the traditionalists' perspective. In fact, you can see the fine aft deck enclosure that was on the boat when we got it. It came off in a couple of hours with a chainsaw, and the boat did, indeed, look better for it. lol

But Laurence thinks more like I do. Practical usefulness, comfort, and economy are our priorities. Keeping the boat original has never been on any page of the plan. It was not original when I got it. It's missing loads of original parts. Sections of the helm station superstructure have been cut away, so the shape isn't like a proper Roamer. Unlike Acellist's vessel, this boat is not a good candidate for an original restoration.

Also, resale value is really moot. This is the last boat I will ever refit, and building my retirement boat to satisfy current market desires seems like a bad idea. I'd like to think that practicality, comfort, and economy that's well-executed will always be desirable. I'm less certain that in 25 years or more, nobody will want to buy my then 65-year old boat because the aft deck has been enclosed.

I'm curious, though...in Europe, classic yachts in the 14-18 meter range that have been modified fetch half of what unmodified ones get?

Thanks, acellist. You posted while I was writing. lol

Perhaps I wasn't perfectly clear before, so let me try one more time: this boat is not worthy of restoration. It has been "duded out," as the old timers sometimes say, and the parts that are missing are made of unobtainium. Unless acellist is willing to part his old tub out, there are no sources of parts, and these 46 Roamers don't have the inherent value anyway to justify having parts cast, custom made, or otherwised created from scratch. Absolutely NOBODY who is looking for a 46 Roamer (as if such a person actually exists lol) would be interested in this particular vessel unless somewhere in the neighborhood of US$300,000 was spent to restore it (and probably closer to a cool half-mil). For a boat that, even in a boom market, might be worth $250k in pristine condition? You gotta be kidding. I mean, I'm all about doing my part for the economy, but...

Soooooo, if you traditionalists really, really want to see this tub restored, pony up some dough and let's get to it. Alternatively, you could trust that I know more about what would be involved in restoring this thing than you do from a couple of pix online.

I find it interesting that two people from this forum who I've had personal interaction with both think the idea isn't too shabby. Conversely, people I don't know from a donut ask not even one question but then offer all sorts of advice that makes little sense, all things considered. Could it be that the people who know something about this particular boat have a certain amount of understanding the others don't? When so much of the originality has already been swapped out, what value is there in trying to keep it original? At some point doesn't pragmatism enter the picture, or are the traditionalists that hardcore? lol

Seafarer, it's not that I don't care to hear about your Huckins, but that threadjacking is considered bad form. In this case, you aren't threadjacking because somebody else already nudged the thing in this silly "it'll hurt your resale" direction. In any case, I wonder if you're not mixing up correlation with causation. I mean, is your old Huckins in the same condition as when you sold it 15 years ago? Has it been maintained exactly as well as you took care of it? Were the fittings you replaced of high quality or did they subsequently degrade over time?

NYCAP123, there's more than a little too much "figuring" going on. lol

What I was "going for" was a ~50' aluminum hulled boat. The Roamer was free and in pretty good condition but, as acellist wisely observed, it's not original by any stretch. I'm partial to the Chris Craft layout, so this boat works for our purposes. Resale doesn't matter at all. Originality doesn't matter much. The steam shower in the aft stateroom will matter. The hydraulic steering will matter less. The 120hp Ford Lehmans will be perfect for what we do. And the aft deck enclosure, whatever final shape it takes, will make it a much more comfortable liveaboard vessel. THAT's what matters.

So, now that we're hopefully past all of that...what do you think of the proposed aft deck enclosure? Does extending the wood accent pieces do anything for you? How about radiused aft windows instead of angular (keeping in mind that the Roamers are angular boats, especially in the superstructure)? Slider doors...thumbs up or down?