I am preparing to load my 37 Rivera Express onto its new trailer. The literature I have indicates the Roamer is about 13' 6" tall (havent measured accurately yet, ran out of time today to cach my flight back home. I did a rough measure a while back and it seemed like 13-6 was a little on the high side. Also not sure and what the reference points are given about a 3'-6" draft and handrails on top of hardtop. I want to get a low as possible for trip frm Wisconsin to Calif so removal of some items - props for sure, - rudders ( 1'-7" from bottom of hull gets about about a net of 4" - propshaft struts are about 1'-3" from bottom of hull Q- any one have photos or explanation of rudder removal and propshaft strut removal and/or accurate measurements of 65 37 Rivera from keel to hardtop
Hauling Roamer When we shipped our 38' Commander we removed the wheels but were advised that the rudders would get tucked into open area in the framing of the trailer, and that is exactly what happened. We did remove the Fly Bridge and shipped her out at 13'-4" including the pulley for the bridge steering which sttod up about 3-4 inches. Mark
Set up for long haul Thnx 9lives Your commander looks like there is more curve to the bottom of the hull. The roamer is surprisingly flat. The props and rudder will fit in a void between two of the trailer beams. Beams are 8" x 10", open space between is about 1'-10", struts centerline about 2'3" from keel CL so ok on width. Issue is depth, beams are 10" as noted with about 8" of ground clearence, so with rudder dist tip to hull of 1'7" and strut dist of 1'3", using 2" above bottom of beam for protection from road debris puts it 11-12" above the deck w/ rudders left on and 7-8" with rudders off and only struts on, taking off struts gets the additional 7" or so.
Shipping While you can gain some room by removing the rudders if the strut setup is like our Regal, you will be gaining only a small distance. If you look closely on the attached pic taken when we converted to 1-3/4" shafts you will see the tip of the rudder which is only slightly lower than the strut to begin with. Hopefully your strut is on a steeper angle and as a result will allow you more to gain. Dropping our rudders wasn't that difficult, but ours turned freely to begin with and weren't overly worn or stuck as some have indicated on the forum. Mark
Images I resized my images today. It looks like stuts on your and mine are welded which if so means they will stay in place.
struts Good to see that even though you have drifted to the world of FRP you still lurk on the Roamer site, Bill! Our Roamer is indeed welded, and not bolted as your picture shows. Unless that was your Hat? Sure looked like a Roamer hull though. Just saw that the original poster of this thread has extra material welded on to his rudders so he does have some height to gain with the removal compared to ours. Mark
Hey Mark... not lurking; TESTING! Just wondering if anyone is paying attention. Look closely between the Vs and youll see the original pad/weldment from the OEM single aluminum strut. The pads satyed because of too much weld to grind out! Also built intermediate struts when I went from 283s to 454s. We just finishing sandblasting the bottom and primed 3X with coal tar epoxy then tri-lux AF. I think if its really an issue, I would trim that stuff off the rudders, but NOT cut the struts. ALIGNMENT issues will ensue! ws Just launched the Roamer yesterday and its right next to the 58 Hatteras...
Rudders & Struts Thanks for comments. I guess I am surprised to see 3 diff strut setups and would have thought there would be more consistency across roamers. Being overheight in transport isnt the end of the world but sure makes things tougher.
Rudders and struts Bill, I never even noticed the single pad until you mentioned it! As to your comment about cutting struts and the re-alignment issues later, you are dead on. When we cut the 1-1/2" tubes off of the struts and prepared to re-install the 1-3/4" tubes I made centering plugs for the shaft logs to hold the new strut cylinders into as close alignemt as was possible. Even with welding slowly and switching faces as often as we could we still struggled pushing the old shafts out. Once we installed the new composite cutlass bearings we found that the port engine was much more out of line than i had contemplated or allowed with the slots on the engine mounting plates. The starboard came out fine and as planned, but the Port was a pain. Goes to show that even with all sorts of planning to make it smooth, when you take apart the propulsion system and reweld parts of it, you can count on needing a major alignment again! Hope you are enjoying that Hat, looks like a fine ride! Mark
Hey Mark... its refreshing to know that someone actually reads this stuff! Look at the shaft log also... a wee bit out of alignment too. When I repowered with 454s from the 283F models (flywheel forward), the geometry changed. That included cutting about 2 inches off the stringer tops and notching some hull stringers for the velvet drives as well. Also increased the exhaust from 3 to 4-1/2" through the transom. After the motors were ruffed in, I made up the couplings to APPROXIMATE the strut positions, then a lot of tack welding, and finally took them off for a complete bench weld. Thats all 1/4 stainless sluice gate valve material from work. Too bad that was 1990 and digital cameras werent in vogue yet! All that stuff is threaded into the bottom with nuts and washers inside and a full face app of 5200, AND BONDED as well!! Old girl runs 20 mph at 2700 and winds up to 4600... do the math on that! ws
Hello all! Great information on this thread / Forum. I thought I would post in this thread my question since there seem to be a lot of knowledgable guys here on this topic. I have a 1967 Chris Craft Romer 37' Aluminium Hull with Original 460 Fords and Paragon Transmissions Ive just pulled and getting ready to have them all overhauled. I need to address the Struts and the Shaft logs while I have the floor cut out and motors out I think. The struts are about wore through from the inside out and so are the shaft logs. When I bought the boat in 2019 it came with quite a bit of extra parts including (1) replacement strut. Any Suggestions on: -How to best replace struts and shaft logs on aluminum hull? Welding methods? -Where to get replacement struts / shaft logs? -Best Alignment methods? I'll take any and all advice on this! This part of the rebuild I think Ive been dreading the worst! Thank you all who take the time to comment in these forums! they have helped me a ton over the course of this project!
Oh Sheet, I thought Riviera, She's a Roamer. Supper cool. The best answer to your question, Find a real alloy hull welder. These days, finding a real tech, can be difficult. In my day, paying my heavy marine welder to drive 400+ miles was a norm. He and crew stayed at a Hilton. Yes,, worth that much. The hull will need to be blocked up extra carefully to match in water positions of the running gear. Your welder may want to take sight lines before cutting out (if really needed) of the old cutlass assembly. Please keep us up on what you do. I'll ask Da Boss to make this a new thread for you.
