Want to buy a CC! Please educate me!

Well I been looking at boats for 4 years now I always liked Hatteras. I finially found a Chris Craft and I purchased it. It's a 1965 CC 48" Roamer Riviera Alluminum haul.

I see by looking at your posts your no stranger to the boating world, or at the very least you sure like posting about them. But boy, you sure are keeping your range wide-open! From wood to metal to glass, diesel or gas.
That about covers it.
If this were me contemplating a "long-term-live-aboard", along with my wife. well lets just say it like they did in the movie "Jaws", - "We're gonna need a bigger boat!"
The diesel/gas issue may proove itself moot by moving to a larger vessel, you don't see many gassers in the above 48' range, even Chris Crafts.
The part about "not needing all that deck space" surprises me. What better place to enjoy those Carribean sunsets and get up into some fresh air, but
you want what you want. Chris Crafts really are recreational in nature, plenty of people live aboard them and happily so, but by your description methinks you might be better served with a trawler.

I found her... maybe!

This may be your machine. She is wide 15', she is the toughest thing you can find. One probem maybe, you need to survey the hull. The season is very short here and this machine likely never saw salt. She is gas, but I can tell you this is one tough slick looking momma. It is in upstate NY. Things are very depressed there.. I know this model.. if it is a good one... go work the price.... Nothin is better looking or tougher for the money. She looks in great shape too.

See next e-mail

Homer

From my work as a Tow Boat Us captain on the Potomac River I get to see alot. MY wife and I been looking at boats for a Liveaboard for several years we Finally decided on a Chris Craft. i hope I made the right choice but time will tell.

41 Roamer

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http://www.boattrader.com/listing/19...oamer-90002763


Worth a call. This is a marina we stayed at in the early 70's.. It's Roamerville.
I may actually know this boat if I had the original name. This baot is a true fortress. Top of the line and built real tough.

Good Luck

The boat I purchased name is Never Enough. It was owned by Paul Fleury.

Paul Flurry

That boat is tricked out. Paul knows more about aluminum hulls than anyone. He was finatical about it in fact.. That boat is probably near perfect and loaded.

If anyone is going up to check out that 41' "Island Roamer" at Bonnie Castle please let me know. I may know that boat if you can tell me the original name and owner.

Homer

92gta

Contact Jim Wick at LPX. He was at the Factory when these boats were being made.

If you want larger.. I recommed the 47 Commander. THAT HULL IS BULLET PROOF and way over-built.. better hull than Hatteras in this length but the Hatteras has a nicer interior as the Commanders where using formica inside a bit.

Roamers have nicer interiors IMHO... but check out the 47!

Also check out the 53 Hat.. but they will run more $

I think the prettiest of all was the 52 foot Chirs Craft Constellation.. but that's wood... but so pretty. The 57 has a tendency to Hog if pulled up on strapps. careful with that one if it's hogged.. The 52 was a beauty but very rare.

Don't be automatically offput by wood hull work. You'd be surprised by how many resources actually exist (layed off cabinet workers pick up on it really quick) and what real costs can be with a bit of leg work and research. With not to much learning or talent required, any of it is achievable by a person with a bit of time and less $$$ than you may currently think.

Joinery

Well, depends. actually most woodworkers are hacks.. we call them "The Wood Butchers" around here. Few are good in Maryland compared to other areas previously stated. Maine and North Carolina have the highest number of them and the cost is about 40-50% lower because there are many more craftsmen in these locales and the cost of living is lower as well. Wancheese North Carolina being the mecca where the Carolina style Sport Fishers are made. The likes of Paul Mann for example.
http://www.paulmanncustomboats.com/
So combine supply shortage with a state that madates and promotes entitlement for "equality," and the formula is considerably more challenged. Maryland has Crabs and The Bay... beyond this port, discretion shall be the floating hull of valour.

Fine joinery is a skill, an art a craft. It takes great personal pride. Those who are true craftsman really are not all that common in America any longer. The glory days of John Trumpy long since passsed, but Hacks abound. I've hired a few and they lasted about a week. The work you see here is good, certainly well beyond original Chris Craft. Chris Craft was production joinery, not custom grade. All interior joinery is square for one example. They had to be or Chris Craft could not sell them. However, the Constellation was in fact a lovely piece of floating furniture. If I could have had any new Chris Craft, it may well have been the 52 Connie, but the Connie will not take the sea as well as a Commander or Roamaer, tends to roll compatively and does not have the bow flair, beam or quite the strength, yet strong. Roamers and Commanders are beyond the call of duty.

41, 47 or 47

The 38 is too small to live abaord, but is the most awesome of vacation machines or pehaps a picnic boat on steroids. The 38 can be handled by one skilled captain indeed.

The 41 is nice, the 46 Roamer excellent and so is the 47 Commander for a compromize size. All three of these boats have great lines, sea quality and enough size without being too much. The Commander is going to be the lowest on maintenence. Commander fibergalss hulls in the mid 60's to very early 70's are the thickest ever made I believe. Yes, better than Hatteras in this era, but Hatteras had nicer real wood Ribbon Striped Sappele interiors. Aluminum does have some challenges holding Awlgrip in places dissimilar metals contract afer a few years. Use Teff Gel with every stainless screw is my point. The 53 Hatteras is an all time calssic winner.. to be looked at, but large.

The 47 Commander is one to certainly look at as well, though aintenence is by far highest on the Connie, a perfect Connie is a true piece of floating furniture with classic styling and super hot good looks that to this day can't be touched.

You need to be careful with the big Roamers, the morons welded the fuel tanks into the hull, so that is a hole new issue with the 58's and above.

Also, the smaller Roamers used galvanized fuel tanks... DUMB, eventually they rust, will clog your filters with rust dust ect and shut your engines down once the filters get clogged. All older Roamers should get new tanks and they do come out with ease as long as it is not a 58 or above. I recommend SP Tanks in Jersey.

Integral fuel tanks

Homer - I am detecting a slightly negative tone regarding integral fuel tanks (just a hint). Can I ask why?

My (1970) 58 has a pair and they tested fine, but had been setting for 15 years so they needed cleaning. We cut inspection ports and cleaned them out. The alum on the inside is like new. What else should we watch for?

Ceck out the chris craft antique boat website. They have all the old brochures and brassbell articles with a ton of information. If you pay for a one year prescription (30 to 40 bucks) you can view alot of the original brocures in the archive section. Also check out the commander club.

ART!!!

I'd be interested in hearing why, too. There are a few engineering papers out there that are very supportive of integral tanks. In fact, I sometimes wish I had gone integral on mine. Increased hull rigidity, less space consumed in the interior...with a couple of clean-out ports, what's not to like?

92GTA, if you look closely at my avatar you'll see my 1967 tri-cabin 52' Connie. It's 6-71 powered and--like everything else out there--could be considered "on the market." Shoot me an email if you're serious.

"Now I've been reading stuff about how old wooden boats rot faster in the tropics from decay and worms, etc." Can't help you there. I've never kept a boat there.
Also that marinas don't like risk having big old wooden boats in their slips due to disposal costs if they are abandoned. I've had no problem on the Potomac or the Chesapeake, but then my boat's not a wreck.
They also cost much more to pull due to weight than aluminum. I have never heard of a yard charging by the pound to haul, only by the foot. I'm also not sure that wooden boats are heavier by much, if at all, than aluminum. My Connie runs just short of 20 tons.
Skilled workman might also be a downside when it comes to big repairs. Planks and ribs aren't a big mystery, and in many Carribean nations (Haiti is one I know for sure), boats are still being constructed out of wood.
Plus because of this they are very difficult to insure properly. Is all this true? I have no problem insuring my boat. I know of at least two carriers that happily insure them: Heritage and Hagerty.