23ft Chris Craft Lancer. New floor and interior

[Chadsci]

Hey all,

This is my first post here. Last year I bought a 1967 CHris Craft Lancer. It has been repowered with Mercuiser 454ci making 330hp. I picked it up with no interior and a nasty hardwood floor, which as of last friday is gone. The stringers look to be in good shape, so I will be starting to trim out the floor panels today.

I just thought I would provide some pics of the project and say hello.

First here are some pics of the Lancer.

Here is a pic of the interior(or lack of interior).

And my favorite part. The big block!

You can see in the pics that the wood flooring is....
Well I know it wasn't sealed, because under it was nasty. It is all gone now and waiting for a new floor. .

Here are some pics of the removal of the hardwood flooring and underlayment.

I will post some more pics a little later.

Thanks
Chad

 

[Willyclay]

Re: 23ft Chris Craft Lancer. New floor and interior

Welcome to the iboats.com forum. The experts here, which I am not, can help you with any questions about your boat, motor and trailer. That's a great looking boat for 40+ years old. Looking forward to future posts about your repairs and restoration. Good luck!

 

[Chadsci]

Re: 23ft Chris Craft Lancer. New floor and interior

MOre pics as I had hit the 7 pic limit.

THese are from last year when we took the flooring out.

I had my teenager do the hard backbreaking work....

And a couple form this past week.

I need to learn how to use/lay fiberglass. Some of the wood on the side of the hull needs to be replaced and it was glassed into the side of the boat.

Motor runs very well and will need nothing!

Chad

 

[Chadsci]

Re: 23ft Chris Craft Lancer. New floor and interior

One last post before heading into the garage.

Having no interior has really left the design up to me. I want to copy several things from different boats. I started by finding some seats from a Wellcraft Scorpion being parted.

Would like a Two-way seat on the pass side of the boat. The kind that has front and rear seating, that also lays down. Like this

My plan is to make a rear sun pad for it like this.

I also want the rear bench to look like the back of this Chris craft Catalina.

All done now I have to go work.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 23ft Chris Craft Lancer. New floor and interior

That's a very cool old boat and I like your interior ideas. Good luck with your project.

 

[mrdjflores]

Re: 23ft Chris Craft Lancer. New floor and interior

i doing my rear seating like that, sorta....u-shape seating, but i did not curve the corners...i was initially planning on have a curve in the corners, but it wouldn't look right with the overall design of the boat...

you can see some of it in my "how to...seats" thread in my signature line

 

[Chadsci]

Re: 23ft Chris Craft Lancer. New floor and interior

The seats in the back will not be curved like in the photo. My boat is much to old for that style too. They will be squared in the corners.

I have been able to finish some things though. Getting the angles on this panel took a couple of test tries. I wasn't about to cut cut away with $70 a sheet plywood.

This is the result of three test cuts and measurements.

The rest of the floor panels cut and test fit.

Finished the step. Now I need to epoxy the panels and install them.

I also picked up some epoxy and had a bunch of questions answered at the local West marine. I have never used Epoxy or Fiberglass before. I hope to have a friend stop by this next Saturday to complete the glass work.

Thats it for this weekend.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 23ft Chris Craft Lancer. New floor and interior

Nice work on the carpentry.

 

[tschmidty]

Re: 23ft Chris Craft Lancer. New floor and interior

Looks good, but I have a feeling you may end up needing a fair bit more epoxy. You really want to put two coats on both sides of each board and pay special attention to the end grains. The best way to thin it is to heat the plywood before putting on the epoxy, laying it in the sun will help (also helps with cure time).

Another thing is don't brush or roll the epoxy when you are tabbing the corners or laying the glass, use a squeegee.

 

[Chadsci]

Re: 23ft Chris Craft Lancer. New floor and interior

Looks good, but I have a feeling you may end up needing a fair bit more epoxy. You really want to put two coats on both sides of each board and pay special attention to the end grains. The best way to thin it is to heat the plywood before putting on the epoxy, laying it in the sun will help (also helps with cure time).

Another thing is don't brush or roll the epoxy when you are tabbing the corners or laying the glass, use a squeegee.

Man you were not kidding. I used up more than half of it just coating the front panels and making the filler mixture. I can say I am very pleased with the west system products. My biggest worry was the smell. I thought it would be around for days/weeks. Not problems at all. The mixing pumps are perfect. No worries about measuring for this first timer.

PIcs to follow.

 

[Chadsci]

Re: 23ft Chris Craft Lancer. New floor and interior

Made a bunch more progress this weekend. Was able to put two coats of epoxy on the front sections panels on sat. I Also removed the starter and overhauled it. Replaced the spark plugs. Tried to find a Electric conversion for the points distributor in the 454 and Vac'ed out the inside of the boat.

Used these sweet little triangle stands from home depot to hold the panels.

Once epoxied I mounted the side boards and began the process of securing the lower floor board.

Without removing the top of the boat. I had no way to install the floor like they do at the factory. I used the same type of panels and just made the screws come in from the top. The epoxy mixed with filler filled the gaps and sealed it up.

Tab'ed in the sides with fliberglass like stock.

Used fiberglass mat to secure the lower side boards. These parts were all screwed in from the reverse side. I couldn't do that so I used a peanut butter mixture on the angled wood panels and fiberglass mat on the small open section.

All and all a very busy weekend. Glad to have now had a long cold shower(very humid here today) and a well deserved beer.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: 23ft Chris Craft Lancer. New floor and interior

Nice work. You definitely deserve that beer. Glad I'm not the only one who was surprised at his rate of epoxy usage

 

[clockwatcher]

Re: 23ft Chris Craft Lancer. New floor and interior

Nice boat and nice work. Classic Chris Craft. It looks like it will be a smooth and dry ride.

 

[archbuilder]

Re: 23ft Chris Craft Lancer. New floor and interior

Looks really good, nice job on fitting the plywood!

 

[BigBoatinOkie]

Re: 23ft Chris Craft Lancer. New floor and interior

Very nice carpentry work sir. Lookin good

 

[Friscoboater]

Re: 23ft Chris Craft Lancer. New floor and interior

Sweet boat my friend. I was going to say also, that you will need much more epoxy than that. I just did my transom and used 5 gallons.

 

[Chadsci]

Re: 23ft Chris Craft Lancer. New floor and interior

Well its been awhile without an update. But I have been making progress.

The floor is in and glassed. Trying to find out if I need to drill drain holes in the top layer to allow water to run off.

I had a bit of fun last weekend with the loss of a power sander for about an hour..... I found it under the last floor board I had installed that day.

Secret compartment for sander smuggling.

Also removed the storage panels up front. Looking for more room for the kiddies to play/sleep.

With the panels out we now have a bunch more room.

The goal still stands to have this in the water for the 4th of July this year.
I don't plan on sleeping till then.....

Chad

 

[Chadsci]

Re: 23ft Chris Craft Lancer. New floor and interior

Haven't had time to post much lately but I have been busy.

Finished the floor and mounted the power tilt and trim motor.

With the help of my Cousin, I have finally gotten started on my bench seat.
With any luck we should have the sun pad done today.

Bench is a simple box. I made the bench 18.5 inches wide to allow the little one or the teenager to paydown on it and sleep if needed.

Box spec's
Seat is 14 inches from floor. back rest is 14 inches tall. Bench(seating portion is 18.5 inches wide. Bench is 6 feet 1 inch long.

Above photo does not include the rest of the panelling that is now present to keep the seat storage items in place, should also keep the motor noise down.

I boxed in the new bench for strength and to help support the weight better.
THe box and sunpad will be dropped off at the upholstry shop monday am. He said he could have it done by friday. We will see.

Gotta go lay the carpet in the forword section of the boat.

 

[chargerboy]

Re: 23ft Chris Craft Lancer. New floor and interior

nice work, love the old CCs, and you have some great ideas for this one. I noticed you were looking for a distributor conversion, any chevy HEI will work.

 

[keelhauled]

Re: 23ft Chris Craft Lancer. New floor and interior

Nice work!! You've given me a few ideas... hmmmm....

As for the engine, slap a pertronix ignitor in it and keep the points in your tool box on board in case your pertronix would fail. Cheapest upgrade you will ever do to the old Chris.

Keep a close eye on the wood flooring where the bulkheads under the dashboards meet the floor in the cabin. The sliding hatch will leak water into this area if exposed to heavy rain and it will collect and eventually rot your floors and bulkheads!

You will need deck drains. Two in the rear, one on each side, in front of your bench and one in the well in front of your step-down. Otherwise water will accumulate on your deck! Chris-Craft used little drains that look like miniature sink strainers at the factory, similar to what you see in RV sinks.

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