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1956 Chris Craft Capri Wiring & Bilge Issues

1956 chris craft capri wiring bilge repair

The Capri’s engine is out, crated and begins its trek to Peter Henkel, Inc. in Marine City, MI tomorrow.

While her owner reports that the engine has run reliably and strongly for at least a decade, we now know that it has also been losing copious amounts of oil and transmission fluid into the bilge. Indeed, the transmission had very little fluid in it, which probably helps explain the issues her owner has experienced with shifting and staying in gear.

This engine is plumbed in an interesting manner. For example, raw water is drawn in, but first passes through what appears to be a transmission cooler before continuing to the water pump. Perhaps this plumbing is a component of the Moroso kit that was used to marinize what had been an automobile engine.

We will learn much more once Robert Henkel lays hands and eyes on, and goes through the engine. All the fluids that have leaked from the engine and transmission over the years, perhaps decades, found a home in the bilge. The clip gives you a feeling for how much, but we pulled the engine yesterday, only to find several actual pools of oily fluid that has soaked into the wood by this afternoon. I can only guess what we will find once we have cleaned the bilge, flipped the hull and stripped off her bottom paint, especially what is left of it on the keel, garboards and related planks. We agreed with her owner that, if at all possible, we would not begin releasing bottom planking, but if we discover planking that is as oil-soaked as the bilge suggests it is, we will have no alternative. (She appears to retain her original planking, so just plucking off a plank here and there is near impossible. Remember, hundreds of ½’ slot-head screws and that sheet of canvas are lurking beneath the exterior planks.)

The wiring is an absolute nightmare, and dangerous to boot. The engine gets fuel via an electric fuel pump that someone wired directly to the positive side of the coil, which can if the wire is sized sufficiently large so that the pump is supplied with the voltage it needs without over-heating the wire. This boat’s pump is fed current from the coil via a 14 ga wire, which seems at least skimpy to me.

Beyond that, we have found seemingly unconnected masses and rats nests of all sorts of wire, most of which is not AWG, throughout the bilge and especially behind the gauges. (We will do our best to convince her owner that the truly safe course involves stripping all of it out and wiring it again from the get go.)

Since the bilge is oil-adulterated from just ahead of the shaft log through and to beneath the helm station, we must remove the rest of the seating, the bench seat bases and all of the flooring before Anthony and I begin fully enjoying going after all that grease and oil with putty knives, wire brushes and gallons of Roll-Off!

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1956 Chris Craft Capri Preservations Begins

1956 chris craft capri preservation

We have launched the preservation of a beautiful 19′ 1956 Chris-Craft Capri that has been the victim of some “difficult” restoration over the years.

She has been re-powered several times and now has a GM 350 automobile engine in her bilge that was marinized using what appears to me an Osco conversion kit. We will know more once we have shipped her to Robert Henkel, Peter Henkel, Inc. in Marine City, MI (www.chris-craft-parts.com)

The engine is too long for its bay, so the lower forward pulley invades the aft cockpit about 2-3 inches. This fact forced someone to add a stand-off addition to the upper aft seating assembly, which, in turn makes the seat back uncomfortably erect. Correcting the latter issue means either moving the engine aft, which is impossible, or swapping engines, which seems to be overkill given the expense involved. (I will ask Henkel if he can install a shorter lower pulley and assembly.)

Beyond that, I will let my commentary with the clip convey the issues we must confront.

One added thought. Several times this week, potential clients have complained bitterly when I share the reality that, unlike auto repair which is billed by the flat rate book, the cost of preserving antique and classic boats is largely a crap shoot unless and until deconstruction is behind us. Even then, moving forward all too often exposes additional issues.

Bottom line. I can offer a ballpark guesstimate most of the time, but in no way can I be held to it. We will know how much it will cost when we are finished preserving her; not a minute before. Anyone who tells you otherwise is blowing smoke you know where.

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1947 Chris Craft U22 Bottom Damage Quandry

1947 chris craft U22 bottom damage

This video is prompted by a comment from Mike Erstad on our last video, the one bringing the snapped port bilge frame onto the table.

Mike’s comment, “The way you described, it sounds like they were in a port side turn at high speed and didn’t make it out of the shallows before grounding….”

I replied, “Mike, your comment, together with emails I have received, prompted me to insert the prop shaft-strut assembly into the shaft tunnel and set the strut in place … at least as well as It fits. Now we have a puzzle. The gouge in the bottom plank well forward of where the shaft exits the bottom is clearly on starboard, but, as you will see in the video I will shoot in a while, the shaft-strut-prop assembly and the rudder are bent towards, not away from starboard! We’ve puzzled with what we see and our initial thought is that, as the assembly was driven towards starboard, a counterclockwise – viewed from the transom – torque force was visited on the strut , forcing its mounting block and the two frames that were destroyed into the port chine frame, snapping them in the process.”

So, here is the promised clip. And your thoughts, theories, hypotheses are?

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1947 Chris Craft U22 Chine Frame Damage

1947 chris craft U22 chine frame damage

With her bottom completely stripped and cleaned, we gained a clearer view of the frame components, and discovered one more significantly damaged component.

Remember, her bottom initially slammed into a submerged rock or ledge about halfway forward of the transom, leaving a huge gash/scrape in the affected bottom plank.

Next her running gear bottomed out, being hit from the starboard side and driven towards port. Until today, when Joe was installing two replacement frames, he discovered that the hull, especially aft of the prop shaft tunnel will rack laterally when shaken from side-to-side. Why?

The bottoming, which drove the running gear to port, also drove the two destroyed frames to port and through the chine frame. As the clip shows, the port chine frame was broken through-and-through in two places where the bottom frames land on the chine frame. The carriage bolt securing the port end of the more forward of the two destroyed frames was snapped in the process.

This is why, when working on a bottom, releasing the chine plank is critical. Doing so exposes the chine-frame-bottom-frame joints, which permits close inspection of each landing, as well as the bolts holding things together.

We will cut a sixty-degree angle scarf into the time frame two bays forward, fabricate a new aft section and then secure everything together with silicon bronze carriage bolts passing through a scarf block and through the new and old frame sections. Everything will be joined using 3M5200 adhesive.

Great discovery, Joe!

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1947 Chris Craft U22 Bottom Skeletonized

1947 chris craft U22 bottom skeletonized

Stripping her bottom completely was absolutely the right choice. Were you to navigate back to an earlier video, you would here me expressing virtual glee around how clean and oil-free our 1947 Chris-Craft U22’s bilge is/was.

Wrong!

She’s over seventy. Her bottom had never been released until today. Let this be a lesson to all of us.

Even if her engine never leaked, and even if no one spilled oil when sucking it our of the filler pipe, just regular use translates into goo, grease, grime, oil and God knows what else finding its way into the bilge. Everything gets coated and more so over the decades.

As this clip testifies, her framework is a greasy mess. Never could it hold paint. Once we finish stripping everything, we will reach for our Simple Green Industrial Degreaser and use literally gallons of it virtually full-strength cleaning and scrubbing. Then all surfaces will be coated in Sandusky Chris-Craft Mahogany Bilge Paint.

Thanks to a butt joint at about amidships, we will only release the aft section of chine plank, which will expose the chine frame and ends of the two aft bottom frames.

Releasing/replacing the center transom frame means first releasing all three, not just the bottom, transom plank.

Anthony has now released the port-side bottom planking, thereby exposing similarly greasy, grimy frame members.

Onward…

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1947 Chris Craft U22 Crash Damage Update

1947 chris craft U22 hull damage update

Phew! Rolling a Chris U22 is never easy.

A suggestion, when flipping clockwise when standing at the bow, tie a rope to the port side – to the port bilge stringer or other strong frame member. Run the rope over the port gunwale, under the boat, back up starboard side, up over the rolling bar ending up right back on the port side.

That way when she rolls you can continue pulling on the rope from the port side. She kick over beyond vertical. (We attach the rope to a winch for larger boats like a Chris U22.)

Be sure you have sufficient clearance above the floor as the boat drops when it has rolled halfway around. (We cheat by placing sheets of blue board where she is the widest.)

Remember, this is the Chris that bottomed out. The longitudinal, deep gouge in the fourth starboard plank outboard of the keel tells us that she initially bottomed there and that the damage continued aft, as we have chronicled in earlier videos.

In fact, her occupants should count their lucky stars that the rocks did not drive through the wood bottom, which would have almost surely sunk the boat quite quickly soon thereafter.

Having her upside down allows us to assess the situation and plan a path forward that, if possible, exposes all of the damaged framing without releasing the entire bottom. Happily, such is possible as the aft garboard and next planks extend only eight and ten feet respectively forward from the transom. Releasing these four planks – two on either side of the keel – should give us the access we need. (Note the “should.” We will only know for sure once the planks have been released.)

Since the center transom frame member was badly damaged and must be repaired, if not replaced, we must also release the bottom transom plank.

All that said, we will reach for our picks and Rotabroachs – search Amazon for Blair-Equipment 11090N-Rotabroach – and begin exposing and releasing fasteners.

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1956 Chris Craft Sportsman 5200 Bottom

1956 Chris Craft Sportsman 5200 Bottom

We are just two coats of Pettit Old Salem Copper Bronze Hard Racing Enamel away from completing installing a True 5200 Bottom on this 1956 17’ Chris-Craft Special Sportsman.

While the Interlux Interprotect 2000E Barrier Coat Epoxy Primer cures for re-coating in five hours, the Pettit bottom paint wants sixteen hours at seventy degrees Fahrenheit. Since our shop stays in the mid-sixties, we will wait twenty to twenty-fours, or until midday tomorrow, to apply the second coat.

Her bottom will receive a third coat, but not until the balance of this preservation project is behind us. All of her topside and transom planks must be released. We do no know until then how many, if any, can be saved, and re-stacking of the topside planks is an absolute must, as is replacing at least one transom plank.

That said, on next Wednesday we will flip and load her onto her trailer, and place her in our storage facility until we and her owner agree on the path forward. His history with her – she was bought new by his family. He grew up with her as the core of family activities each year. She was sold and then banished to lying beneath a tree with a deteriorating canvas tarp as her only protection from the elements for forty years until he finally found her three or so years ago.

Those strong family and emotional ties are driving him towards investing himself in the balance of her preservation. We understand and anticipate a warm and compassionate conversation with him in the coming months.

But the best news is that, with her True 5200 Bottom in place and all structural elements now sound, we saved her. Mission accomplished!

Here are links to all the videos we shot to date:

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1947 Chris Craft U22 Sportsman in the Shop

1947 chris craft whiteside U22

Her owners were following their usual and customary route from their cottage to the broad lake, traveling along at a good speed when suddenly and abruptly, she slammed to a stop, nearly ejecting her occupants.

Her lake’s level had dropped significantly and rocks and ledge that had always been well below the surface over the season and in prior years was now just beneath the surface. The crash destroyed her prop, prop shaft, strut, rudder and rudder shaft log.

The force of the crash also destroyed the athwart bottom framing, the keel and the keelson in from the transom to at least two feet forward.

Topside plank fasteners failed under the stress visited upon them, popping rows of bungs in the process.

Two of the Chrysler Crown engine’s mounts failed completely, and a third was severely ripped under the impact. While we cannot diagnose engine issues unless and until the engine is torn down, that RPMs were driven from 2000 +/- to zero instantaneously cannot be good for it.

We will not really know the full extent of the damage until we empty and flip the hull over. The good news is that other than wanting a comprehensive cosmetic do-over, this U22 is in excellent shape, with nary a bit of rot discovered up to this point.

We will strip her completely inside and out and then proceed with refinishing all surfaces.

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1947 Chris Craft U22 Engine Leak Down & Compression Tests

1947 chris craft U22 engine leak down compression tests

Using our Abn Cylinder Leak Detector & Engine Compression Tester Kit we performed leak down and compression tests on our 1947 Chris-Craft U22’s original Chrysler Crown flathead six engine. It failed both of them miserably.

While we only taped leak down testing of the number four cylinder, which scored the worst of the six, all six were tested and scored very poorly. After using a wood dowel to confirm that the piston was at TDC, we adjusted the tester and then put 90 PSI pressure to it. The result was 95% leakage. With readings ranging from about 50 PSI to 65 PSI, he compression tests on all six cylinders returned similarly failing scores.

According to Robert Henkel, Peter Henkel Inc., “The Chrysler Crown is the best, strongest and most reliable of all flathead six marine engines built from WWII on, but all of them wear out.

“This one has served its owners for many decades without being rebuilt. Based on your leak down and compression tests, it’s just tired, worn out. It’s time to tear it down and rebuild it. It could be a failed head gasket, but with numbers as low as your results, I am guessing, but will not know for certain until we tear it down, that it’s reached the end of its useful life.”

He also reminded us that this engine went through a bottoming that destroyed its running gear. “It’s likely we will also find major damage to the lower end of the engine, especially the crank shaft, bearings and connecting rods.”

Crating and shipping it to him next week is our only option.

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1947 Chris Craft Cedar Plank U22 Hull Damage

1947 chris craft whiteside U22 hull damage

As introduced in her last video, this 1947 cedar-planked U22 ran hard aground last fall. We have now finished deconstructing everything in and on her hull, and finally can get a good look at and begin to understand the resulting damage to her hull and running gear.

Save for the last two athwart bottom frames, the rudder log installation plank, the final 3 – 4 feet of keelson and keel and the center transom frame, the hull ahead of the prop shaft log escaped damage. Indeed, structurally, this U22’s hull is as sound as any we’ve worked on to date.

That said, encountering the ledge and stones on the bottom visited major damage from the prop shaft log aft. Save for that shaft log, all of the running gear was destroyed. Indeed, we will not even be able to release the rudder shaft log unless and until we release at least the bottom transom plank, but it was distorted beyond repair as well.

Later today I will strip the transom, release the bottom plank and probably the next one up in an effort to expose the rudder shaft log enough so we can release it.

At the very least, we must replace sections of the keel, the keelson, the last two athwart bottom frames, and the center transom frame, which means also releasing significant sections of the bottom. (We cannot really understand the full extent of the hull damage before she is flipped, her bottom is stripped and we begin releasing bottom planks.)

The good news is that I have been able to source all of the running gear components, save for the strut, which will be cast anew in bronze in Michigan, thanks to Robert Henkel and Peter Henkel Inc.

Yes, this video is long and detailed, so I will allow it to speak for her rather than asking you to read endlessly here.