Enterprise restoration

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cayles
Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Oct 03, 2008 6:55 pm

Enterprise restoration

Post by cayles »

Hi all,

I've just inherited a neglected old plywood Enterprise, and will be starting to restore her soon. Very glad to find this group! I have some experience from building cedar-strip kayaks, but plywood-on-frame is all new to me, so I hope you can help me with some basic questions...

- Should delaminating and rotten areas of ply be ripped out and patched, or should I try to bring them back to life with a penetrating epoxy (e.g. CPES) first?
- What is the best approach to dealing with loose fasteners? Remove and re-seat in epoxy? Or remove and replace with a larger piece? Do nail and screwheads need to be puttied over before finishing?
- Should I epoxy the entire boat before varnishing and painting?

Many thanks in advance. I'm sure more questions will arise. Very excited to get this thing afloat!

Chris
Victoria, BC, Canada
Michael Brigg
Posts: 1663
Joined: Fri Jul 06, 2007 7:11 pm
Location: Gosport, UK

Re: Enterprise restoration

Post by Michael Brigg »

McCain said it about Hilary;
Obama said it about Palin, Sorry, no he didn't?!

"You can put Epoxy on rot, but at the end of the day its still rotten."

The best thing to do with rot, the only thing is to cut it out.

An Enterprise has a construction that can relatively easily cut out smallish bits of rotten ply and replace. The pianted exterior means the patch is invisible on the outside and interiorly you can always put some reinforcement over the top to conceal it in a manner that strengthens what would otherwise be a spot that is liable to rot again.
Michael Brigg
Rupert
Posts: 6255
Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2004 8:40 pm
Location: Cotswold Water Park

Re: Enterprise restoration

Post by Rupert »

But the areas round the rot, where the wood is just a bit suspect, kind of, but you don't want to make too big a hole, can be treated with a rot stopping wood hardner. Over this side of the pond ronseal and cupriol both make them. Can't help with Canadian brands, I'm afraid. Epoxy really, really doesn't work, though.
Rupert
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