Enterprise advice

[thomn59]

Greetings to all. Am new to this forum and from what I have read it seems to be a mine of information.

I have just come into possession of a 1969 Enterprise, and as you would expect the old girl is showing signs of her age, mainly on her bottom. I think that I should be able to carry out repairs by cutting out the old and fitting new ply. I was wondering how difficult this may prove to be or, if a complete replacement of the hull is better.

Many thanks and looking forward to being part of the forum
Thom

[roger]

Hi Thom,

Welcome the the cvrda. I believe Garry has recently done exactly that just recently. It shouldnt be to difficult as long as the frames beneath are ok. I did the same to my Hornet some time ago and the ply on frames design is the same.

Keep us up to date with progress and pics are always welcome.

Rog

[Rupert]

Hi Thom,

Cutting out and replacing ply is pretty easy. Making it look good is harder, but generally the outside is painted, so you only need to worry about one side! Epoxy is a wonderful glue for this sort of thing, so long as you have a big enough gluing edge to put it on.

I'm pretty sure we have pictures on here from previous queries, and descriptions. I will let someone with a better memory for such things find them, but I think if you search you may find something, perhaps from Garry's first job. Try ply and repair as search words, maybe?

If you have any pics, we may be able to help more specifically.

[kfz]

Very much depends on how bad the damage is. Are we talking rot or mechanical damage?

For small scale repairs your basically your making patches, The ent doesnt have many frames the strength is in the skin so make sure the patches are good and strong. There is a few ways to do it but normally you make an inner patch bigger than the hole (which you square off) and then and piece to fit in the hole of the same same thickness. You epoxy it all in and use thickened epoxy in the gap and Bobs you uncle. If the hole is up against a frame or fillet then half it (you may be able to artificially make the frame wider by fitting a block to it) and patch over the half you have uncovered.

bigger repairs requiring a new floor a much bigger deal. Im not sure on the construction method here is it nailed and glued?

Kev

[thomn59]

Thanks for the welcome and advice.

I am going to start having a look this weekend and try and assess the actual extent of the rot. Hopefully it will not be too bad and the repairs will not be too difficult.

cheers
Thom

[sam mason]

If the floor needs replacing throughout its entire length it is a bit of an epic. The twist in the forward section is quite brutal and there is a changeover joint, butt to lap, about 30 inches back on the chine. If, however, forward of the 8 foot mark is ok then the job is straight forward.. Carefully measure from the transome 7'10" forward (this allows for the scarf joint) and cut through the existing bottom. It is best to remove the bilge keels and the main keel and make cuts either side of the c/b case knee then just rip the old ply out. It was glued and screwed when new but the glue will have more or less given up by now. Clean up so that BARE WOOD is visible all the way round, cut your ply to ply joint ,scarf or butt. drop your new sheet of ply (Robbins do 8mm) over the hole draw drond it and cut out slightly oversizeg Glue and screw down. Repeat the process on the other side. DO NOT TAKE THE SKIN OFF BOTH SIDES AT ONCE there are no frames and the whole lot waps about if you are not carefull. replace the keel and bilge keels and bingo job done. One 8x4 sheet is enough unless you are doing the whole bottom . I've done severall

[thomn59]

Sam

Thanks for the info - it sounds like you could be a wealth of information - don't be surprised if I contact you again - will this be ok with you??

Cheers
Thom

[sam mason]

No problem.