Marine ply restoration advice

Back to the OP's original question about treating soft timber / ply. I've used this stuff successfully in the past: CPES by Smith & Co in the USA (Google will find them with this search). I don't know if there's a UK distributor (I doubt it). I bought mine via a guy in Scandinavia. Good stuff for treating old (and new) timber, prior to epoxying. I've no connection. Caution though. You need to use a full face mask with carbon filter.
 
I also think it looks a pretty little boat and you should have a lot of fun for a small capital outlay. I see you had an Escapade. I think most of these were made by Blanks Boatyard in Stanstead Abbots. If so, they also made the Commando, which was a Primrose design, which was my last boat. Hence by comments on the difficulty of repairing triple diagonal construction. But I succeeded in doing it.
 
Wight Dawn said:
I also think it looks a pretty little boat and you should have a lot of fun for a small capital outlay. I see you had an Escapade. I think most of these were made by Blanks Boatyard in Stanstead Abbots. If so, they also made the Commando, which was a Primrose design, which was my last boat. Hence by comments on the difficulty of repairing triple diagonal construction. But I succeeded in doing it.[/QUOTE

I had a Commando Class yacht....it was called Commando SA ended up wreaked in a Galician ria! great little boat after some modifications!
Click to expand...
 
kevink 6771 said:
Hi All,
I'm pretty new to this site, but i'm in a pickle what to do, i've recently bought a marine ply Rossiter Pintail 24' yacht which has been sadly neglected over the last few years.
Apart from needing a full interior refit, Engine and sails, She is suffering from some damp/rot and holes.
Now i'm not really concerned about the rot and holes, as i am pretty competent at fixing this (it needs a 8ft x 1 1/2 ft section replaced on the hull side, and both Gunwales replacing)
But my concerns lay elsewhere, currently she has varying levels of protection on her, from No epoxy what soever on the exposed ply, to several layers of different paints.
No i know i'll need to sand down until all the paint is smooth and attached firmly.
but i'm wondering what to do about the exposed damp ply?
It looks like she was originally built without an epoxy covering prior to painting! Is this normal?
She is sat on the beach at Conwy, and cannot be dry stored, i have covered her with a tarpaulin to deflect as mush rain as possible.
Is there a paint i can use if the marine ply is not completely dry?
or what else can i do?
I presume i should not use any epoxy on this boat as the ply is not dry enough?
Click to expand...

I don't think she is actually built of sheets of ply in the normal hard chine ply fashion. She is possibly moulded ply. The general hull and coachroof shape that rang a bell in my mind was a 1960s Fairey Fulmar, but that was only about 20 ft long, and as far as I know the only larger sailing boats thay produced were the very distinctive (and clever) Atalanta and Titania designs. Same Fairey that built Firefly and Albacore dinghies, and the Huntress and Swordfish powerboats. etc. Hulls built from layers of veneer laid over a curved mould.

Something else stirs faint memories of a series of similar cold moulded wooden boats built in Poland in the 1960s/70s and sold here for quite low prices against UK built boats. They also sold cheap Folkboat copies.

Whatever, she is very definitely not a Pintail, or any of the popular hard chine ply designs of the 60s such as Debs, etc.

If the hull is generally low moisture levels and sound she may be worth repairing, but you really need a busy winter with her under cover, not sitting in a harbour.
 
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Thanks,
SHE is defiantly not Hard chime but soft, she has been built with diagonal strips of either ply or something else on her bottom part of the hull, and sheets on the sides.
The interior, which has some really nice ply and staining suggests not a home build to me.
I'm going tomorrow to investigate more.
 
If you are determined to do it I think (having fiddled with the pics on ebay) that it may not be as bad as it looks.

The chain plates have finish lifting around them and the run-off from the coach roof over the rubbing strake has lifted a load of finish. But the primer seems to be still on beneath and the finish is some poxy self-coloured varnish, which is probably not exterior quality anyway.
Even the transom still has the primer showing through.
I'd be tempted to remove as much finish as possible. Let it dry out if possible. Maybe replace the rubbing strake if it's soft and paint the whole thing in a grey undercoat, then a blue topsides (like the yacht on it's port side with white deck and coach roofs.

You'll probably learn a lot about the condition and if it's not too bad get a couple of years of use from it before needing a proper seeing-to.

I wouldn't dive into a big restoration straight away, as already suggested by someone else. Working on the beach will compromise that and you will probably fall out of love with it.

Do a quick makeover, enjoy it as a yacht, and plan future work (and sort out somewhere to do it)

tuckeryacht1.jpg


tuckeryacht2.jpg


tuckeryacht3.jpg
 
Thanks lakesailor,
thats what i plan to do, the strake isnt that bad, but will need to come of to fix the portside hull. the 'poxy' varnish is over a light blue gloss (can be seen from other views) we will be sanding and heating down to at least the gloss level, if not to primer.
I'm really tempted to go for a nice green colour with white top sides, and if i were to replace the rubbing strake, then i'd just varnish that.

I'm quite prepared to do work on her, as i like 'projects' , there's also a pub 50 meters away, so summer will be great :)
 
An on going mission

Just thought i'd give you all a quick update-
The whole repair job is coming on well, I have replaced the portside hull with a 10' x 2' section, the portside gunwales were quite rotten, and have been replaced, the middle roof section was soft around the mast step, so i fitted a new roof.
I've sanded and primed the bow and high coach roof, and have sanded the starboard gunwales and is waiting for a sunny day to prime.
The Transform will be getting replaced, which should be an easy job.
Good news is that she is defiantly watertight from the sea, and is getting very close to being watertight from above deck.
I've also removed the toilet from in between the Vee births, and built a heads compartment.
I've also ripped out the galley and am about to fit out a new one.
All in all she is defiantly coming on, and hopefully will be getting a few photo updates very soon.
Kev
 
Lakesailor said:
You've been very busy and still sound enthusiastic.

Look forward to some pics.
Click to expand...

These were taken yesterday, after a really good couple of hard days work.
I heated and scraped the starboard down to the plywood, filled any voids, removed the strake and fitted a new one, i removed the transform which proved harder than expected, and made a nice new one.
Then gave her a couple of coats of Grey primer.
 
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