your opinions please

Ooops!

You basicaly need to neatly remove all the outer skin and core surrounding the damage and replace it with new foam/glass (im guessing eggbert is glass?) If the inner skin is naffed too that needs to be reinforced before the new core goes back in.... Theres a more in depth explaination on the cherub website somewhere but thats about the jist of it.

If your not sure about doing it yourself (its not too challenging to do, but pretty tough to do neatly and seamlessly) I think theres a class sticky weekend comming up with space for you to bring the boat down and have some more experianced cherrubers lend a hand.


Edited by Isis

Ah. In that case I cant help im afraid...

The next sticky weekend is the 17th and 18th of novemeber in weston super mare.

Nasty... I'm afraid looking at that I'd be astonished if the inner layer of ply is good. How to approach this depends on whether its above or under the bow tank. Either way I'd take off the damaged layers of ply - no need for a router, you can do this nicely with a stsanley knife, a very sharp chisel, and patience. Take out each successive layer to about 20mm smaller. Presumably its 3 ply: we know the outer layer is no good and I imagine the middle one is too. The inner one you'll see.
Anyway, if we assume that the inner layer is OK then what I'd do is to trim back the middle layer and replace it with a few layers of very thin glass (try a aviation model shop!). Wood might be more elegant, but you need to have a good deal of experience to use it there to get the heights just right. The glass wants to be thick enough to be level or just a tad lower than the outer layer of ply. It must not be higher! Now replace the outer layer. I'd use light plywood from the model shop. Glue in in with epoxy and microballoons. It will end up a bit proud of the main surface I expect, so just sand down flush, then repaint.

If the inner skin is broken then you need to deal with that too. If its not too bad, and above the the tank so you have access, then maybe a couple of layers of the light glass on top will be enough.
If its in the tank its more trouble. The thing to do is to cut back the ply so you have a hole into the interior. The hole must not be round. Oval about twice as long as high is good. Now make a piece of the very light ply that will cover the hole completely with a good overlap. Drill a hole right in the middle of the ply and put a piece of line through it. This enables you to not lose it! Mark on the inner surface where it should align with the hole, coat the mating surfaces with epoxy/ microballoons/ microfibres, post it through the hole and use the line to pull it into place. Match up the marks so its located right, and rig something up to hold it in place while it cures.
When cured remove as much string as possible and then proceed as above.


Edited by JimC

I'm talking about the three layers of veneer that make up the plywood... If you get in there with a sharp chisel you'll find that you can work along the glue lines and treat them as separate layers. There might be five, but it would be very unusual. You'll also find that the cracking and breakup has partially ocurred across the layers.

Yees you could just put a lump of ply behind, but it gives something of a hard spot and isn't that good a job.


Edited by JimC

Bit of car body filler (the green stuff with the fibres in it is best), a bit of paint and it will be as good as new!