TOPIC: ENTERPRISEFR16(& now 4 sometin completly diffrnt)

Hello all,
Clint here in Castaic CA,
New guy on the forum! I have owned / restored a couple other boats in the past 40 years, my father inlaw has a 32' Bayliner twin diesels at LA Harbor and a 53" Hatteras fishing yacht in Puerto Vallarta so I have been up to my ears in boats at times. I like strange things so when looking for a boat this one grabbed me. As a a project boat I found one that looks more like a Corvair truck than most boats.
So far I have spent a few days cleaning her up and setting her straight, making her look like something I would own. Here is what I have done so far.
- Installed a Marine fuel-pump with oil pressure bypass circuit - Changing all the fluids, Lubing up all the linkages and moving parts.
- Removing every quick connector I can find and soldering all electrical connections.
The power train is a Volvo Penta AQ130/c270. Not my favorite due to the PENTA parts pirates and the ridiculous fees they want for them! But so far I have not ran into anything I cant fix with a TIG welder and a stick of dynamite.

My question for the group is this. How many of these are out there? I have only seen one other post on fiberclassics about the company.

This hull is built like a tank, dual foam filled fiberglass and it very thick. The design makes the boat seem like a 20' vessel. It has seating for 8 and lots of room to walk around in the back. Here are some shots of the boat when I found it. The gentleman I purchased the boat from handed me receipts for $3.5k in upgrades that he did to the boat, seats, paint, carpet, I have completed all the preliminary electrical and motor repairs, Have her running good and will be at the lake in the next few days!!! (finger-crossed)

Well let me know your thoughts and I will post some pictures of the way she looks now!! 1974 ENTERPRISE FR16 40 years old, So I expect a glitch or two.

Thanks for looking, Clint (aveman Whitman

This Morning out in my drive!

Corvair Truck??

This 16' boat has the largest deck and cockpit I have seen on a boat this small and seats 8. I mean you can actually roam around.

So are there any other ENTERPRISE 16' FRogs out there??
CAPTIN CLINTS HELM !!! LOL

Welcome to the forum. I'm not too far away from you in the SF Valley when in Ca.. That is sure a nice boat you picked up.

double post.

I've seen a couple of these on eBay, definitely not anywhere near the condition of yours though. Cool boat in excellent condition, congrats and welcome.

-Brian

Rick, Brian,,
Thanks for the welcome! I am wondering what size cover to get for her, also thinking about a Walmart cover due to $99 verses $150 to $500 on line! Shape is square like a pontoon boat. LOL

Clint

Got to be the roomiest 16 footer made. Beautiful condition.

Update,
Out on lake Castaic all day last Monday with the wife and the Enterprise today!! She ran like a champ, no water in the oil, No loud clunking, 35 mph at 5000 RPM (per new Lowrance HDI fish finder/GPS) Installed , 25 MPH winds and chop like victory at sea, the tri-hull didn't even miss a lick. what a fun boat!! Nothing like sitting right up in the bow watching the water rush under the boat. The ride was actually pretty normal and far as vibration. I think the tri-hull takes a lot of the bang out of the choppy water. She ran good but still needs a few little things
New exhaust pipe, (flange rot)
GAS Tanks pulled and sensors rebuilt.
Universal pulled and serviced.
Carburetors need a little work.
Was cruising the ski leg of the lake and saw a boil of bait fish. Threw a rubber chad and bang got a Jailbird! What a fun day and great little boat... at the end of the day she started idling high, then cutting out at top speed!! My wife was about to throw a fit. So I turned the motor off, grabbed a new fuel filter from the tool box and bang back on the water in two minutes, no problem,, I new it was going to plug up but my wife now thinks I am a mechanical guru!!!

Removed both gas tanks and boiled them out. Two pounds of weird black crap came out of them.... what is that stuff? looks like henerys roof jack cement....
installed new sensors and both the gas gauges came on line.. She holds 35 gallons of premium fuel,,, OUCH!! If you ever have to do this job on a boat, get someone eles to do it!! Also the sticker on the motor says to run 93 Octane gas and premium is 91?? Seems to run OK on the 91 what is the common solution to this?


another shot from the lake

clintwhitman,

WELCOME ABOARD.

NEAT boat. = Never seen one of those.
(Nonetheless, you made ONE really serious error in quickly fixing the problem. = Your lady now will expect you to fix the dishwasher/toaster, etc., etc., etc. & that takes away from your "playtime". - CHUCKLE.)

yours, satx

I think the 91/93 octane thing is a matter of how they arrive at the rating. I don't recall the specifics but there are two different ways to figure octane and one yields a lower rating for the same fuel. I'll bet someone here knows the different formulas.

Thanks for the info Norm, I know they sell Octane boosters and many of them are pricey. Right now I have been running premium gas at 91 Octane. I am not getting any pinging or knocking. The sticker on the air cleaner says running fuel below 93 can cause engine damage so I posted to see what some of you might be doing about the 50s and 60s engines that were designed for 105 octane ETHEL. Man I miss the smell of Ethel in the morning!!

Clint....

Here's a blurb about the different ratings. Scroll down to measurement methods.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating

Your gas pump should have a sticker telling which method was used. If it's the one commonly used in the U.S. (R+M/2)it will be rated a couple points lower.

Thanks Norm,
As with most things the Octane rating have been made so complicated you need an excel sheet to figure out what you might be buying!!
After 5 weeks of working on the boat she is out doing what boats should be doing, catching fish!! Strippers at Lake Castaic Monday. Then I was out on a Charter catching Ling cod Tuesday. Great early week!!

There are still a few things to get ready to launch the starfish for a channel Island trip.... But she will get out there!!

These things eat strippers!!

Good going Clint. I'll bet that boat looks great anywhere it goes.

Hi Shelby,
Thanks sure am having fun putting her back in shape. My wonderful wife got me a new VHF radio for the Starfish. got it installed and hooked up to the Lowrance Elite 4 HDI fish finder / chart-plotter and guess what it works!!!! I called Lowrance to ask a few dumb questions and I will say that they are by far the best company I have dealt with in as long as I can remember! 10 stars plus. It was more like calling an old friend than tech support...

You can knock the timing back a couple of degrees and not run ethanol 91 octane. I think you will be just fine.

Hi L98LPT,

Thanks for the info on the timing / gas. The 130AQ seems to be sipping gas. We used about 8 gallons in 7 to 8 hours on the water. We probably ran around about half the time so maybe 2 gallons per hour..
Lynchburg, Sounds like a good place to get your neck stretched back in the day.

Clint..

Named after John Lynch who put a ferry across the James river.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynchburg,_Virginia

Cool boat, i remember when castaic wasnt there yet, lots of fun days on my 550 jet ski and my brothers jet boat.

I really dig your boat.
If you are not hearing any ping you are fine.

Speaking of Enterprise boats. Here is my 1979 Enterprise 21' I don't see a lot of them around. I've had it since about 1990 or so and it sat for 15 years. I've been working on it for a few years now and its almost done

Wait...permission to come aboard?

Great place to get a shot of Jack straight out of the barrel. Nice boat Clint. I grew up on the Niagara River and there used to be one of those at the Black Creek Boat Club when I was a kid. I haven't seen one in 40 years. Nice work.