I got stringer problems!

[Vic]

I bought an 84 steplift last year. It's been converted from the old Cdrive to a nice swimplatform with o/b 175 merc, its a supper boat. Doing winter touchup maintenance and pulled the stern livewell completly out thing about doing pourfoam in the V of the hull with some plumbing. Just realized today that mt stringers are soft. Has anybody ever lifted the cap off of the back and tackled this one? Man I could use some suggestions.

[Seakindly]

Welcome Vic (not to be confused with Victor, who is also welcome - but just not Vic) :)

How do you know your stringers are soft?
How far up from stern to stem are they soft?
How did water get in them *to make them soft?
Is your transom soft, too?

Start by going to the "how to" forum, and learn how to do a search. Sugest you search for the words "stringer" and "seacast" and "woven". You are not the first guy, and you won't be the last guy. There have been some good discussions of this, and reading them will help you get started. There are also links on the home page to other worthwhile sites like "thehulltruth" and the Seacraft websites that will also yield good info with such searches.

Good luck, and a picture is worth a thousand words.

[Vic]

Thanks for responding. I pulled out the stern storage or baitwell to do a hatch repair which revieled the bilge area so I figured clean it out while its open and noticed a crack between the bulk head and the stringer so I pushed on it. It has a cutout over the top of it for the fuel line and looks like the wood was exposed i reached into the stringer and am pulling chunks of wood out of it. I'm not sure how far forward it goes but the transom and about 10 to 12 " forward are solid. The boat was converted from the old sea drive in 1992. So that may explain why its still good. I was thinking about cutting the stringers out while leaving the lid on and since I'm a carpenter by trade maybe sistering them as far forward as i could, but I really would like to fix it for good.

[reelapeelin]

There's got to be some secure way to "marry-up" the ends of those stringers...the part that's good w/the part you'll replace...good luck ;)...sounds like you got a project on your hands...

SK's right there's plenty of info on the how-to...

[Vic]

Sk- you ask where the water came from. Seems like there is no way for water that is on the outside of the stringers to get to the bilge. Also it looks like this boat had scuppers but the thru-holes in the back of the deck are just draining into the outside of the stringers. So instead of being self bailing its self rotting. After I put in scuppers and replace stringers, how will water from rod holders get to the bilge? Or is it to minimal to worry about?

[bigshrimpin]

Vic - If it just the ends of your stringers . . . go to west marine and pick up a copy of the west systems fiberglass repair manual ($2.99) . Chapter 3 describes repairing sections your stringers that have rotted out.

When you say that they soft . . .
How did you come to the conclusion that the stringers are soft?

[Vic]

I took out the back hatch and saw a crack between the starboard stringer and the first bulk head. The were glassed together. The top of the stringer had been cut down about 3" to run a fuel line over it which exposed the wood. I could pull out muddy chunks of wood.

But today i took a grinder and cut the inside fiberglass skin off of the stringers and have been cleaning totaly saturated wood out of both stringers. Nasty job but the best part is the transom is solid, and I have all the wood out now I'm goin in for the clean up of all the water and remaining mud. Thinking about relacing with something besides wood.

[reelapeelin]

can he clean it out good and then inject foam back into it...would that be structurally sound or is that too easy?....

[Vic]

Here is the plan. rollup some soaked mat, push it as far forward into the stringers cavity creating a plug then soak the leftover skin shove in the new wood toward the front then shove in the new wood with soaked mat toward the transom. lay new woven over the new wood like a mummy. I hope it works. What do yall think?

[reelapeelin]

You could foam any resulting openings...sounds good to me...

[Seakindly]

Vic - it's hard to visualize your problem. What was cut for the fuel line - the bulkhead or a stringer?? Is the bulkhead rotten too?? Were both stringers cut?? If only one - then how did the other one get soaked and rotten?? Before you can fix your problem you must understand how it was caused. How long is the rotted parts of the stringers?? Do you have access to all of the rotten parts?? When you ground off the glass - did you take off just the glass on the top side of the stringers, or did you take off the glass on the sides too??

It is good that the transom is sound. My guess would have been that was where your water entered and then spread from transom wood to stringer wood.

[Vic]

SK- both stringers were rotten about 50" forward from the transom. They got that way because the previous owner glassed over the original scupper through holes that were through the transom. Instead of running hoses to the bilge from the floor they cut off the through hole fitting behind the back of the deck. So since 1992 all of the water that has crossed the deck has ran into the ouside of the stringers. They cut holes through the bottom of the stringers about 1" holes I'd say so that water could run from outside the stringer to the bilge.

So I began taking out mud wood with a clay consistency Saturday. I'm working from inside of the stringers with the deck on basicly because I did not want to lift the cap. That would be too easy. I have reached the end of the rotted wood by grinding the inside skin of fobeerglass off with a 4" grinder. I think I'm gonna get the rot doctor stuff for the rest for good measure and repack with new 3/4" plywood cut to fit and glass them back in. My digital camera is on the blink so I cant get any pics to sho you sorry but my transom looks just like Fillets, except there is a 175 lookin at you.

[Seakindly]

:o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o :o

The previous owner should go to jail for V20 abuse.

But you are still lucky the transom is sound, and you caught the stringer problem before it spread too far to get at it to repair. I think I would have taken the glass off the tops of the stringers, removed the rot, then glassed the good ends of the stringers with a layer of matt, filled the void with seacast, and then reglassed the top of the stringers with matt and woven roven.

[CT_V-20]

Oh man, I don't like hearing about this Sea Drive and deck draining to the bilge and stringer rot. Now I've gotta look at my stringers when the shrinkwrap comes off.

[reelapeelin]

Glassed the scuppers?... ...I think his rear end oughta be glassed up and see what happens over time... ::) ::) :o

[Vic]

Thanks guys. One good thing is this a great learning experience. Now every time I see a hull for sale. I'm thinking about restoring it. Usedboats.com has a 20' Seacraft hull for 250.00 needs transom work the guy says come get it in Largo Fl. I think those are good ones. If anybodies interested. This weekend I'm gonna get down on this glass work and get her ready for the spanish that will be here by Easter. I'll get some pics on here soon.

[Franco]

I am a survivor of V20 stringer repair. Mine is a 1983 V20
steplift with a Volvo Penta i/o. The cockpit drains are outside the stringers. whatever water gets in the boat drain and sit in that cavity. When mine was built Wellcraft never put any sealer or bedding compound under the motor mounts. Water eventually seeped in and got soaked up by the stringers. I pulled out the motor and took it to a glass repair shop. He ground off the fiberglass pulled out the rotten wood. The transom was fine and the damaged stopped short of the first bulkhead forward of the transom. the new stringer was butt jointed to the transom and scarfed to the good section of the original. It was weeted in and epoxied down. Then the top side was wetted down and covered with fiberglass cloth bonding it to the deck. Check out the west system books on completing this repair. We add a 1 inch hole at the bottom of the stringer to let the water escape to the bilge. As far as having the rod holders drain, get some clear plastic tubing and some heat shrink tubing big enough to fit over the rod holder tubes. It should shrink down enough to attach itself to the clear palstic tubing. Use the kind with epoxy inside. Route the plastic tubing to the bilge area. Franco

[Vic]

Man I'm glad to know I'm not the only one. I am seeing exactly what you said about the holes in the stringers. Thinking about putting in pieces of pvc for drain tubes before I pour in the seacast stuff.