question for you guys who replaced your stringers
 

how hard was it to if the new lumber in there? I am seriously thinking about outsourcing that part of the job, but since I am notoriously frugal I would like to do it myself to save some coin.
I know the transom is a piece of cake. I was just curious about the stringers.

CT: I am in the process of doing mine now. I cut my stringers glass and wood down to one inch from the hull (support the boat before you do this!!!!) then took a 3/4 chisel along the groove and the rotten wood just crumbled out, the small amount of good wood that i had took a little coercion, but all in all less than an hour. Then I took a pressure washer to wash off the last bits of foam, and any stubborn wood in the groove. The new wood just slid in and i will be epoxying that in this week.

This is more tedious than hard. save the coins. they are harder and harder to come by (thank you gov't).

I have heard that we are supposed to leave a thick (1/4-inch) epoxy bed below the stringer to prevent hardspots in the hull. maybe someone else can chime in on this point.

Hope this helps! (or maybe i totally missed the point)

this answered my question for the most part. Also, did you have to make any complex cuts on the ply? Used 3/4 ply per stringer right?

I did mine the exact same way. I left about a 1/2 to 3/4 inch of factory tab sticking up.I then pressure washed the existing factory groove, I was then able to wallow my flap disc Down in there to prep the surfaces for bonding back with thickened resin. Basicly you keep a small portion of the factory tab to create a "track" or template to set your new stringers. I highly suggest you cleats both sides of the stringers. It creates a nice "fat" base to screw and glue your sole too.
http://www.wellcraftv20.com/communit...3&d=1324250018
http://www.wellcraftv20.com/communit...0&d=1325368222

Here are 2 pics. One is showing the factory stringer tab after the stringer was glued in. The second one shows the 3/4 x2 stringer cleats I installed on mine. Go to my build thread and look st pages 7,8,9,10 they show my tabbing and glassing process. You can do this yourself. You just don't want your stringer core making contact with the hull. Good luck and take plenty pictures and keep us updated.

When I did stringers (just the portion in the engine compartment) in my old 26' Carver, I just cut off the tops of the glass and scooped out the black mud that had once been wood.... I cleaned it out as far forward as I could reach and then formed my new stringers (cut from 4x6 treated lumber)... I mixed up an epoxy peanut butter with saw dust (better materials are available) and put down a 3/4" thick layer... I pushed in the stringers and pressed em down... after the PB has set up I ground everything smooth and re glassed the top....

I'd say that those were tougher tho not as long... and I'd rather do that again than do a transom any day.

i like the idea of leaving some glass left there so you have something to follow. I guess if you sand it enough with some 80 grit poly will stick to it with out a problem.

My experience was that poly didn't want to stick well but epoxy sticks to anything... then again maybe mine being a carver could have been layed up with epoxy from the factory

yeah I was thinking about that too, I was set on going with poly but I really don't want any lamination problems so I might be going back to my original plan and going with epoxy.

or vinyl ester

I went with Epoxy and it is the best decision I made. I used the US composites material - dang that stuff sticks good. It is a little pricey, but i do not want to do this again

mix your epoxy putty thick with cabosil/areosil to bed your stringer.