1708 mat for stringers

[tartuffe]

Thats right. I went overboard and cut strips 4", 8", 10" and 12" but that was way overboard. You'll cut your stringers to size, I used spacers (my center bulkheads and barclamps to get my stringers the right distance apart as well as perfectly perpendicular and situated the stringers so everything lined up with all my measurements and marks I made prior to demolition. Once everything lined up inside the boat I traced the inside and outside of the stringers with a sharpie on the hull. Then I raised the whole assembly enough to put a thumb-sized bead of PB between the lines I traced under one stringer. Lowered it all back down on the bead. This gives you good contact and no hard spots. Take more PB and run a small bead on the inside and outside of the stringer and use a sponn to make a nice radius. Lay your first tab and wet it out. If its 6" wide then 3" on the hull and 3" on the stringer. Lay another over top of that one say 10" wide with 5" on the hull and 5" on the stringer. You can do another if you want but probably not necessary but I'm no marine engineer. Like I said, I did 4. Let that cure. Then repeat for the other.

The idea is that you want the fiberglass to dissipate shock loads from the immovable area (stringer) out to the very flexible area of fiberglass without any focus of forces leading to stress cracks.

Keep in mind the best results are to not allow the PB to harden before you get the fabric laid and wetted. Use the slow cure and mix many small batches. I large will cure in about 15 minutes even if it is slow cure.