Stringers

dan4836 · #1 12-23-2013, 08:58 AM

First project of the year, floor and stringers.

I have been reading a lot of post in order to come up with a plan to repair the stringers and install a new floor.

Stringer repair - I want to pour seacast arjay or nidabond instead of removing them. Anyone have how much is needed and where to buy? I was thinking of ten gallons. Pros & cons or other alternatives?

Floor - I am not versed in fiberglass but adding resin and glass to plywood seems straight-forward. I could use 1/2" or 5"8 marine plywood and fiberglass both sides. How can you obtain the diamond pattern that you see on new boats? I think they use a heavy roven woven?

Other alternatives - Coosa or space age board. Pros & cons anyone?

Thanks,

Dan

dan4836 · #2 12-23-2013, 11:11 AM

I just received some advice from a fiberglass expert and boat builder. He advised one way to do the stringers would be to leave them intact, grind and clean them and glass over them with a layup of three to four layers of glass.

This way, I would save the time of cutting the tops off the stringers and save a step. He said in a twenty foot boat, glassing over the existing stringers with that many layers will build them up making them structurally sound without the added steps of filling the stringers with foam or Arjay.

He also said Arjay, Seacast and Nid-bond were excellent products but do add some weight and cost.

Any thoughts?

smokeonthewater · #3 12-23-2013, 12:24 PM

my .02 is that you have to grind/clean EVERYTHING anyhow and by trying to just glass over the current mess you are making more work for yourself than just glassing in new stringers....

Make paper templates with them in place and then cut em out with an angle grinder... then use a 40 grit flap disc to clean up the area in short order... cut new stringers n glass em in

IMHO to do this right you need to pull the cap off the hull and gain access to the area under the cuddy

Not really that bad of a task but can be intimidating to a first timer

Destroyer · #4 12-23-2013, 12:33 PM

No real thoughts on the stringers, since I've never had to do mine. But I did the floor on my V21 when I got it. I used 1/2 Marine ply, bonded to the bottom of the deck, then I glassed over the ply with 2 thin coats of fiberglass to seal the wood so it would never rot again. (Something that Wellcraft should have done in the first place).

Tip: once you are finished with all your work, the trick is to keep the inside of the boat DRY! That means no water in the bilge, etc. Seal all areas where water can intrude, including your rod holders, any penetrations, and your rod racks. And come winter time, open all hatches and allow air to circulate and dry out any water or condensation that might have gotten in there. Water plus air is the enemy of all wood. Seal your wood and your boat should have a nice long life.

Curapa · #5 12-23-2013, 02:40 PM

I have never heard of a pro recommending to leave rotten plywood in a boat and just cover it up. That being said there are boats with foam filled glass stringers that work fine but I have seen none that were smaller than 3-4" wide. Skip the pourable methods, they are heavy and expensive. Pull the cap or cut out and glass back in what's need to gain complete access. Carefully cut out a stringer with a sawzaw, use it as template for the new ones. A grinder with a flap wheel is your friend when working with glass.

dan4836 · #6 12-23-2013, 05:17 PM

First recommendation was to cut the top of the stringers, remove the wood and fill with foam and then glass over.

I wanted to take the easy way out and skip removing the wood and just clean and glass over the stringers. After learning the stringers are very thin, he advised that I can leave the existing stingers and layup four layers of fiberglass. Should take care of the stringer issues so I can get ready to install the new deck.

smokeonthewater · #7 12-23-2013, 08:27 PM

honestly I don't think that way IS the easy way... it's a lot of work either way but leaving the rotten wood in place is not the right way... also I don't think 4 layers are near enough.... The bottom of my jet boat that I just repaired has about 15-20 layers of glass

Now 4 layers of glass over good strong wood OTOH would be good

dan4836 · #8 12-23-2013, 10:10 PM

I think the use of 1708 lays up so thick and this is why he recommended three to four layers. I only did some reading and research on fiberglass work so I am learning everyday.

smokeonthewater · #9 12-23-2013, 10:38 PM

the thicker you go the harder it will be to get it to conform to the @90 deg inside and outside bends

Not to steer you away from v20.com but if you aren't already on there, sign up on iboats.com and post up a thread on this in the restoration section... there are a bunch of guys there that know EVERYTHING about rebuilding boats..... even a guy who cut his boat in half and made it a few feet longer VERY professionally.