Stringer rebuild...many ??

[never monday]

Ok,
I need to rebuild the stringers in this Searay. I'm not worried about the glassing part at all that's easy. Getting the stringers exposed is easy.
My questions are...
Wood or structural foam?
Do this job on stands or floating?
I can make the boat water tight and put it in a slip where it would have it's "normal" shape to do the stringers. I have this fear about cutting out a stringer and the boat folding in half. Mabey I should do one stringer at a time.
This is all new ground for me, being a sailbot guy and all.

[irwinsailor]

I would use wood and do a couple at a time. Also I read that you should use treated lumber in boat building. This was a surprise to me.

[Alan Wheeler]

You should NOT use treated lumber, is that what you meant Gunner??. Well at least if you are going to use Epoxy to glue with. Resorsinal is OK on treated, but the treating chemicals will affect epoxy and Epoxy will never adhere nor be as strong as it would be on untreated timber.
It is better to use non-treated and then coat in epoxy for protection afterward. Or use Resorcinal glue. Resocinals are also good for "tight" glue joints where high clamping pressure maybe needed. The glue stays int eh timber joint, where as the Epoxy is squezzed out and it is the "thickness" of the epoxy in a joint that gives it it's strength. So an Epoxy joint should never be made tooo tight.

[never monday]

Thanks Rick,
I found that earlier. I'm realy not inclined to go thru all of that. I'll have to pull the engines and find some way to keep the boats shape during the rebuild.

[irwinsailor]

Alan, I was surprised too. I wish I could remember which magazine it was in but I don't.

[delmarrey]

Originally Posted by never monday

Thanks Rick,
I found that earlier. I'm realy not inclined to go thru all of that. I'll have to pull the engines and find some way to keep the boats shape during the rebuild.

What would be nice is if you could put it back in its mold.

The second best thing would be a big sand box. Put it in wet, then drain the water out. It would retain the shape until you're done.

I know, take it to New Orleans, anchor it next to a beach and wait for the next hurricane. When the water receeds, there you are

If the stringers are for the motor mounts, Mahogany would be the best choice. But absolutely NOT a pine or fir except Douglas fir and then without knots.........................._/)

[Alan Wheeler]

You mean they make fir without the knots?;-)
Arrrrgh, I should have read Pats question at the top. We are talking timber in glass huh??
Pat! Why?????? What has happend to the stringers??? I am not familiar to a Searay hull build, so what have they done and what has gone wrong that you need to replace these???

[Alan Wheeler]

Arrrr, sorry, I( think I have caught up to tht story now. I am sitting here with a second round of the flu and have just had a wisdom Tooth pulled, so I am feeling miserable. But anyway, I just looked at your blog and now I see.
So Pat, how many stringers are rotten and how far has it gone??? If it is just one or two, you should be able to do this OK sitting where you have it. Any timber "exposed" should be coated with Evedure. Forget it giving any benifit to the rotten timber, it doesn't, the only benifit is the anti-fungal agent in it. You can use and anti-fungal agent, but the advantage of evedure is that it at least goes hard and helps protect the surface again. Ensure ALL ROT is removed, but you already know that. You won't have to replace the entire stringer in one length, so just get back to good timber and splice in to the good stuff with an epoxy joint.

[never monday]

Alan,
That's my plan so far. I think its just the inboard floor suport stringers that are bad. I'm going to expose more today and have a better look.

[BBill]

I've done a few major rebuild projects for resale (up to 42') and learned a couple things. Do one stringer at a time no matter where the boat sits. That's the best way to make sure it stays straight. If warped, getting it true later isn't as simple as placing a few jacks here and there...you want to avoid it like a plague or be ready to spend lots of time making jigs and fixtures to make it right.

Stringers...use wood, it's less money than foam. 99% of the buyers could give a rat's azz whether you used foam or wood for stringers or if you used polyester or epoxy. Few know the difference and those that do won't likely buy a previously wet boat...freshwater submersion or not, resale always takes a hit.

If you want to used pressure treated do a little research. I've used it on stringers, transoms and floors with great results going on 5-6 yrs . The APA (American Ply Association) posted info on this yrs ago...Pressure treated wood has been used in USA boat production successfully for over 20 yrs with polyester resin. Greenwood Products makes the most commonly used pt wood for boats (CCA process). Old time creosote treating processes were the ones that had a petroleum base that resin wouldn't stick to. Today's CCA processes only need to be dry (the water carrier part) for good adhesion. CCA is the commercial grade and still legal in the USA for commercial use...not residential use.

If you want to do foam, Compsys (preforms dot com) may have them for your boat. They make oem stringers for every big name boat you can imagine and don't do retail. I toured the plant, saw the process and had a production mgr give a show and tell. Stringers are molded to fit exactly and have cloth on them. All you do is set in place and bring resin. If they don't have your specific stringers ask them to sell you a blem or another stringer that you can cut to fit. Blems that would work are ones that are off just enough dimensionally not to meet customer specs. Nothing wrong with them, just 1/4" to low, narrow, etc.

As they say..."Git R Done".