1967 Larson Volero - Father/Son Project

[Jswimmer]

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Pretty happy with how much I go done today. I was able to remove most of the original floor. The edges were tough as my cirxular saw could not get close enough to cut into it. Of course that is the place where the floor was..ost solid and sealed with figerlass and resin. I.am.going to buy a small cut off saw and see if I can get all the way to the edges to make those cuts.

I have attached pics.of the progress made today. The stringers are certainly different than others I have seen on here.

 

[Woodonglass]

Have you core sampled the stringer boxes yet?

 

[jaggededge]

That looks as if someone took 2x lumber and laid it flat to give a wider support base to the deck. I'm certainly no expert but I doubt that is factory. All I can say is... it sure looks heavy! Are those hollow?

 

[Jswimmer]

Wood... not yet, ran out of daylight today. Hoping weather will cooperate tomorrow so I can drill some samples. Really hoping that are not rotted inside as they seem solid when I walk on them. Would also.save a lot of work if they are still good. We shall see though.

 

[Jswimmer]

Here is a zoomed pic of one of the stringers. The sides and part of the top are covered in heavy fiberglass. The rest of the top has that black stuff on it. Appears to be an adhesive.. not sure if it is PB that is now black. The channels between and on the outside of the stringers have the same heavy green fiberglass.

 

[sphelps]

I?ll bet they are hollow or maybe foam filled .. Would be a nice time and material saver if they are good !

 

[Woodonglass]

Yeah, I'm with Sam. Hoping they're hollow. With the Heavy WR they should be very strong and their width is great for overall hull stability.

 

[Jswimmer]

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Finally got to work on the boat again... I drilled some holes in the boxed stringers and the top piece of wood was wet all the way through. It appears the stringers are filled with foam which is also deteriorating. I wasn't sure if the stringers were boxes in with wood on the sides as well so I drilled a 1 inch hole in the side of one and it appears the sides are just the woven fiberglass.

 

[Jswimmer]

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Did some more digging as well. As u can see from these pics the stringers did not go all the way to the front of the boat... they stopped just past where the dash is.

 

[Jswimmer]

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Back of the boat between the stringers.. there are tubes coming out of each of the boxed stringers. The well between the stringers (dont knoe what else to call it) does not have a drain to empty it even though those tubes appear to drain into it.

 

[Jswimmer]

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Here is the mask and suit I have .. Are these correct for grinding/cutting the fiberglass?

 

[Baylinerchuck]

Looks like the perfect mask for fiberglass. A lot of the time I used a simple N95 dust mask for the grinding portion of my project. I used the canister filter respirator when I was fiberglassing since it protects you from the polyresin vapors. I chose to use a DuPont Tyvek suit for protecting myself against the fiberglass dust. I found the Tyvek suit to be fairly abrasion resistant and last longer.

On post 50, you're saying there is no path for the water to get from the center of the boat to the bilge drain at the transom? Seems odd there would be drainage to this area with no path aft. I wonder if this was rebuilt in the past and these drain were added. The way the foam is haphazardly poured doesn't look factory. Maybe others will chime in.......

 

[sphelps]

Sure is a strange stringer set up for sure .. Maybe there was at one time drain holes going into the bilge pocket and someone glassed them in . idk ..

 

[jaggededge]

Interesting design. Are those squares in the photos patch blocks glassed in? Maybe had some previous work done?

 

[JASinIL2006]

Mask and Tyvek suit look just right. I always taped my gloves on with blue painters tape to keep dust out of my gloves and sleeves.

Interesting pics of your foam-filled fiberglass stringers. Larson was pretty early to the game of building with fiberglass, but it?s hard to imagine the were doing that already in the 60s. I almost wonder if you?re seeing the work of an earlier rebuild... Have you found any other restoration threads of similar-era Larson boats that might reveal the construction methodsof boats built back then?

 

[Jswimmer]

Well crude... I did it.. while cutting/grinding out the side parts of the floor I sliced a couple holes in the hull . I could shoot myself for that. I guess it can all be repaired with more work.

 

[kcassells]

IDK....seems like someone got in there and may have made this stringer system up. Very unusual.
What you just did happens to all of us....Not a Biggy!

 

[Jswimmer]

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[Jswimmer]

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Cut into one of the boxed stringers today as well (this part I did on purpose haha). I was able to cut a section out of the top piece of wood. They are indeed filled with foam. I think the foam is structural as well for the boxed stringers as there is no side boards just the woven mat. The foam was very hard but also very wet so it will have to be replaced. Between the wovem.mat and the foam the stringers themselves are extremely strong.

 

[sphelps]

Stuff happens ... But I've never done that ... :lie: