I am currently restoring a 1980 mastercraft that I grew up skiing behind. When my wife and I moved to Colorado my father put the boat in storage where it sat unused for about 8 years. Upon moving back home to Michigan, my plan was to redo this boat two winters ago since we knew the floor had to be replaced, but work got in the way last year. During the middle of last summer I couldn't stand seeing the boat just sit there waiting to be redone before it could be used again. So one day my dad and I decided we'd just see if she would start. After draining the gas and putting in a new fuel filter I gave her a try and she started up within 30 seconds. I had forgotten how beautiful these engines sound. We decided to use her "ugly" last year since there were only a few weeks of summer left before the kids activities started. We had a great time, but she definitely seemed to vibrate more than I remembered.
Well, the early warm weather this spring allowed me to get a head start on some of my projects around the house clearing the way for me to finally replace the floor on the boat. Once I removed the floor it was apparent that I was in for a lot more work since the stringers seemed to be a fiberglass shell with no support from the core material. I debated sistering in new stringers along the old ones, or putting multiple layers of new glass over the old stringers, but in the end I knew that I loved this boat too much and that I had to do it right by cutting out and replacing the stringers. Luckily there was a wealth of information on this forum that I could use to start this project.
So I started by removing one stringer. I figured that I would replace the two outside stringers first leaving the two inside stringers for hull support. Once I had the two stringers removed I got to experience the joy of hours of sanding, grinding, covering myself in fiberglass dust, and itching.
I made my new stringers out of pieces of 3/4" MDO laminated together with west systems epoxy thickened to a mayo consistency. Once the lamination was complete I cut the stringers to shape and bedded them to the hull in a bed of epoxy thickened to a peanut butter consistency and I filleted the corners.
Once the two outer stringers were set up, I made a quick jig that laid across the new stringers to mark the location of the cut outs in the middle stringer where the motor mounts rest (in retrospect, this saved me an unbelievable amount of time later on).
Then I proceeded to cut out the middle stringers. You can see from the pictures that once the fiberglass was cut, i could just lift the stringer out without having to cut the wood core since it was so rotted.
Well, the early warm weather this spring allowed me to get a head start on some of my projects around the house clearing the way for me to finally replace the floor on the boat. Once I removed the floor it was apparent that I was in for a lot more work since the stringers seemed to be a fiberglass shell with no support from the core material. I debated sistering in new stringers along the old ones, or putting multiple layers of new glass over the old stringers, but in the end I knew that I loved this boat too much and that I had to do it right by cutting out and replacing the stringers. Luckily there was a wealth of information on this forum that I could use to start this project.
So I started by removing one stringer. I figured that I would replace the two outside stringers first leaving the two inside stringers for hull support. Once I had the two stringers removed I got to experience the joy of hours of sanding, grinding, covering myself in fiberglass dust, and itching.
I made my new stringers out of pieces of 3/4" MDO laminated together with west systems epoxy thickened to a mayo consistency. Once the lamination was complete I cut the stringers to shape and bedded them to the hull in a bed of epoxy thickened to a peanut butter consistency and I filleted the corners.
Once the two outer stringers were set up, I made a quick jig that laid across the new stringers to mark the location of the cut outs in the middle stringer where the motor mounts rest (in retrospect, this saved me an unbelievable amount of time later on).
Then I proceeded to cut out the middle stringers. You can see from the pictures that once the fiberglass was cut, i could just lift the stringer out without having to cut the wood core since it was so rotted.
