my question is i have 6 big tubes of DAP 4000 sub floor adhisive and i want to know if i can use this instead of the PL to bed my stringers and if not why not is there anything different
It makes little difference what is used under the stringers, its only real purpose is to keep the wood from being in direct contact with the hull. Some use foam, some use adhesive, some used putty, some use nothing, most boats had nothing bedding the stringers when new.
No reason not to use the DAP 4000. Just make sure and give it 72 hrs of cure time before you glass in the stringers. Tip: Dip a plasic spoon in Mineral Spirits to form a nice coved fillet in the adhesive. Makes glassing a lot easier.
Stringers can be anywhere from 3/4" to 6" wide. The core material is usually solid wood, plywood or foam. In the case of Solid core stringers i.e. wood you don't want them to come into direct contact with the hull because when the hull flexes and it will because that's what fiberglass does, the wood will not flex and something has to give and it will be the gelcoat and glass causing checking and cracking in the hull. Beding the stringers in PB or PL or Foam allow the flexing to occur without the cracking. The tabbing further increase the span of the stringer thus distributing the load over a larger area. Kinda like laying out flat on thin ice.
Hope that helps explain things a bit. I like PL cause it cures flexible and I'm not in a hurry like production shops are. But, I think the next time I do stringers, I'm gunna try using the pink slab foam from Lowe's as spacers and see how that works.
does the foam in the hull need to be there for structural reasons or just flotation and is it cheaper or more expensive to put the pink or blue foam in instead
Since it has Stringers and Bulkheads the foam is floatation not structural. You can use pour in foam or the pink or blue slab foam from the Big Box Stores cut to fit.
sorry woodie......the foam is structural in the bay liners....
the hull is thin and needs the anti crush backing stregnth of the foam....bayliners of that era thru to the 2000's are generally so thin hulled that you can feel the water lapping at the side of the hull when you sit in them.
OH Crap, sorry bout that, I forgot about the Bayliners!!!! My BAD!!! Thanks for catching me. I WILL remember that in the future and NOT put out bad info again.
Since you live in Montana, I'd recommend these guys in Washington State. It will save you some bucks on shipping and their prices are very similar to USComposites in Florida.
What exactly are you going to be doing to her? Deck, Stringers and Transom??? If you let us know everything you are planning on doing we can help you determine the quantity of everything you will need to get the job done.
What have you done to ensure the transom is good? Have you taken core samples? What is the depth of your stringers? I'm assuming this is an I/O boat? You really need to post some pics so we can see what you are seeing. What exactly are your demolition plans. It's very unusual for stingers to be rotten and the transom not have some issues.
yes i did take core samples and its all good it looks like someone was in there before i got there the stringer depth? not sure what your refering to i will post some pics tho and ive got it tore down and sanded ready for me to set stringers
Depth means measurement from bottom of deck to the hull. 6" 8" 10" how deep are they. You calculate your pour in foam by cubic feet. Length X Width X Depth = Cubic feet