transom and stringer repair

[pa-skipper-jb]

hello iboat members,

pa-skipper-jb new to iboats here with a question on my 1975 186 swinger glastron,

I started repairing what I thought would be an easy fix to a week spot in my floor , but without getting to much into detail you all know what I found out with a boat that age .

ok my mechanic abilities tell me to start ripping things out , good ok, but what it didn't tell me but my son found out for me was that the top of the boat could be separated from the bottom ( it's a miracle ) I thought it was one molding, dah!..
ok so I we my son and I lifted the back only to about the dash ( after removing bumper molding ) and was able to remove what was called a transom but now I would like to remove the top completely so I can get to rest of the flooring and the runners ? now here's the question - how heavy is the top and what way can it be removed ? oh let me throw this in also ,I'm doing this at home and on a very low budget ? I live in the country have a two car garage that is full and some trees and a 1 ton lbs. manual hoist. and the low budget thing goes towards the entire project of completion.

and you thought you had problems lol .........

this is a great web site and there is a lot of good forms out there but I just thought that someone out here could help shed some useful light on me . I will try to post some pics if I can figure that out too.

thanks if you can help,

love to boat

pa-skipper-jb

 

[Panoguy]

Re: striger and transom repair

Re: striger and transom repair

Welcome aboard!!

I'm fairly new to these boards also, I'm doing my first restoration also, but my intuition tells me that you'll want to support the bottom & sides very carefully if you pull the cap off. I'd personally be worried about the sides flexing & distorting.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: striger and transom repair

Re: striger and transom repair

Removing the cap by hand would probably be easiest and best, 4 people would make it pretty easy.

Everyone seems to be on a low budget, but don't scrimp on what's needed to do the job right. You can save a lot of money by shopping online for your materials, and USComposites has some of the best prices on the internet for resin, cloth/mat, and foam.
Fiberglass , Epoxy , Composites, Carbon Fiber - U.S. Composites, Inc.

You can also save money by using exterior grade plywood instead of marine grade, most folks on this forum opt for the exterior grade.

Read as many restoration threads as you can and you'll know how to fix your boat right before you start the project, you'll also have fewer questions... but we'll be here when you need to ask for advice.

 

[pckeen]

Re: striger and transom repair

Re: striger and transom repair

Do a search on iboats for cap removal. There are several examples of this, in garages and with equipment similar to yours. If you can't find any, send me a pm and I'll post a link (internet down at the house, and I'm posting from a cell).

 

[pa-skipper-jb]

transom and stringer repair

hello again iboat members , pa-skipper-jb here trying to post pics of my boat project but maybe i'll have more luck with my boat then with posting pics ! lol.
anyway can anyone tell me what the little quarter inch plastic tubing is that's coming from the bottom of the boat ( hull ) to the deck up in the front bow ? it's a 1975 glastron v186 swinger. oh and does the wood that i'm replacing have to fasten (attached,glued) to the boats shell or just set in and fiberglassed over to hold it in place ? i'm asking because when I cleaned all the old mulch out I didn't have to scrap chip or grind any wood away from any of the fiberglass ?

thanks, pa skipper

 

[pckeen]

Re: transom and stringer repair

Posting Pictures

Hi PA, and Welcome to Iboats.

There are a couple of ways to post pictures - begin with your computer by resizing whatever images you have so that they are small for the web. If you have a microsoft computer, you can do this using the edit function on 'photo gallery'

Next, you can upload them in one of two ways. You can hit the 'go advanced' button below the text entry screen, then scroll down to 'manage attachments' Click on that, and an attachments box will pop up - simply follow the instructions to post the pictures. If you do so, they will look like this.

View attachment 201348

The better way - to get large pictures - is to open a 'photobucket' account. After uploading pictures to photobucket, you click on the photo you want, then click on the textbox to the right of the letters "IMG". This copies the web address for that photo. You then return to the iboats page, and right click on the screen where you want to insert the photo, then click on 'paste'. What that does is insert a link to your photo on photobucket. The images you get using this method are bigger and easier to see, like the one below.




I'm not sure what you are referring to with the 'quarter inch plastic tubing' - put up some pics.

 

[carribbean soul]

Re: transom and stringer repair

its the speedometer tube

 

[eph445]

Re: transom and stringer repair

hello again iboat members , pa-skipper-jb here trying to post pics of my boat project but maybe i'll have more luck with my boat then with posting pics ! lol.
anyway can anyone tell me what the little quarter inch plastic tubing is that's coming from the bottom of the boat ( hull ) to the deck up in the front bow ? it's a 1975 glastron v186 swinger. oh and does the wood that i'm replacing have to fasten (attached,glued) to the boats shell or just set in and fiberglassed over to hold it in place ? i'm asking because when I cleaned all the old mulch out I didn't have to scrap chip or grind any wood away from any of the fiberglass ?

thanks, pa skipper

yea that tube is most likely for your speed odometer. As far as replacing stringers and transom, most common practice from what Ive read in this forum is to adhere stringers to hull with PB. You can use PB on transom too although I didn't. I got a nice bond with just epoxy. I would also recommend epoxy resin because from what I've read it is better than polyester because it has better adhesive properties although it is a bit more expensive.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: transom and stringer repair

I doubt it's the speedo tube.

It's a bilge vent tube to try & prevent condensation from forming below decks. My 1960 Glastron has it too:

Ran from below deck, up in a loop under the covered bow.

 

[pa-skipper-jb]

transom and stringer repair

well here it goes ! " picture time " oh and jbcurt00 I think your right vent for bilge ? check out the photos from photobucket.






















thanks jbcurt00








did I get it right ? did I miss anything ?

ah--oh shucks ! only 6 aloud delete delete delete

 

[pa-skipper-jb]

transom and stringer repair

continuing pics, what I found and how i'm getting threw it on a low budget.












keep the comments and suggestions coming

thanks pa skipper jb

 

[pa-skipper-jb]

Re: transom and stringer repair

oh , ok like this ? but I thought it would just reply back to you , I want to get my pics and questions out to everyone ? lol
thanks jbcurt00.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: transom and stringer repair

Put at some point you (or someone answering questions) will NEED to see more then just the latest pix & question you ask.

As an example, rather then ask if you are fully supporting the hull now that the cap is off & there's quite a bit of internal structure missing, I could page up & see this pix:

and KNOW that it isn't. Because the pix would have been here in the thread w/ pix & questions about the transom & stringer. I wouldn't have to ask or look thru multiple threads to find it. Saves time.

At put back, you may need access to the pix & answers to your questions, if they are in multiple threads it'll be harder to find.

But thread & question post as you see fit.

A good representation of your boat & concerns in 1 thread, w/ pix like you've provided, will also lead to more assistance.

 

[pckeen]

Re: transom and stringer repair

Hi pa - love the pics - makes things much clearer. I gather you had some problems posting pics (now sorted), and ended up with two threads. I suggest that you put a clear note at the bottom of the thread you want to abandon - and ask people not to post on it, then just continue the thread you want to keep.

Can you repost the questions with the relevant pic? It'll be easier for users to respond.

It looks like you've done a ton of work on this boat so far - I look forward to following on and watching this project develop.

 

[pa-skipper-jb]

Re: transom and stringer repair

hello , I was wondering If the new wood (what ever kind I us ) has to be fastened to the shell ( hull ) in some way - glue or pb ? I'm asking because the old wood mulch has just fallen out without cutting scrapping or grinding
, dose it just get laid in and then classed over to do it's job ?



in this photo you can see were I just cut off the tops of the stringers and pulled the wood out




and this photo the same with the transom




dose anyone close to my area ( central pa. ) have any leftover materials that they would like to clean out of there garages ?
just wondering because I've stated be for this is a low budget project that I really shouldn't have started but I thought I was only going to fix a weak ( spot ) in the deck, i'd really like to see the boat back in the river again but it looks like i'll have a hole winter to work on it and get a good job done after reading more posts and keeping my post up with info and pix

thanks , pa-skipper-jb

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: transom and stringer repair

It appears you're planning on putting your new wood back in the old stringer channels is that correct? If so, I would highly recommend that you not do that. It does not work well. It's very hard to get them to adhere well to the old glass. It's best to cut the old casings out and grind them flush with the hull. Take a look at the first link in my signature below. It has drawings and info on all the things you will be doing.

 

[pa-skipper-jb]

Re: transom and stringer repair

ok just like the posting of my pix are all mixed up - i'm getting mixed up from all the posts and forums i'm reading !!!!!...

is my boat supported enough or not ?(should I reinstall cap and reset supports ) if all the wood was rotted 15 years after it was built and I enjoyed it 10 -15 years after that and found during rebuild that it was poorly manufactured from the beginning , then why is there so much contrivers over what material and how it should be used to fix it !
anything I do should be better no matter what ! right ? it should last another 15 yrs. or more .

no i'm not putting anyone down or trying to loose any helpful info.i'm just getting confused #&%@#@$^(

i'm going to use aruca plywood for the transom 1/2 times 3 and 3/4 x 8 pine boards for the stringers and 1/2 a or b grade plywood for the deck ?

FIBERGLASS (omg) what are the abbreviations ?

what is pb and should I use it to put my transom and stringers in ?

epoxy ? is it a mix ? the last time I used epoxy was at the old factory it was floor paint.

poly ? well my boat is made of polyester and cloth is that what I should use?

flotation foam ! how about those tube like floating things kids have for the pool ?


low low budget . it shouldn't have been started , but it will get done !

there I blew of some steam.

thanks pa skipper

 

[GaJeff]

Re: transom and stringer repair

Hey skipper,

It looks like you have a pretty solid platform to start with. The PB is thickened resin, mixed with resin and a filler. Usually chopped strand fibers and cabosil (fumed silica). The chopped strand fibers is to give the mix strength and the cabosil is a filler. You can use all kinds of fillers in PB. It depends on the application and your preference. Microspheres or balloons which are tiny glass bubbles can be used. Milled fibers which is chopped strand fibers just cut down to slivers. You can used sawdust, fiberglass grind dust, sand, just about anything. I've heard of people using baby powder because it has talc in it. I wouldn't recommend baby powder as it can absorb moisture but talc alone is sold along with all other fiberglass supplies.

PB is generally used to fill in large gaps, holes, voids, and used to bond pieces together. It's used to bond the transom if desired. I've used PL premium for the transom. It's used to bed in the stringers and used to make fillets which is making your corners smooth and curved instead of a 90* angle.

 

[GaJeff]

Re: transom and stringer repair

Epoxy is a 2 part resin. Usually 1gal part A and 1gal part B. it's a superior resin compared to polyester and 2x sometimes 3x the price of polyester. If you use epoxy you can't use polyester with it. The poly will not bond properly. Epoxy does not require a seperate hardener just A and B mix. It has a long working time and can take up to 7 days to cure. Poly has a seperate hardener or catalyst MEKP that is added and has a limited working time. Can vary from 5min to and hour depending on amout of MEKP added and outside temp. The hotter the faster. Poly can also get very hot when mixed if not poured quickly. Generally do a max of 2 layups to keep the heat down. If it gets to hot it will become brittle and crack.

I would used polyester in your application. It's cost efficient yet still strong. Boats have been built from it for decades. If it were a high end build then go epoxy. But it's not and your on a budget. The resin WILL be your highest expense so shop around for the best that you can afford.

The glass your going to want to use is CSM or chop strand mat and a good biaxial cloth or woven roving. NEVER start a layup with a cloth as the cloth will not bond to the surface as well as the CSM. I would also not end with a cloth. 2 layers of CSM will yield a waterproof surface. I like to do CSM, cloth, CSM, cloth, CSM. 24oz woven roving will give you good strength, if you end with it and its on a high traffic area like a deck, as the surface wears it will produce sharp slivers. Woven roving is strands stitched into a cloth instead of a yarn stitched into a cloth.
1708 is a biaxial cloth with CSM stitched on the back side. It gives you strength and flexibility. It makes layups on contours very easy.

You want to use a USCG approved foam, not pool noodles. It's a 2 part foam that is pourable or foam planks

 

[pa-skipper-jb]

Re: transom and stringer repair

thanks gajeff, your information will be greatly noted and appreciated, good straight forward info that's what I need