1994 Celebrity Stringer Replacement and New Floor

[laxray]

I must say that I like many others have spent many hours reading and searching other peoples repairs. In the beginning I was hesitant to post a whole thread on my project but at the suggestion of a mod I have given it. I will also say here that part of the intimidation is the strong opinions of people on this board. I think that my skin has now thickened enough to look at these people and say hey some times we dont do it they way you did yours and that is ok!

We acquired this boat last mothers day weekend from a friend who kept dropping the price as we were taken out for a test drive. Luckily his final price was very low and I am able to do the work to replace the stringers and floor.

On buying the boat there was definitely some floor softness but since we were able to drive the boat from the sellers dock to your slip and park it the decision was made to ski for the summer and fix the soft floor over the winter or early spring.
Well the time came and we pulled the boat to make some other minor repairs and I climbed in to pull up the carpet and see what all was involved.
I dont have many prepictures but here is what I do have. You can see where we removed the fuel tank cover and a square where the original seats were screwed into the deck which later broke a lose.

The rot was evident after I got out the fuel tank and a lot of the floor in the back came up with the carpet.

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[laxray]

Re: 1994 Celebrity Stringer Replacement and New Floor

From there I went to see a local guy who does this for money to get some advice. Ha He told me to sell the trailer and motor and look for another boat, but instead I got on here and started reading. I have built cedar strip canoes and seakayaks in the past and over the last 2 years have added 2000 sq feet to my house so I figured what ever Ill do it.

One thing he did caution me about was to check to see if the transom and motor mounts were solid so I did and with the old stab the screw driver/ ice pick I deemed them solid.

I know this is where everyone chimes in that if you are going this far you should rebuild all of it and this and that and I appreciate your concern.. I have made the executive decision that if the other has to be done at a later date I will deal with it then. So please dont beat me up about core samples and the like......

Now that I have voiced that rant let me continue.

Last year I built all the cabinets in the kitchen from scratch and although boats are curved and not necessarily built on right angles I was confident that I could pull this off.

I took lots of notes and made lots of measurements and went out and picked up some plywood from the H D store. I was happy with the $34 per sheet cost and only got one so I didnt have to store the rest.

I also found our local paint store sold 5 gallons of laminating resin at whole sale prices because they buy 55 gallon and pour it up. I have been very happy with this product. The had wax as well for the final coats. What they didnt have was fiberglass. I found that out of FL with very reasonable shipping cost and 3 day delivery.

From there I proceeded to read a lot more and cut out more pieces from plywood and continue to deconstruct my boat. Along the way I found a gentleman on here who had a slightly older boat and many pictures from his rebuild http://forums.iboats.com/boat-resto...otal-deck-replacemnt-89-celebrity-300463.html I decided after seeing how he did not gut the whole boat but just repaired and fixed what was broken that it was ok to do this.

So I plowed in. I found the tyvek suits from the big box store do great at keeping down the fiberglass in the skin and what does seem irritated is revealed by some tape applied over and over again.

I ended up finding a point where the stringers were not falling apart and decided to sister in new board at this point. So I cut out everything and gave it a coat of resin and started to put it all back together.

As of today this is where I stand.


Along the way I figured out some stuff like the great tip off of here to use the metric system to calculate hardener with your resin. I ended up going to the dollar store and picking up a kids medicine giver and using this to measure. With the bags for squeezing thickened hardener I used a flower pot to keep it from falling over when the resin hits the bag.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: 1994 Celebrity Stringer Replacement and New Floor

Looks like you do good work. Each person that takes on repair and restoration work develops some of their own techniques, based on their situation and skill set.

I would not get overly concerned about different approaches that you may have versus some of the veteran members, as long as your rationale is sound.

 

[Fastatv]

Re: 1994 Celebrity Stringer Replacement and New Floor

Looks good Laxray. I did something similar to my 17 foot Larson. I used oak to sister in the stringers, then glued, screwed and glassed. My plan was to get a couple more seasons out it. I wanted to ask you, is that flakeboard I saw in one of the pics? I have to assume that someone placed it in there to cover rot in the floor? I'm just curious, couldn't imagine that coming in the boat from factory. Rick

 

[laxray]

Re: 1994 Celebrity Stringer Replacement and New Floor

Yes that is some osb left from my house remodel I end up using that piece all over the place. It currently is the base for my boat cover pole when the boat is covered then it serves as my work table to place my paint tray on when Im glassing. When I started tearing it all out there were not too many soft spots but Im glad started when I did.

 

[Fastatv]

Re: 1994 Celebrity Stringer Replacement and New Floor

Cool. Glad someone hadn't tried to patch the sole with that. Again, looks like you do good work! I would like to make a recommendation to you laxray. You might want to check the engine mounts by taking a core sample. If one of the lag bolts were to pull out, it could cause some damage in there and possibly a safety issue. Its only a recommendation. Enjoy that boat! Rick

 

[laxray]

Re: 1994 Celebrity Stringer Replacement and New Floor

What adhesive is being used to put carpet down? Any Suggestions?

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1994 Celebrity Stringer Replacement and New Floor

I think if you use the Advanced Search feature on the Forum you'll get a lot of answers to this question. I did and one of the most frequent answers was...Weldwood All Weather Outdoor Carpet Adhesive

 

[laxray]

Re: 1994 Celebrity Stringer Replacement and New Floor

New Pictures and update.....
managed to lay some 1708 today... I did not try to go over the top of the stringers. I ended up getting my dad to come be my assistant. It was awesome to have some one to cut and hand cloth to me and even mix some more resin. I used a standard paint roller 3 inches wide (took the chop saw and cut these down then trimmed the fuzz with scissors) once the resin was mixed I poured it into a paint tray that I lined with aluminum foil. This helps make the resin last longer.. the roller did a great job of wetting out the cloth and even rolling out bubbles. There are some black marks in the picture which is sharpie we were using to make cutting easier. No one will ever see under the deck.


Thanks for all the help so far. One more afternoon of laying fiberglass and I will be ready to cut the deck wood and start the decking.

 

[laxray]

Re: 1994 Celebrity Stringer Replacement and New Floor

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1994 Celebrity Stringer Replacement and New Floor

The more you do...The better you'll get. Looks like you're getting better already!!!

 

[laxray]

Re: 1994 Celebrity Stringer Replacement and New Floor

Is a layer of waxed resin as water proof as gel coat? Im debating the fuel tank compartment and figure if it will be sealed why should I spend the money on gel coat if the waxed resin will never see sunlight down there.

 

[tpenfield]

Re: 1994 Celebrity Stringer Replacement and New Floor

the wax is just so the surface of the resin cures. does not really do much in terms of water permeation or osmosis.

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: 1994 Celebrity Stringer Replacement and New Floor

Gelcoat is basically tinted polyester resin with some additional additives. You're Waxed Resin will be fine in fuel tank area left uncoated. the MFG do NOT coat them and they last for decades. the resin will have more than adequate water resistance.