Stringer Replacement - can I use other materials?

Good evening everyone, I've been lurking for a while since purchasing a little project boat about a month ago. I purchased an 1986 16' Yar-Craft bow-rider with a trailer and no motor for under $100. This was a project boat when I bought it as the PO had already started ripping the floor up. After reading all of the posts about stringer replacement, I'm thinking it may make more sense to use some other material. Does anybody see anything wrong with using 1/8" Aluminum formed in an L or a Z and glassing those in in place of a plywood stringer? Another thought I had was just making a form with some flashing (which would be non-structural) and glassing over it with alternating layers of CSM and maybe some heavy roving. Are my ideas completely off base, or would they be feasible?

Also, please keep in mind I have access to all the tools necessary to work with metal in the capacity mentioned.

Re: Stringer Replacement - can I use other materials?

My 1960 Lonestar boat has aluminum stringers as have other boats in the past. Resin and CSM do not readily adhere to aluminum, but with good prep you can get it to bond.

Re: Stringer Replacement - can I use other materials?

Thanks Woodonglass, I was wondering about that my self. I wonder if sanding with a coarse grit would be good enough? Another thought I had was perforating the stringers and glassing through that to create more of a mechanical bond.

Re: Stringer Replacement - can I use other materials?

Yeah, I would strongly recommend coarse grit sanding and your idea of perforating is a good one. I would also think about using back to back channels riveted together to create an I-Beam. Epoxy would be a much better choice than poly.

Re: Stringer Replacement - can I use other materials?

Yes.......structural plastic. If I ever have to do it, why wud I use heavy, prone to rot wood again. They make small I-beams in high density plastic that are stronger, and lighter than wood, and can adhere to fiberglass. Also smaller angles, square lightweight tubing, etc.

Re: Stringer Replacement - can I use other materials?

I think you will have bonding issue even with epoxy. Aluminum and composites have much different thermal expansion rates....I have epoxied aluminum brackets to my hull for mounting seats, I ground them with 36 grit and still have had failures. If you are worried about them rotting, use seacast or one of the other composite materials.