1965 Starcraft Explorer - question about stringers

I've got a 1965 Starcraft Explorer that I am trying to figure out what to do with. I got it in August and have had it out on the lake a few times but the floors were very soft in places so last night I started tearing it up and (of course) it looks like the wood in the stringers is pretty much non-existent because it has all rotted out.

I've got an old Starcraft ad for this boat that describes the stringers like this:

Stringers and transverse braces, above, form a rib-and-frame skeleton which does not touch the bottom, rests on the chine. It is then glassed-in with heavyweight woven roving.

Click to expand...

I assume that if I want to continue with this boat I need to replace the stringers, but I've seen a few other threads with Starcrafts from the same time period with a similar stringer setup where it seems that the wood is not necessary and they were fine with leaving the hollow fiberglass stringers or I think one of them fiberglassed another layer over the fiberglass stringers and left it at that.

It looks like the fiberglass over the stringers (well... where they used to be) is in good shape and seems very strong, however the fiberglass that was over what they call the 'transverse braces' is not nearly as strong so I'm wondering if I can replace the wood for the braces and re-glass it (I don't have the whole floor up yet, but I believe there are 3-4 of these that run the width of the boat through the stringers) and leave the fiberglass stringers as-is.

I can probably get some pictures later today to add to this... this '64 Starcraft Bahama where they just left the stringers as-is and poured foam between them has a very similar structure, if it's not exactly the same, but their's are looking like they are in better shape overall.

Re: 1965 Starcraft Explorer - question about stringers

W/out pix, hard to say, but The Bahama wouldn't be my 1st choice of a 'How to rehab a boat' thread to mimic...

Re: 1965 Starcraft Explorer - question about stringers

Need to see pics of the stringers to determine if they are "Engineered Stringers" I do not think they are. The description you posted strongly suggests that these are Wood Core Stingers, laminated with Woven Roving. Boats of this vintage rarely had engineered stringers. I am NOT certain about Starcraft Fiberglass Boats.

Re: 1965 Starcraft Explorer - question about stringers

jbcurt00 said:

but The Bahama wouldn't be my 1st choice of a 'How to rehab a boat' thread to mimic...

Click to expand...

MmmmmHmmmmmm, looks like those hollow stringers are just begging to be filled up with water to me... not to mention they look like a Billy goat's but sewed up with a grapevine.

... and that little bit of foam...

Re: 1965 Starcraft Explorer - question about stringers

Good to know that that the project I linked to may not be optimal haha.

Here is a PhotoBucket album of a few pictures I just took tonight. Any advice on where to even begin would be awesome...

Re: 1965 Starcraft Explorer - question about stringers

If you hover the pointer over the pix in your bucket acct, the IMG codes pop up. Pick the last 1, and copy it. Then post the IMG code in your thread posts, it will look like this:
IMG]http://i1273.photobucket.com/albums/y403/65%20Starcraft%20Explorer/20121230_181628.jpg[/IMG]
And the pix appear directly in your thread, and make it much easier to discuss all the facets of your tear down, clean up & ultimate put back...





Based on the pix above, that I copied from your bucket acct, it appears that there was once wood in the bulkheads running port to starboard across the beam of the boat, so I suspect that the stringers were once wood wrapped in fiberglass.

Lots of good info in the resto threads, but here's a good place to start:

Don's list of helpful how to's: [h=3]How To's and Other Great Information[/h]
Look for WoodOnGlass' posts, his signature links have tons of helpful stuff too......

Re: 1965 Starcraft Explorer - question about stringers

Thanks, I've been spending a lot of time reading through stuff on that thread you linked to and stuff elsewhere. And I'll post pics in the post next time rather than a link to the album.

I know that ideally I should be replacing all of the stringers but I am thinking about leaving the two curved ones (the one to the right and the one to the left of the center stringer) as they are since the fiberglass looks really sturdy/heavy and it seems like they might be hard to rebuild with the shape they have. It is hard to explain, especially since I don't know a lot of this terminology yet, but it seems like those two have a lot of 'shape' to them that would be difficult to redo, I almost wonder if I removed those two if i would be making the structure weaker. So I would be replacing the center one and the bulkheads, and probably the two under the piece of floor that I still have not pulled up. Is this a really dumb idea?

Also, I plan on redoing the transom eventually as well... do I start with stringers or the transom or does it not matter?

I know that overall this is going to get more expensive than I am probably prepared for, but I'd hate to just get rid of this boat. It doesn't seem like it is as 'nice' as a lot of the other boats I see people working on here, but I still am wanting to fix it up... I am nervous that since I don't know a lot that maybe I shouldn't be putting a lot of money into this boat, but I don't know. Any opinions on that?

Re: 1965 Starcraft Explorer - question about stringers

Did you finish your boat? What did you do about your stringers?

Re: 1965 Starcraft Explorer - question about stringers

Not yet! So far I've got all of the stringers removed and the fiberglass ground down. Within the next couple of weeks I plan to finish replacing the transom and then get started on replacing the stringers. I will post some pictures once I get started again, here's what it looks like currently:

Re: 1965 Starcraft Explorer - question about stringers

Nice job on the tear out and grinding.

Re: 1965 Starcraft Explorer - question about stringers

That is a good demo and grinding job.

Do you have any pics of the inside of the boat before you started tearing everything out?

Re: 1965 Starcraft Explorer - question about stringers

Thanks. Apparently I forgot to take more than a few before pictures... here are a couple though: