95 Sea Ray 230 Sundancer stringer repair

[tpenfield]

It's not too late to make this project an outboard conversion.

 

[gmach]

It's about a 2 1/2" rise towards the transom.

 

[gmach]

It's not too late to make this project an outboard conversion.

I thought about that too but, I bought a big ol swim platform to hang off the back though thats been sitting in the shipping crate this whole time. Plus this boat has a bad tendency to wander at low speed; do you think putting an outboard further out might make it worse?

 

[gmach]

Well it's been consistently in the 90's temperature wise here in California and so I have to work early in the morning or late in the evening...... until now.

 

[gmach]

Since the cabin is now air conditioned, I figured I would takle the rotten balsa core in the fore deck while enjoying the cool a/c.

 

[gmach]

I finally got around to glassing the transom. I really misjudged the radius I made for the steps on the transom. I figured a quater 1/4 inch round over would have worked but the 1708 did not agree and I spent a way to much time trying to get it stuck down and then watch it pop back up 15 minutes later. So instead of fighting it I just let it cure.

 

[gmach]

I ended up grinding out the delaminated corners and this time applying a generous fillet and laying down some new glass. The transom is 4 layers of 1708 and 5 layers of tabbing for a finished thickness of 2-1/4 inches and when I bang on the transom it has that beautiful solid high pitch ring!

 

[gmach]

Here I am fitting the stringers in place. The Coosa is really easy to work with maybe even easier than wood. Because it is a dense type of foam, it can be sanded and cut very fast. One big drawback I found with it though is the dust it generates. I find that it irritates the skin way worse than normal fiberglass and it can work its way through thin clothing like a t shirt easily. I'm assuming this is due to the fact that it's less dense than normal fiberglass and the dust it creates is more coarse (bigger glass slivers).

 

[tpenfield]

Looks good. Keep in mind that Coosa is not as strong as plywood, so you will want to double up on the glassing of those stringers.

 

[alldodge]

Nice work

 

[tpenfield]

BTW - 1708 cloth yields about 0.045” thickness. So, the 4 layers on the transom are getting you 0.190” thickness

 

[gmach]

Got my stringers glassed in with 3 layers of 1708. The glass tabbing for the stringers runs about 10 inches onto the hull just as wide as the stringers are tall. I have been using vinyl ester to laminate glass and epoxy to bond the structure to the boat. Right now i'm installing the bulkheads and trying to figure out how i am going to plumb these fuel tanks. When the boat is sitting level relatively. The hull bottom slopes down 2 1/2 inches from the stern toward the bow and the side tanks sit higher in the vee of the hull bottom. I figure the best place to make the tank connections are at the front of the tank because that would where the fuel would naturally collect. I would run about 1 inch piping from the front of the side tanks through the stringers and back into the front of the main tank. I will also install shut off valves for both sitde tanks in the areas where the round inspection hatches are installed. That is the plan; am I missing anything? Let me know what you guys think. I also included an AI generated image to give you an idea of the tank layout.

 

[alldodge]

Boats sit and run bow up, I would put pickups toward the stern

 

[gmach]

Boats sit and run bow up, I would put pickups toward the stern

Would you install pickups and a transfer pump? How would you setup a fuel fill for three seperate tanks?

 

[gmach]

How about something like this?

 

[tank1949]

Hello all,
I would like to share my disappointing story and get some of your thoughts. I bought this boat last year. When I bought it, I noticed the owner had replaced the cockpit seats with some after market back to back louge seats; none of the screws were bedded and none of the old seat holes were plugged. I knew I would have to re-core the mid birth ceiling where the seats sat on. I figured I could takle that easy enough. Well that changed today; the can of worms has been opened and the water from the ceiling leak has turned into stringer rot. I have dug out all of the rotted stringer so far and plan to scarf in new stringer and deck sections with half inch marine grade plywood. I am a little confused by the method Sea Ray used to splice the original stringer. They made a long taper joint in the stringer and used a butt block to connect the two, but the stringer terminates about 16 inches away at a bulkhead. I would like to glue in the new stringer at that termination and scarf in at the other end. Could I scarf in over Sea Ray's joint or should I just use Sea Ray's joint method to make the splice? A scarf would be about a 6 inch joint and a Sea Ray splice joint would be about 48 inches long with the the removal of another bulkhead.View attachment 414964View attachment 414965View attachment 414966

I've owned 2 SRs AJs and a Proline 2950. I never could understand why Mfgs didn't add limber holes to drain possibly saturated foam. I never had SR issues with the crap you exposed. Transoms are another story. Proline mfgs should be in prison for fraud. But my PL 2950's stringers were much easier exposed and repairable. The transom was crap too. Older Grady Whites are rot nightmares as well. You seem to have done a lot of work. Me too! I assume (w/o reading your War and Peace) that your transom was in as bad of shape. I hope you have time, money, and good health for this project. My health failed. But, hell, I'm 77 years old. Good luck

 

[redneck joe]

i would put in front.

if you are thin on fuel but it runs bow down at hull speed that will give you best chance of having a safety amount?

 

[alldodge]

Would you install pickups and a transfer pump? How would you setup a fuel fill for three seperate tanks?

I wouldn't have lines and valves connected to transfer fuel from one tank to the other, or have the lines between tanks low enough so they self level, just doesn't sound safe.

As for how to fill tanks they should be done by USCG requirements.

 

[Scott Danforth]

the fuel requirements is located in the USCG boat building handbook. https://www.uscgboating.org/assets/1/AssetManager/FUELSYSTEM1.pdf

 

[gmach]

Well, the rule about only top of tank fuel opennings permitted eliminates the possibility of a gravity type cross feed system. I thank you all for your input! Ill be back at the drawing board