1988 Malibu Sunsetter Restoration

[TipTricky]

Hello new to the group have been reading a lot of posts on this forum and figure I would make one of my own so here is my 1988 Malibu Sunsetter and as you can see it's stringers and transom time! The lower half of the main stringers are solid but the tops where screws and staples were put in by Malibu have began to rot so at this stage I have cut the deck out and removed most of the foam. I have ran into a bit of a snag I cut down both sides of one stringer through the fiberglass to wood and then again down the length of the top hoping to peel the fiberglass off and attempt to remove the old stringer wood without to much damage to the hull edge so I can use it as a template on the new wood anyone think this is possible because just getting the fiber glass cap off is a real struggle already I'm starting to think getting the stringer free from the hull will be impossible.

 

[88 Capri (2022 SOTY)]

Hello there, I have recently been in that stage of a restoration and my tool of choice for anything was a porter cable multi-tool which there are other manufacturers but it was worth its weight in gold.

 

[TipTricky]

Hello there, I have recently been in that stage of a restoration and my tool of choice for anything was a porter cable multi-tool which there are other manufacturers but it was worth its weight in gold.

I have a milwaukee multi tool. Found the grinder makes quick work of cutting the glass but messy. Did you use the multi tool to separate the glass from the stringer?

 

[88 Capri (2022 SOTY)]

Yes I used it for everything when I gutted the boat. I found the carbide tipped blades worked the best for me.

 

[todhunter]

If you're wanting to leave the glass for the stringers and only remove the wood, you may want to try looking into using an electric chainsaw. My brother is restoring a Glastron and is planning to do Seacast for stringers and transom and he has had good luck using a chainsaw to dig out the old wood. I personally would cut out all the old stringer tabbing, bedding in new stringers, and re-tabbing. At first I was worried about getting the stringers in the exact same spots as the original ones, but I came to realize it doesn't matter. Once you dig in and see how "loose" these boats were originally constructed, it will give you confidence in rebuilding it yourself.