1988 Sea Ray Seville Stringer Replacement

[agwood75]

I started to repair a few soft spots in the floor of my boat and the more I dug the more rotted wood I found. As it is now I have tore out all of the wood from the driver?s side seat back to the transom. This includes removing all of the stringers from that point on. Luckily the front part of the boat and the transom had no rot in it. I would like to save the floatation foam that is remaining since it is not wet, but the problem I have is re-glassing the new stringers to the bottom of the boat and not cutting all of the foam out. I left behind a small shaft at the bottom of the boat from where the old fiberglass was cut out to get to the rotted stringers, so that I could put the new stringers in and hold in place. I work construction so I have access to structural epoxy resin, similar to the kind that you would use to drill and epoxy rebar in with (Simpson Strong Tie). Could you just run a bead of this structural epoxy in the old fiberglass shaft and at the transom connection and have this provide enough stringer support, or do I need to remove the foam and coat the stringer from top to bottom in fiberglass? I also had to make some splices where the old stringer is coming from the front of the boat and where the new plywood was not long enough, 2 splices on each side. I plan on epoxying these joints together and then running an extra piece of plywood on the inside, epoxied to the stringer for extra support, is this enough support? Also, these are originally 1/2" plywood stringers, do they actually provide that much support? I just want to make sure that the boat does not split in half when I hit a wave or the engine does not fall off when I am pulling a skier.

 

[maxum247]

Re: 1988 Sea Ray Seville Stringer Replacement

Sounds like you just want to make repairs and not get into a full blown restoration, is this correct?
If you have pictures of what you've done so far that would be helpful in making a decision as to the best way to go about the repair work on your boat or if you need to take it futher repair wise.

max!

 

[agwood75]

Re: 1988 Sea Ray Seville Stringer Replacement

This is correct i would like to get this done as quickly and as cheaply as possible. I do still want it to be safe though, so if that means going the extra mile than that is fine. I guess I am just looking for minimum requirements and still have the boat function properly and be safe.

 

[capri1600]

Re: 1988 Sea Ray Seville Stringer Replacement

If you do need to remove the foam near the stringer, a 4 1/2" grinder with a cup shaped wire wheel will make very short work of the foam and not damage the fiberglass. I had all of the old foam ground out of my 1983 16ft Bayliner Capri in less than 30 minutes from start to finish. In regards to your work. You have come this far. Look very closely for ANY signs of additional rot or of wet foam. I will tell you that the last piece of decking I removed from my project was still wet underneath. It was open on the end and the boat had been stored indoors for more than 2 years! Don't skimp on your work even if the project seems to be expanding.

 

[proshadetree]

Re: 1988 Sea Ray Seville Stringer Replacement

Ill have to go with capri post some pics of damaged area

 

[delbert111]

Re: 1988 Sea Ray Seville Stringer Replacement

My suggestion is to go all out. I bought a 22 foot Rinker that had some soft spots on the floor just like you probably found. I tore up the floor, or should I say removed the floor and found a new floor on top of an old rotted floor. The stringers were rotted so bad the wood in the stringer was like mud. I talked with a number of people, and they said to gut the boat. I took it down to the stringers as I said. Part of the stringer was still good in the bow area, however it was recomended to replace the whole stringer. I am using this stuff called Seacast. Found it on line. I don't need to buy a bunch of wood, all that it needed is to empty the 3/4 inch side stringer of old rotted wood then pour in the Seacast according to the directions. Then I am going to lay a 3/4 inch new floor the next day. then my son and I are going walleye, salmon, and perch fishing. This boat is mostly for salmon trolling. Interested in Seacast? Look it up online. It will do a great job replacing stringers and it will never rot.

 

[delbert111]

Re: 1988 Sea Ray Seville Stringer Replacement

My suggestion is to go all out. I bought a 22 foot Rinker that had some soft spots on the floor just like you probably found. I tore up the floor, or should I say removed the floor and found a new floor on top of an old rotted floor. The stringers were rotted so bad the wood in the stringer was like mud. I talked with a number of people, and they said to gut the boat. I took it down to the stringers as I said. Part of the stringer was still good in the bow area, however it was recomended to replace the whole stringer. I am using this stuff called Seacast. Found it on line. I don't need to buy a bunch of wood, all that it needed is to empty the 3/4 inch side stringer of old rotted wood then pour in the Seacast according to the directions. Then I am going to lay a 3/4 inch new floor the next day. then my son and I are going walleye, salmon, and perch fishing. This boat is mostly for salmon trolling. Interested in Seacast? Look it up online. It will do a great job replacing stringers and it will never rot.