1995 Luhrs 290 Tournament open Stringer/bulkhead recoreing

[RBMSA1]

Hello all!

I am in the process of recoring my stringers and rear engine compartment bulkhead on this luhrs I have here. Planning on using seacast in stringers and lower bulkhead (bottom 1-2ft dead center and about 6-8in at sidewall) and coosa up higher on bulkhead between engine room and stern hull compartments.

Stringers and bulkheads from helm back (approx 5-6/8ths of boat length) are easy to get too. Im having trouble getting to stringers under cabin sole. Looks to me like only two (the inner stringers) of the engine room continue through bulkhead separating cabin and helm to the bow. Outer engine stringers stop at this bulkhead. Im wondering best way to recore these stringers vs sistering up some new coosa and glass stringers to the more easily assessable inner skins via forward bilge hatch.

Now for some background. Rotten stringers were found incidentally via limber hole while prepping to re epoxy primer the engine room. Wood in these stringers is confirmed to be 100% toast. Fiberglass skins on all stringers is in good condition and boat has not been flexing and felt very solid in my opinion. no large cracks in hull itself, some spider webs up hear top edge of railing and one smaller near waterline below trough hull fittings (pics to follow). Also noteworthy is the fact previous owner did replace cabin floor, however he passed away and i ended up purchasing boat from his son several years ago. Son is not sure what if any work was done under the sole.....thus i hate to cut up a good floor for a hunch.

I guess my real question is the best way to handle this, am I overthinking? should I just not worry about bow stringers as i am only assuming they are rotten? I have read that if I recore aft section only I could cause a hard point. If I sistered up stringers in bow leaving rotten core in place would this be sufficient?

Also skins on aft engine room bulkhead are toast...but thats another story. I can post pics of this two but im really wondering about forward stringers at the moment

 

[todhunter]

Typically the stringer and bulkhead network are all interconnected beneath the fiberglass. Rot in the back equals rot in the front. If not yet, it will in the future.

 

[tpenfield]

Greetings @RBMSA1 and welcome to iBoats . . .

It sounds like you have a project on your hands. Yes - Pictures ( and quite a few along the way) would be helpful for responses as we will be able to 'see' what you are seeing. Restoration wisdom is that the rot usually goes a lot further than it appears.

I know from my own experience, I started with replacing a wet bulkhead and during the process found the rot another 10-12 feet further forward in the boat. I wound up taking out the fuel tank and part of the mid-section of the boat just to get it all. Still had some in the cabin that I addressed as well.

Since you are going to be working much of the boat, I'd plan on pulling up the cabin floor to verify its condition - UNLESS - you can find evidence of good repairs to the stringers under the floor.

As for the seacast . . . I often see that it is used for transom restoration, but I'm not 100% of its use in stringer restoration (tensile strength vs. compression strength is the concern). Assuming you will be cutting the tops off the stringers and hollowing them out (right?). At some point you may/will find areas of partially good (but wet) wood and areas of poor access.

Anyway, your boat will be one of the bigger repairs as many of the ones we see on the forum are smaller boats.

 

[kcassells]

Nice boat

 

[RBMSA1]

Typically the stringer and bulkhead network are all interconnected beneath the fiberglass. Rot in the back equals rot in the front. If not yet, it will in the future.

You are correct good sir, I have found the stringer cores are indeed connected under glass. With the exception of outer engine stringers stopping at forward engine room bulkhead. Appears to me at least only inner engine room stringers continue to forward bow section of boat. I suppose this is due to the hull narrowing and beginning to curve up towards bow. This is the source of some of my current headaches as seacast will theoretically run to these forward sections I have been unable to gut and clean out thus far.

 

[RBMSA1]

Greetings @RBMSA1 and welcome to iBoats . . .

It sounds like you have a project on your hands. Yes - Pictures ( and quite a few along the way) would be helpful for responses as we will be able to 'see' what you are seeing. Restoration wisdom is that the rot usually goes a lot further than it appears.

I know from my own experience, I started with replacing a wet bulkhead and during the process found the rot another 10-12 feet further forward in the boat. I wound up taking out the fuel tank and part of the mid-section of the boat just to get it all. Still had some in the cabin that I addressed as well.

Since you are going to be working much of the boat, I'd plan on pulling up the cabin floor to verify its condition - UNLESS - you can find evidence of good repairs to the stringers under the floor.

As for the seacast . . . I often see that it is used for transom restoration, but I'm not 100% of its use in stringer restoration (tensile strength vs. compression strength is the concern). Assuming you will be cutting the tops off the stringers and hollowing them out (right?). At some point you may/will find areas of partially good (but wet) wood and areas of poor access.

Anyway, your boat will be one of the bigger repairs as many of the ones we see on the forum are smaller boats.

Ya I plan on heading to yard here in a bit and I can get lots of pics of what I’m looking at.

An you are correct what I have done is drilled several access points down stringers and cleaned out all rotten wood in sections I can easily get too. I have managed to do this without removing entire caps and keeping engines in place. I know this isn’t the most ideal route, but I’m trying to get this handled with least amount of disassembly required while still getting stringers good and hollow with just glass remaining. Powerful Vacuum with skinny skinny flexible hose, air conpressor, and auger bits have gone a long way and done an impressive job.

I have yet to find any decent wood in aft sections of boat. Haven’t completely finished cleaning out stren bilge compartment stringers though, mostly engine room done at this point. And aft engine room bulkhead.

If I do end up going route of removing cabin sole, what would be the best way to approach this? Wouldn’t be a terrible idea because head and waste tank need some work as well. Haven’t been able to use head for years. I was just really hoping I could get away with some creative stringer sistering or some more access holes to get to forward stinger cores. Only difference would be, without removing cabin floor, these access points would likely have to be in inner side skin of forward stringers via forward bilge access point.


At this point I have gotten away with only removing muffles, exhaust hoses and water tank. Plus a few smaller things like batteries etc

Also thank you all for your feedback and responses!!!

 

[RBMSA1]

i will say the bilge of this boat, particularly the forward bildge, appeared to be well cared for when I snagged her. Have been several years at least since anything has been done down there. Epoxy primer in bilge appears to have been done at same time as cabin sole. I cannot tell if any work has been done to stringers themselves down there.

I will say stingers, at least the glass, appear to be in very good condition up front (and all over for that matter) However there are two small bulkheads between stringers that have cracked down there and they do appear to have been worked on at some point. So I’m assuming the stringers were worked on as well. However this could have just been a few extra layer of glass and some epoxy primer sealant.

I know in many vessels the core material is inactive and mostly used to lay glass. So even if forward cores are gone, would it be worth all the disassembly to recore since the boat has felt solid and this was all incidental findings? Any thoughts if some coosa and glass sisters bonded to inner skins would be enough? I’m somewhat worried about creating hard points.

Glass of expert at yard is the one who recommended seacast to me. Says he has used the stuff all over boats of different sizes and the stuff holds up very well. Yet to see one fail. From what I understand there is somewhat a a flex allowed by this material and it is highly reaistant to cracking, especially as compared to epoxy.

Also glass man says this bonds to itself very well and can be done over several pours (ie he said you could come back later with more if needed). This is one of the reasons he is really sold on the stuff. Says foam and other materials do not have nearly enough he secondary bonding capabilities.

 

[tpenfield]

Make note of any large hatches or areas of the cockpit sole that look like they can be removed. Cutting should be a last resort.

 

[RBMSA1]

These are photos of rear engine rum bulkhead cut to shreads, access holes for engine room stringers for an idea of glass thickness (appears thicker more towards bow than stern as seen in photos), cracked bulkheads are in forward bilge compartment between stringers, and also appears to be some precious access holes in stinger side wall in forward bilge (possibly assessing damage? Vs doing what I’m doing down there?; I have not seen access holes like this on stringers anywhere else on boat, too high up to be limber holes)

 

[tpenfield]

It looks like you may need to build some sections of stringer in its entirety while other sections might be more easily filled with seacast.

 

[RBMSA1]

Make note of any large hatches or areas of the cockpit sole that look like they can be removed. Cutting should be a last resort.

Here are some photos of cabin floor and engine room hatches/layout. Not much in way of panels or anything. I attempted to remove the rest for the forward bilge hatch door to see if I could start to disassemble that way with out cutting, but despite removing all screws she wouldn’t budge. Appears to be bonded as well

 

[RBMSA1]

It looks like you may need to build some sections of stringer in its entirety while other sections might be more easily filled with seacast.

What sections do you believe would need a rebuild? That large crack is on a bulkhead in forward bildge and the separation from stringer in the one pic is the battery/exhaust shelf. Was planning on rebuilding rear engine room bulkhead that’s in progress of getting cut down in photos. Guessing i need a temporary mold type situation for that?

 

[tpenfield]

What sections do you believe would need a rebuild?

.
This looks to be a major stringer? Or maybe it is a bulkhead.

You would not be filling this with seacast since there are no sidewalls . . . if I'm seeing this correctly.

 

[RBMSA1]

.
This looks to be a major stringer? Or maybe it is a bulkhead.

You would not be filling this with seacast since there are no sidewalls . . . if I'm seeing this correctly.

Yes this picture is actually the aft engine room bulkhead separating engine compartment from stern bilge compartment. Ya this one gonna need a rebuild as a lot of the glass was bad here.

Still trying to figure out how to go about this section. It actually does still have good sidewalls below that shelf you see the hoses and wires on for the mufflers and batteries. Sidewalls continue down about 2 foot dead center and about 6 in on either side due to hull V.

Was kinda thinking seacast lower section with good sidewalks and coosa up top where side walls went bad to layup new glass? Any input on best methods to tackle this section would also be greatly appreciated!

Also update on forward stringers, I decaped section of stringer near forward engine room bulkhead and have confirmed inner stingers continue through bulkhead and I get cabin floor. Thus far stringer core wood has been bad at least 2-3 ft under cabin floor.

It is possible I may be able to get most of cabin stringer wood out from here, maybe with addition of access hole in forward sidewall of stringer via cabin bilge access. Thinking in could use air compressor to blow it back and some type of flexible rod to push debris towards decamped section

I attached photos of this decapped section and photos of where forward stinger narrows and continues under cabin floor

 

[RBMSA1]

Btw this forum has been blowing hull truth out the water with responses, I’m sold! Hulltruth won’t even let you post pics until you reach a minimum post #….will be recommending this forum to all my boating pals. Thanks for all for your responses and feedback, especially @tpenfield