Question for OldHull or others...

[CaptnKirk]

Hi there, I noticed that you have a '69 Larson Tri-Hull! I have a '69 Larson Shark that Im working on and I have a question for you. I saw some pics of you starting to tear up the floor. Have you got to the stringers yet? Im stumped on what to do with mine. If you look at my project link and see the stringer picture, you can see what Im talking about. The stringers are fiberglass with only a board on top of foam and the floor attached to it. I cant find any more wood along the inside of the stringers. All the foam is coming out and new going in.<br /> <br />Questions:<br /><br />1. Is it safe to assume that the foam is/was the support in place of wood? <br />2. Can I leave the stringers in place and pour new foam (Im highly considering 8# foam) in like it was origionally?<br /><br />Ive searched the forums and found a few that said some boats were made with fiberglass stringers..apparently mine is one as well.<br /><br />Any and all ideas/advice etc would be greatly appreciated from anyone!<br /><br />Thanks<br /><br />Captn---

 

[willamettejeff]

Re: Question for OldHull or others...

I have a '65 Larson Valero that has fiberglass stringers. Larson calls this there dual hull design and it appears to be very strong with much of the hull being twice as thick as others. Stringers never rot, either. Mine never had foam and it has held up perfectly over its 40+ years. I'm putting in new floor and transom to replace the original ones. Transom was soaked through with water, but had very little rot. Much of the floor was still good, but the wooden cross stringers were long gone. More than glad with not having to do the hull stringers too.<br /><br />Would suggest leave the fiberglass stringers alone. Far superior to wood IMHO. Also, 8# foam seems like overkill to me as believe you really don't need the added structural support it provides. My 2 cents, anyway.