Replacing stringers

[JasonB]

I removed the deck of my 16' Glastron Tri-Hull to do a transom and found that I need more than a transom. All 3 stringers are mush along with some sub-flooring so I naw have the floor completely torn out. The existing stringers are 1"x4" and 1"x8". I am planning to replace the wood with strip of plywood soaked in resin and glassed in. Would it hurt/benefit to beef up the stringers to 2"x4" and 2"x8" while I'm in there? I'm going to have to bond 2 strips of pwood either way.

 

[JasonJ]

Re: Replacing stringers

Just replace it with the same dimensions as original. The ply will be stronger than the original wood that was in there. Your tri-hull only had three stringers? Mine has six, two 3/4x10, two 3/4x7, and two 3/4x3. Was there any floatation foam?

 

[JasonB]

Re: Replacing stringers

There was very little foam. Maybe enough to fil a 10 gallon bucket. Yup, there are only 2 stringers and a keel.

 

[JasonJ]

Re: Replacing stringers

Thats odd. Thats not even enough foam to serve any perpose. I will be using several tubes of 4 inch thin-walled drainfield PVC capped on each end and encased in foam in between all stringers except the center bilge. It will give more floatation with less foam, and will dramatically strengthen the hull in the process. The choice is yours if you want to use foam or not. There is the chance that it can absorbe water, but the newer closed cell foams take a long time before they start to absorb, and if you keep the boat out of the rain and snow as much as possible it will keep any water saturation to a minimum. You should have about 16 cubic feet of foam, that will be enough to keep the boat from sinking with passengers on board, and allow you to get the boat back to the launch.