Rotten Stringers are Gone! Kinda..

[geekomatic]

I pulled on the toxic-waste suit and the respirator and crawled in the Traveler this past Sunday with my brand spanky new tools and ripped out the rotten stringers and the back seat riser.It had to go because the rotten stringers were under it.I plan to reinstall the riser.Here's a questions. See This?There's a brace of some sort running the length of the inside of the transom (which is NOT rotten)This brace is rotten on both ends,but good solid wood in the middle.It's gotta go.The tough part is that it appears to have been bolted or screwed into the transom from the outside.Can't see the bolts/screws because it's covered by the outer hull skin.What kinda whacked-out engineering is that? I plan to take my Dremel and saw thru the bolts/screws holding it in.I found this little engineering jewel by ripping under the brace with a recip. saw in an effort to remove the offending,rotten piece.The blade DID NOT like the fact that it hit metal and broke apart in several pieces in a rapid fashion while hurtling toward me at a couple 'o' hundred miles an hour.I think it's a miracle that I'm actually able to sit here and share this with everybody considering I've now got sawz-all blade parts protruding from the drywall in my garage.<br />OK.One more question:Take another Peek.The very bottom part of the stringers were not rotten.Do I need to grind out this stuff down to the bare fiberglass,or can I take a bit of a shortcut,and epoxy new ones on top of the old wood,which is good solid stuff? I can sand/grind these leftovers down to a nice even surface for new stringers, but if it's all gotta go,then so be it.By the way, while cutting out the seat riser, I managed to rip right thru the hull with the angle grinder,Gotta nice little 2 inch by quarter inch slice right under the chine.The safety goggles- they get foggy,you know. I figure that adds two-three days labor to the whole process.Regardless, I really have to thank everyone for the tips you folks have given me on restoring this thing.I'm learning a lot,it's a ton of fun,and I think I've got a pretty darn good looking boat in my future as long as I have no more blades or grinding wheels fly apart on me in a tight space .

 

[bigbad4cyl]

Re: Rotten Stringers are Gone! Kinda..

 

[DJ]

Re: Rotten Stringers are Gone! Kinda..

geekomatic,<br /><br />It is perfectly acceptable to use any old remaining (solid) wood that is still in the hull. Bonding to it should not be an issue.

 

[Realgun]

Re: Rotten Stringers are Gone! Kinda..

As DJ said good wood is good wood. My suggestion is to seal that wood with epoxy before adding the new wood to it but don't let more than 2 days go by before glueing the new to old or you will need to sand the sealed old wood to get a good bond.<br /><br />Hmm you must have cheap blades I have yet to have 1 break apart get dull but not break. I used a wood blade on the steering colum of the old teleflex post and it worked fine.<br /><br />On a side note the wire brushes for angle grinders should warn you to wear gloves. Those little wire embed pretty deep in fingers!

 

[tengals123]

Re: Rotten Stringers are Gone! Kinda..

hehehe, nice post, im not game to tell you what i did to my hull last week, while removing my floor!!!!

 

[swimmin' for shore]

Re: Rotten Stringers are Gone! Kinda..

Since tengals won't tell you, I will. Nah, I don't have to. I only know because it seems to be the time for it. I did the exact same thing. It didn't take long to fix. Here's what I did, and maybe someone will chime in and correct something I did wrong, but it came out pretty solid. <br />I took some tin foil and taped it over the hole on the outside of the hull. Then I mixed up a bit of thin epoxy, cut thin strips of glass, and poked it down in there nice and tight, feathering the edges over each side. A couple of times of that, and the hole was full, so I took some more strips of cloth and glassed it at a 45 deg. angle to the inside of the hull. When it dried to the touch, I removed the tape from the outside, and just had a little smear where it had come through and bonded to the outside. I'm redoing my exterior, as well, but a touch of paint will fix that little bit of epoxy on the outer skin. Good luck.

 

[geekomatic]

Re: Rotten Stringers are Gone! Kinda..

That is a GREAT idea! I gotta paint the whole exterior anyway,so no big deal.The hole is so thin and small,I think that's gonna be the ticket.I was perfectly prepared to grind out the cut (12 to 1 bevel on the lip of a freakin' chine, no less).This looks like a shortcut that the hull can learn to live with.Thank You Sir for the tip.By the time I finish this thing,I'm pretty confident I could do this for a living.<br /><br />Tengals123,I gotta tell you, that is one cool looking boat.Been to your neck of the world. I've seen sharks that were the size of your boat.Careful,Dude.<br /><br />Realgun,You are always the bearer of great news.If I have to grind out the old stringer wood,so be it.If I can pull off the replacement installation by just laying down a little epoxy on top of the old stuff, that leaves one rubber covered hand free for a BEER.As far as my saw blades,I was using "wood only" when I hit the metal bolts.I'm buying the all-purpose blades from now on.

 

[Realgun]

Re: Rotten Stringers are Gone! Kinda..

I think you want the Bimetal blades. Sorry I don't do beer maybe a whine cooler now and again about three years between drinks. <br /><br />Geek if you look hard enough there are sharks bigger than that in your area.<br /><br />Some idiot put a shark in elephant butte about 20 years ago when Jaws came out. It was found floating dead. No I cannot remember the length or species. But i do remember my dad kidding us about no going in the water.

 

[lawyertob]

Re: Rotten Stringers are Gone! Kinda..

Originally posted by Realgun:<br /> <br />On a side note the wire brushes for angle grinders should warn you to wear gloves. Those little wire embed pretty deep in fingers!

Realgun,<br /><br />As a side-side note...some people (and even some manuals) advise against wearing gloves when using grinders. The theory is that if the rotating parts catch your hand a little, then they will generally take a small bite and you will jerk your hand away. However, if you are wearing gloves, then the tool can grab the glove and pull your hand in...it is then usually a toss up as to whether the cuts or the mangling from being twisted was worse. I have personally seen it and it can be quite ugly, especially if you are using one of the big powerful grinders.<br /><br />Just my $0.02 worth,<br />Joe