stringers and ribs?

[mwig68]

Good morning,

I have a 1977 Bomber bass/fishing boat (15ft) that I bought from my father-in-law, long story short I took her out fishing and was taking on water, noticed a crack in the bottom once I got her back to the house. I paid $600.00 for the boat, had some motor work done so all in all just over 1k invested so far.

I opened up the deck and the foam is wet, and the crack ended up cracking on what I am guessing is called a rib? It runs the width of the boat. Well its rotted, not all the way but a good amount. I have a lot of the deck off and am letting the foam dry but is it feasible to repair a rib or stringer with foam still in the boat? Also once you have a new rib in place and it is glassed over? What do you use to hold the deck in place? Putting a screw through the glass would defeat the purpose of glassing it in the first place wouldn't it?

I'd really like to fix this and get back to fishing, I don't want to have to pull the top off and and redo everything, would like to save that for the winter or after this season buy another boat for my outboard, whichever is the most feasible. The problem I have with buying another boat is having the same problem of rot under the deck, how do you know for sure it's not?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Alpheus]

Re: stringers and ribs?

I bought from my father-in-law

Theres your first mistake. Can you get any pics?

Welcome aboard...

 

[tlzimmerman]

Re: stringers and ribs?

Just my .02.

You are never going to get that foam dry if its soaked...it will need removed and replaced if you decide to do foam again.

However to get you on the water this year.... I would say just tear out what you need to get to the crack, fiberglass the inside (and out side would be better) and maybe sure up the stringers or ribs with straight 2x4's screwed in and glued to get you through the season. Its not done right, but that what I would do to get me through the season. Then take it easy on the girl.

However to fix the boat right, the top needs to come off because you probly need new stringers, new transom, and new floor, new foam, new everything.

I am not putting foam back in my resto on my 1969 Twain (it didn't have foam to begin with). Just seems counterproductive to me to hold water in there. If I was concerned about floatation I would glue in bottles or something, as it is I am just going to seal the compartments as best I can with glass and adhesive so if I ever swamp it, I have at least 30 seconds or so to grab my lifejacket off the back of the seat and call it good. By law you have to have one readily accessible for every passenger onboard in KS anyways.

Good luck, pictures would help alot, there are alot of fiberglass gurus on here that would help you fix it up right...I am not one of them.

 

[mwig68]

Re: stringers and ribs?

Theres your first mistake. Can you get any pics?

Welcome aboard...

LOL Yeah I thought the same thing. I can take some pic's but it will be this evening (CST). I am at work and it's nice and I'd rather be fishing.

However to get you on the water this year.... I would say just tear out what you need to get to the crack, fiberglass the inside (and out side would be better) and maybe sure up the stringers or ribs with straight 2x4's screwed in and glued to get you through the season. Its not done right, but that what I would do to get me through the season. Then take it easy on the girl.

Thanks for the info. What do you screw the ribs to?

Side note: the boat holds no sentimental value to me, so replacing it might be a more viable option once I can afford it. However, if I did that I'd want an aluminum bass tracker. I could be wrong but it seems older fiberglass boats just warrant so much more work, and to get a crack means being down for a while. Is it different with an aluminum? It seems to me that if it gets cracked you weld it up, fairly simple I guess. Do they have foam too?

By law you have to have one readily accessible for every passenger onboard in KS anyways.

It's the same here in Texas.

 

[mwig68]

Re: stringers and ribs?

ok here are some pic's I hope these are helpful, kinda bright because they were taken with my phone, if its too bright I'll get the wife's camera out and take a better picture.

The rib that worries me.

The crack, of course it didn't look this bad from outside

Deck rot

The deck looks more solid in this area, but it's gotta go.

If these aren't helpful I can take some from different angles and such.

Thanks!