Re: The stRingers are out!
Ohio.... I know its late in the game but here I go..
This is what I would do if I had your project...
1.Purchase 2 cases of beer.
2.Buy a resporator,safty glasses,grinding suits ( 2 or 3 ), ear plugs or even better ear muffs, 1 box of latex gloves, some baby powder to put in your suit b4 grinding,rags to tarp your head neck and eventually clean with. ; NOW at this point grind, cut , sand , prep EVERYTHING that you need all at one shot ...
2a. Buy some 4 1/2" 24 - 36 grit abrasive grinding disks for your harbor frieght angle grinder ( 24 grit works great and is preferred for fiberglass mechanical bonds ... 80 grit is WAY to fine for proper adheasion ) Dont layup any fiberglass to 80 grit scratches ! 40 grit or harder !
2b. Buy 5 gal of polyester Resin with MEKP hardener ( your " strength" is not SO much more per cost of epoxy than it is with polyester..and much harder to layup fiberglass. you will find your epoxy will run out of the glass and puddle and run..and create such a mess.) ( fiberglass has what is called "binders" in them..compatibility for poly or epoxy..) but you probably allready found that out if you allready started laying up with epoxy in colder weather conditions.
2c. Buy 5 gal ACETONE ! .., some 3" throw away brushes ( for laying up and so on ) , and a " BUBBLE or sometimes called Resin roller. ( this nifty item is used to roll out bubbles and create shape in your fiberglass layups. I prefer the plastic type and in a 4" width. so ask your local fiberglass dealer for a 4" plastic bubble roller. )
3. So now that you have cut , ground , sanded , basically PREPPED your whole working area ( that includes if your gonna glass our deck to the hullsides..or repaint / Gel anything ) its time to vacuum or air blow all the crap outa there ( Dont un-suit or remove your resporator while doing this ) I see your working outside on your property so its no big deal unless you forgot to roll up your windows on your pickup..or worse your wifes car !
3.a Drink some more beer
4. Cut and DRY Fit your stringers ( I would make the same dimentions ..IE. how HIgh was your stringer b4 your start ) It looked to me that the stringer system was under your ribs and your " ribs " were the actual support system for your floor with the stringers supporting your ribs .. make it the same but now your stringers are cut and fit to the same highth of your ribs.( I can understand why the floor is so low..you can now make your seats or platforms above that with more personal preferance from seat to floor and gunwale )
5. DONT FOAM ! .. you dont have enough space under your floor to make a darn bit of difference of floatation or regidity .. and what other posters didnt mention is there are different "densities" of foam. Are they talking simple 2,4,6 lb foam..or 22 lb foam which you could take a hammer to and hardly dent it ? were talking 4-10-20 expansion rate.. if you dont have enough vent holes in your floor and poor too much your gonna pour and about 5-10 minuts later hear a " CAPOWWWW !! " your foam just blew your floor up ! you must be VERY carfull filling subfloors with expansion foam !
5a. Heck..its friday..drink another cold one
6. Now on to your transom..It appeared to me that your "drain" is a solid brass tube type through fitting..thats finished on the outside. so our plug is an expansion type rubber plug from the inside ( you unplug your fitting with a flick of a lever..pull out your plug...bogg our engine so the bow "rides up" then creates a vacuum out the transome therefore sucking the water out. Dont Change that to an exterior screw-in type. Why put in a Bilge Pump ? you have no bilge. Take in water...bog motor..extract water out of the drain plug. ( you wont take on water if your moving forward without a plug..you will extract it ).
7. Transom..replace what you need m8. if you need 2 1/4 " to mate your current sides..then do that. you should grind and glass outside seam of transom at least 6" per side ( 6" on trans..and 6 " on sides and bottom..) or if your gonna glass the transom itself then wait till your ready to glass your ply on outside then do it all at once. wrap your transom glass to sides when glassing your transom exterior. Interior...glass grind..glass again.
8. Use only 1.5 oz mat for initial bonding ( stringers and all..start with this ) biaxial or woving roving between mats if mat isnt stitched to your glass.
9. take time to cut your glass man..dry run everything..when your ready..catalize and go ! you can allways clean dripps and splatters with your acetone and rags.
YD.
PS. You CANNOT apply epoxy or polyester resin to itself or another without proper prepping ( epoxy cannot just be applied to anything including itself after cureing..you must take off any blushing or shine )
GL YD
