Re: voids in the transom
It's hard to tell from the photos if the original stringer job was 'factory' or if it was later... Though if I had to make a guess, I'd say it looks like it was probably built that way.
I've seen a number of boats that came from the factory just like that- stringers laid in to the hull, then glassed over, nothing between the hull and the stringers. It seems fairly common in older boats... By 'older' I'm talking 40-50 year old boats. Probably had a lot to do with the 'newness' of FRP construction, people were still experimenting.
I've also seen it in newer boats like yours- Especially in tri-hull boats that had relatively shallow areas under the floor like yours does. It seems that the stringers are there more to support the floor than to add stiffness to the hull, inevitably they had foam filled bottoms like yours does (or did?), and the rigid foam was providing thee structural support for the bottom of the hull, not so much the stringers... When I've torn in to some boats, I have been absolutely amazed at what was done in the factory, especially below decks. I guess it's a case of 'out of sight, out of mind'.
If that is a factory stringer job, and you replaced it in the same way, it could be fine... HOWEVER, I don't see any indication of having replaced that foam down there. In many designs, the foam does more than provide floatation, it is also an integral part of the structure, providing support for the hull.
You can be glad that you ripped that transom out. The fact that you were ABLE to get it out shows that it was not installed even close to correctly- And it shows in the pics! Take some time to read over the transom install threads and info on this site- there is a TON of it... A transom is one of the most critical parts of the boats structure, and MUST be done right!
-Andrew
It's hard to tell from the photos if the original stringer job was 'factory' or if it was later... Though if I had to make a guess, I'd say it looks like it was probably built that way.
I've seen a number of boats that came from the factory just like that- stringers laid in to the hull, then glassed over, nothing between the hull and the stringers. It seems fairly common in older boats... By 'older' I'm talking 40-50 year old boats. Probably had a lot to do with the 'newness' of FRP construction, people were still experimenting.
I've also seen it in newer boats like yours- Especially in tri-hull boats that had relatively shallow areas under the floor like yours does. It seems that the stringers are there more to support the floor than to add stiffness to the hull, inevitably they had foam filled bottoms like yours does (or did?), and the rigid foam was providing thee structural support for the bottom of the hull, not so much the stringers... When I've torn in to some boats, I have been absolutely amazed at what was done in the factory, especially below decks. I guess it's a case of 'out of sight, out of mind'.
If that is a factory stringer job, and you replaced it in the same way, it could be fine... HOWEVER, I don't see any indication of having replaced that foam down there. In many designs, the foam does more than provide floatation, it is also an integral part of the structure, providing support for the hull.
You can be glad that you ripped that transom out. The fact that you were ABLE to get it out shows that it was not installed even close to correctly- And it shows in the pics! Take some time to read over the transom install threads and info on this site- there is a TON of it... A transom is one of the most critical parts of the boats structure, and MUST be done right!
-Andrew