Could a person make a stringer pattern like this...

[Homerr]

Ok, I had a thought...<br /><br />Could I make a stringer patten like this:<br /><br />Lay a piece of flexible wood (such as plywood) on the OUTSIDE of the boat and trace along the sides? Square the plywood at the transom and bottom.<br /><br />I noticed that my stringers only curve back about 4ft from the bow. The rest is straight through. I'm just paranoid about cutting for that curve on $50 boards!<br /><br />I'm trying the 'string' method now, on the inside, but after grinding the old glass out, you can imagine the hills and valleys left behind. It's not major, but I would like to get a real true pattern.<br /><br />I vaguely remember reading something about making patterns from the outside of the boat along its' bottom.<br /><br />I just wished I had even a small amount of old stringer left, but they were completely rotted.<br /><br />How do the manufactures make a pattern from scratch? Good 'ol trial and error?<br /><br />What ya all think?<br /><br />H.

 

[BillP]

Re: Could a person make a stringer pattern like this...

H.<br />I don't know about doing it from the outside. It seems harder to me than using the string. I know what you mean about the hull being irregular on the inside. For that I just ground the area down where the stringers go. Then trial fit the stringer and trimmed where the "bumps" were. In my case it was only 2-3 small places and at the bow where the vee met the stringer. The bottom of my stringer wasn't an exact fit but the glass will make up for it.<br /><br />For templates you can get 1" thick styrofoam sheets cheap at HomeDepot and cut them for patterns. Just make sure you keep the top of the stringer straight (factory edge) from end to end and only take meat off the bottom. You can always shim it if the void is too big. Not really a big deal if you look at how crude successful factory boats stringers are done.

 

[Hawkeye1]

Re: Could a person make a stringer pattern like this...

Bill p is right. The factory boats dont have perfectly fitted stringers. My formula had many void under the stringers and it still floated and worked 30 years later. I did replace them and bedded them in a bed of thickend epoxy then glassed over them all at the same time so it was a homongous unit with no voids to trap water that ended up killing the wood stringers the 1st time.