I hope you've found my
web page useful (or at least amusing). If you're also restoring an old fiberglass
boat I'd like to hear from you.
Please remember that
I'm not advocating or recommending that you take any course of action. I'm
just describing my experiences. I will not accept any responsibility or liability
if you injure yourself (or someone else) working on a similar project. I'm
not a professional boat restorer. I have no affiliation with any company mentioned
on this web page except as a satisfied customer.
One of the major considerations
you often hear about regarding the restoration of old fiberglass boats is
repair of the stringers. These longitudinal members add strength to the hull
and support the engine, tanks, and cockpit sole. Because these are often made
of wood with a fiberglass coating if there is a hole in the fiberglas the
wood can get wet and rot. Repair of the stringers can be a major job and may
mean the difference between a reasonable repair and one that is completely
unfeasable.
At first inspection,
the stringers in this boat looked pretty darned good.
When
I looked a little closer there were some areas of rot in the stringers. The
outboard stringers were in good shape except around the limber holes at the
transom.
Just
a few minutes with the sawzall and a little time with the big sander and the
rotten wood is gone and the fiberglass around it is all ground down.
I
cut new pieces of white oak to fill the space of the removed (rotten) wood and
laminated them into place with epoxy and fiber glass. Notice that the limber
hole is now a nice clean, round space (not just a corner cut off like an afterthought).
Really a pretty easy repair.
When
I got the old engine out of the boat I finally got a good look at the main (inboard)
stringers. They looked pretty bad around the bolt holes where the engine mounts
were attached. Just on the off chance that there wasn't as much rot as I feared
I drilled a bunch of holes to check the condition of the wood inside. Every
one came up with punky rotten wood.
So
I fired up the sawzall again and started cutting out the parts I expected to
be rotten. It turned out that a lot of the wood was in good shape with just
some spots of rot. This picture shows the worst rot.
After the rotten parts
of the wood were cut away I set about repairing the stringers. I replaced
the rotten wood with new beams laminated out of 3/4" plywood. Although
I have a bunch of white oak lumber for building the new engine supports (stringers),
the wood in the old stringers is 1.5" thick so two layers of plywood
fit just right.
The laminated plywood
beams were cut and sanded to fit and then glued into place. I finally wised
up and thickened the resin that I used for the glue. Not real thick, just
enough that it didn't run out of the joint.
With
the new pieces of the stringers laminated into place I ground down all the edges
and corners so that everything was nice and round for the fiberglass to lay
over.
After the wooden parts
were glued into place and everything sanded down to make nice smooth joints,
the entire repair was covered in fiberglass (2+ layers). I used one layer
of mat and one layer of heavy woven roving. Because layers were overlapped
in a lot of places much of the repair actually received 3 layers.
These stringers are no
longer going to be the main engine supports, but will have to hold up gas
and water tanks, etc. I think they will be equal to the job.
Although
I have now repaired the stringers where the old engine sat, there is much rebuilding
to be done. I will have to put new stringers in place to support twin engines.
