Stringer problems??
 

If anyone has any comments on this, please fire away (with blanks though).

I have a 40 ft 1969 Drifter. The two main stringers (16" deep) running off
centre the length of the boat, certainly appear to have problems. The glass
applied to the stringer is buldged out from the stringer a good inch, both
sides! This would imply that the stringers have dropped but they are the
same height as the next set of stringers parallel to them providing a level
floor. After removing the floor the give in the stringers is quite obvious -
a good half an inch of vertical movement when you bounce on them. The hull
is pretty thick and there doesn't "appear" to be any sagging, cracking etc.
The stringers are very wet along the bottom which also implies rotting. The
stringer is merely covered with one layer of what I believe is a roven
material which to me is just covering it and not bonding it to the hull for
extra strength. Repair books show layering of the cloth to build in strength
"transfer".

Am I looking too deep into this:

level floor (was it originally??) but buldging fiberglass implies the
stringer has dropped (the floor was sitting right down on the stringer).
Bouncy stringer. Doesn't even look like it was put in there for strength. Is
that possible?

Should I just rip em out and replace or leave them? Any one else with a
Drift-R-Cruz that has looked under their floor and discovered something
similar?

Thanks!

I have seen where the glass was not well applied to stringers and it
appeared "bowed" at the top. Glass does not bow a lot before it cracks.
Anything as old as your boat is going to have wet wood. Fiberglass is not
waterproof so water will eventually make it's way through the galss and into
the wood. There are alot of good articles on the net about water and
fiberglass. That does not mean you have rot. You need to drill some core
samples to see. Also part of the strength is the twin layers of hull and
floor separated by the stringers. Removing the floor materially weakens the
whole structure so your bounce test is not completely accurate. Is your
boat poorly constructed, maybe. Do you need to replace stringers and floor,
maybe not. Just about everyone with an old fiberglass and encapsulated wood
boat is in the same situation. If you do start replacing things try to find
composite substitutes for the wood and use epoxy instead of polyester resin.

"Steve Lortie" wrote in message
.. .
If anyone has any comments on this, please fire away (with blanks though).

I have a 40 ft 1969 Drifter. The two main stringers (16" deep) running off
centre the length of the boat, certainly appear to have problems. The
glass
applied to the stringer is buldged out from the stringer a good inch, both
sides! This would imply that the stringers have dropped but they are the
same height as the next set of stringers parallel to them providing a
level
floor. After removing the floor the give in the stringers is quite
obvious -
a good half an inch of vertical movement when you bounce on them. The hull
is pretty thick and there doesn't "appear" to be any sagging, cracking
etc.
The stringers are very wet along the bottom which also implies rotting.
The
stringer is merely covered with one layer of what I believe is a roven
material which to me is just covering it and not bonding it to the hull
for
extra strength. Repair books show layering of the cloth to build in
strength
"transfer".

Am I looking too deep into this:

level floor (was it originally??) but buldging fiberglass implies the
stringer has dropped (the floor was sitting right down on the stringer).
Bouncy stringer. Doesn't even look like it was put in there for strength.
Is
that possible?

Should I just rip em out and replace or leave them? Any one else with a
Drift-R-Cruz that has looked under their floor and discovered something
similar?

Thanks!

I had a problem with the engine mounts on my boat. When I attempte to tighten
them, the bolts spun. What happened is that when the boat was outfitted,
they didn' caulk the holes. Moisture went from the mounts to the stringer
and the rot propagated 15 ft. down the length of the stringer. It's like
a bacteria that eats up the wood. My floorboards also had a similar problem
(no caulking).

The solution was to pull up the floorboards and to strip the stringer
out. I had it done by a professional boat builder. The total cost was
about 7.5K to do the job. Essentially, every piece of wood was removed
and reglassed in to the hull. Not fun to do on your own and a friend
of mine did it. I saw what it involved and decided to throw money at
the problem instead (his material cost was about 1.5K and about 70 hours of
labor).

b.

At the bottom of the stringers I'm pretty sure I do have rot. Do you think
it is at all possible that these stringers were never meant to provide
structural strength. There are 8 stringers and the other 6 don't show the
same characteristics. I am still really puzzled by the fact that the
stringer appears to be correct height yet there is so much play in the glass
on the sides. If that much slack in the glass (I said an inch but it's at
least an inch) was from the stringer settling, they would have to have been
a lot higher than they are now. The glass is not cracked. I can push it back
against the stringer and it doesn't crack. The floor would have to have been
very high in the centre if teh stringers dropped that much. I suppose it is
possible that the cloth/resin was incorrectly applied to the two centre
stringers but properly on teh other 3 sets.

Just to clarify, when I do the "bounce test" the hull doesn't give at all.
It is very solid for about 4 feet each side of centre.


----- Original Message -----
From: "JamesgangNC"
Newsgroups: rec.boats
Sent: Thursday, July 07, 2005 4:48 PM
Subject: Stringer problems??


I have seen where the glass was not well applied to stringers and it
appeared "bowed" at the top. Glass does not bow a lot before it cracks.
Anything as old as your boat is going to have wet wood. Fiberglass is not
waterproof so water will eventually make it's way through the galss and
into
the wood. There are alot of good articles on the net about water and
fiberglass. That does not mean you have rot. You need to drill some core
samples to see. Also part of the strength is the twin layers of hull and
floor separated by the stringers. Removing the floor materially weakens
the
whole structure so your bounce test is not completely accurate. Is your
boat poorly constructed, maybe. Do you need to replace stringers and
floor,
maybe not. Just about everyone with an old fiberglass and encapsulated
wood
boat is in the same situation. If you do start replacing things try to
find
composite substitutes for the wood and use epoxy instead of polyester
resin.

"Steve Lortie" wrote in message
.. .
If anyone has any comments on this, please fire away (with blanks
though).

I have a 40 ft 1969 Drifter. The two main stringers (16" deep) running
off
centre the length of the boat, certainly appear to have problems. The
glass
applied to the stringer is buldged out from the stringer a good inch,
both
sides! This would imply that the stringers have dropped but they are the
same height as the next set of stringers parallel to them providing a
level
floor. After removing the floor the give in the stringers is quite
obvious -
a good half an inch of vertical movement when you bounce on them. The
hull
is pretty thick and there doesn't "appear" to be any sagging, cracking
etc.
The stringers are very wet along the bottom which also implies rotting.
The
stringer is merely covered with one layer of what I believe is a roven
material which to me is just covering it and not bonding it to the hull
for
extra strength. Repair books show layering of the cloth to build in
strength
"transfer".

Am I looking too deep into this:

level floor (was it originally??) but buldging fiberglass implies the
stringer has dropped (the floor was sitting right down on the stringer).
Bouncy stringer. Doesn't even look like it was put in there for
strength.
Is
that possible?

Should I just rip em out and replace or leave them? Any one else with a
Drift-R-Cruz that has looked under their floor and discovered something
similar?

Thanks!






"JamesgangNC" wrote in message
link.net...
I have seen where the glass was not well applied to stringers and it
appeared "bowed" at the top. Glass does not bow a lot before it cracks.
Anything as old as your boat is going to have wet wood. Fiberglass is not
waterproof so water will eventually make it's way through the galss and
into
the wood. There are alot of good articles on the net about water and
fiberglass. That does not mean you have rot. You need to drill some core
samples to see. Also part of the strength is the twin layers of hull and
floor separated by the stringers. Removing the floor materially weakens
the
whole structure so your bounce test is not completely accurate. Is your
boat poorly constructed, maybe. Do you need to replace stringers and
floor,
maybe not. Just about everyone with an old fiberglass and encapsulated
wood
boat is in the same situation. If you do start replacing things try to
find
composite substitutes for the wood and use epoxy instead of polyester
resin.

"Steve Lortie" wrote in message
.. .
If anyone has any comments on this, please fire away (with blanks
though).

I have a 40 ft 1969 Drifter. The two main stringers (16" deep) running
off
centre the length of the boat, certainly appear to have problems. The
glass
applied to the stringer is buldged out from the stringer a good inch,
both
sides! This would imply that the stringers have dropped but they are the
same height as the next set of stringers parallel to them providing a
level
floor. After removing the floor the give in the stringers is quite
obvious -
a good half an inch of vertical movement when you bounce on them. The
hull
is pretty thick and there doesn't "appear" to be any sagging, cracking
etc.
The stringers are very wet along the bottom which also implies rotting.
The
stringer is merely covered with one layer of what I believe is a roven
material which to me is just covering it and not bonding it to the hull
for
extra strength. Repair books show layering of the cloth to build in
strength
"transfer".

Am I looking too deep into this:

level floor (was it originally??) but buldging fiberglass implies the
stringer has dropped (the floor was sitting right down on the stringer).
Bouncy stringer. Doesn't even look like it was put in there for
strength.
Is
that possible?

Should I just rip em out and replace or leave them? Any one else with a
Drift-R-Cruz that has looked under their floor and discovered something
similar?

Thanks!

I have transom problems also. Also from previous owners not realizing water
and wood don't live well together.

I think I am going to do the work myself. I can't see putting that much
money into something I can do myself. As far as the labor - it's all a
labour of love isn't it?

wrote in message
roups.com...
I had a problem with the engine mounts on my boat. When I attempte to
tighten
them, the bolts spun. What happened is that when the boat was outfitted,
they didn' caulk the holes. Moisture went from the mounts to the stringer
and the rot propagated 15 ft. down the length of the stringer. It's like
a bacteria that eats up the wood. My floorboards also had a similar
problem
(no caulking).

The solution was to pull up the floorboards and to strip the stringer
out. I had it done by a professional boat builder. The total cost was
about 7.5K to do the job. Essentially, every piece of wood was removed
and reglassed in to the hull. Not fun to do on your own and a friend
of mine did it. I saw what it involved and decided to throw money at
the problem instead (his material cost was about 1.5K and about 70 hours
of
labor).

b.

I did my transom, and after all done, I'd say it wasn't as hard as some may
make it out to be. If you're good with your hands that is. The key is
getting easy access to everything. If you have to squeeze into a spot, then
it'll make things so hard you'll wish you never did anything.


"Steve Lortie" wrote in message
.. .
I have transom problems also. Also from previous owners not realizing water
and wood don't live well together.

I think I am going to do the work myself. I can't see putting that much
money into something I can do myself. As far as the labor - it's all a
labour of love isn't it?

wrote in message
roups.com...
I had a problem with the engine mounts on my boat. When I attempte to
tighten
them, the bolts spun. What happened is that when the boat was outfitted,
they didn' caulk the holes. Moisture went from the mounts to the
stringer
and the rot propagated 15 ft. down the length of the stringer. It's like
a bacteria that eats up the wood. My floorboards also had a similar
problem
(no caulking).

The solution was to pull up the floorboards and to strip the stringer
out. I had it done by a professional boat builder. The total cost was
about 7.5K to do the job. Essentially, every piece of wood was removed
and reglassed in to the hull. Not fun to do on your own and a friend
of mine did it. I saw what it involved and decided to throw money at
the problem instead (his material cost was about 1.5K and about 70 hours
of
labor).

b.

1,000,000% true!!!!

The key is getting easy access to everything. If you have to squeeze
into a spot, then
it'll make things so hard you'll wish you never did anything.

Thanks. I was rambling around in the engine compartment enough to know what
you mean. I couldn't imagine having to do anything back there. I will take
your point quite seriously and figure out how to make the transom even more
accessible. More demolition/repair!


"Chris" wrote in message
.. .
I did my transom, and after all done, I'd say it wasn't as hard as some
may
make it out to be. If you're good with your hands that is. The key is
getting easy access to everything. If you have to squeeze into a spot,
then
it'll make things so hard you'll wish you never did anything.


"Steve Lortie" wrote in message
.. .
I have transom problems also. Also from previous owners not realizing
water
and wood don't live well together.

I think I am going to do the work myself. I can't see putting that much
money into something I can do myself. As far as the labor - it's all a
labour of love isn't it?

wrote in message
roups.com...
I had a problem with the engine mounts on my boat. When I attempte to
tighten
them, the bolts spun. What happened is that when the boat was
outfitted,
they didn' caulk the holes. Moisture went from the mounts to the
stringer
and the rot propagated 15 ft. down the length of the stringer. It's
like
a bacteria that eats up the wood. My floorboards also had a similar
problem
(no caulking).

The solution was to pull up the floorboards and to strip the stringer
out. I had it done by a professional boat builder. The total cost was
about 7.5K to do the job. Essentially, every piece of wood was removed
and reglassed in to the hull. Not fun to do on your own and a friend
of mine did it. I saw what it involved and decided to throw money at
the problem instead (his material cost was about 1.5K and about 70
hours
of
labor).

b.

Check with the manufacturer if you can. I had "sludge" that used to be wood
for my stringers but I was told by Wellcraft that in this particular model
and year boat, the wood was just a "form" for the fiberglass. I removed all
transom wood from the top and poured a chopped glass/mineral/foam/polyester
resin mix to replace it. When I was removing the transom wood I eventually
noticed voids, about 1 1/2 x 6" running perpendicular to the transom (which
used to be the wood stringers). I filled the space with "Great Stuff" exp
urethane foam to keep from filling that area. When I drilled through the
hull, about 6" forward of the stern and 6" down from the top for a 1 1/8"
ID, 2000gph bilge pump fitting I discovered that the fiberglass there was 1"
thick! Good luck on yours.
LD

"Steve Lortie" wrote in message
.. .
If anyone has any comments on this, please fire away (with blanks though).

I have a 40 ft 1969 Drifter. The two main stringers (16" deep) running off
centre the length of the boat, certainly appear to have problems. The
glass
applied to the stringer is buldged out from the stringer a good inch, both
sides! This would imply that the stringers have dropped but they are the
same height as the next set of stringers parallel to them providing a
level
floor. After removing the floor the give in the stringers is quite
obvious -
a good half an inch of vertical movement when you bounce on them. The hull
is pretty thick and there doesn't "appear" to be any sagging, cracking
etc.
The stringers are very wet along the bottom which also implies rotting.
The
stringer is merely covered with one layer of what I believe is a roven
material which to me is just covering it and not bonding it to the hull
for
extra strength. Repair books show layering of the cloth to build in
strength
"transfer".

Am I looking too deep into this:

level floor (was it originally??) but buldging fiberglass implies the
stringer has dropped (the floor was sitting right down on the stringer).
Bouncy stringer. Doesn't even look like it was put in there for strength.
Is
that possible?

Should I just rip em out and replace or leave them? Any one else with a
Drift-R-Cruz that has looked under their floor and discovered something
similar?

Thanks!

Thanks LD. Unfortunately the manufacturer closed up shop in the mid to late
70s. I am trying to locate Drift-R-Cruz houseboat owners to get more info
on the construction of these boats. Geez I love a challenge.

"LD" wrote in message
...
Check with the manufacturer if you can. I had "sludge" that used to be
wood
for my stringers but I was told by Wellcraft that in this particular model
and year boat, the wood was just a "form" for the fiberglass. I removed
all
transom wood from the top and poured a chopped
glass/mineral/foam/polyester
resin mix to replace it. When I was removing the transom wood I
eventually
noticed voids, about 1 1/2 x 6" running perpendicular to the transom
(which
used to be the wood stringers). I filled the space with "Great Stuff" exp
urethane foam to keep from filling that area. When I drilled through the
hull, about 6" forward of the stern and 6" down from the top for a 1 1/8"
ID, 2000gph bilge pump fitting I discovered that the fiberglass there was
1"
thick! Good luck on yours.
LD

"Steve Lortie" wrote in message
.. .
If anyone has any comments on this, please fire away (with blanks
though).

I have a 40 ft 1969 Drifter. The two main stringers (16" deep) running
off
centre the length of the boat, certainly appear to have problems. The
glass
applied to the stringer is buldged out from the stringer a good inch,
both
sides! This would imply that the stringers have dropped but they are the
same height as the next set of stringers parallel to them providing a
level
floor. After removing the floor the give in the stringers is quite
obvious -
a good half an inch of vertical movement when you bounce on them. The
hull
is pretty thick and there doesn't "appear" to be any sagging, cracking
etc.
The stringers are very wet along the bottom which also implies rotting.
The
stringer is merely covered with one layer of what I believe is a roven
material which to me is just covering it and not bonding it to the hull
for
extra strength. Repair books show layering of the cloth to build in
strength
"transfer".

Am I looking too deep into this:

level floor (was it originally??) but buldging fiberglass implies the
stringer has dropped (the floor was sitting right down on the stringer).
Bouncy stringer. Doesn't even look like it was put in there for
strength.
Is
that possible?

Should I just rip em out and replace or leave them? Any one else with a
Drift-R-Cruz that has looked under their floor and discovered something
similar?

Thanks!