1965 Larson All American Restoration

[coalkracker]

Ok so I've been having a lot of questions about different topics while working on my old larson so I've decided to just put them all in one thread since they are all having to do with my restoration. I've been cutting the rear part of the floor out which has been repaired incorrectly in the past by the previous owner and I've noticed the stringers don't go all the way back to the transom. They are hollow stringers with a thin piece of wood glassed into the top and fall short of the transom by an inch or two. Can somebody possibly explain to me why they are like that? It's not what I was expecting when I took the floor out. And what is the thin piece of wood glassed into the top of the stringers for? Is it for strength of the stringers or just strength for the floor? I'm also going to pour the transom solid with seacast but I need to get all of this taken care of under the deck first.

 

[sphelps]

Drainage maybe ? So any water that may get under the deck will have a path to the drain hole ...

 

[coalkracker]

I always thought the stringers were bonded to the transom but I could be wrong

 

[sphelps]

If it were me I would glass them to the transom but install limber holes for water flow just in case ...
Btw , I have done a couple of boats using seacast .. Good stuff but pricey ... Let me know if ya need any advice ...

 

[coalkracker]

I will take any advice you are willing to give! I do know that I must remove all of the existing wood between the skins and to prep the surfaces. And when I was figuring out the prices for my different options of the transom repair the seacast really wasn't all that much more then doing it with plywood when all said and done.

 

[sphelps]

Yep just make sure the skins completely free of any wood and down the fresh clean glass ..... Give it a good acetone bath several times to help get any residue off the skin ... Prolly have to make a few long handled tools to get all the way to the bottom ... Really seeing as you already have the deck out on the inside I would really consider cutting the inside skin out along the edges .... Then you can get an angle grinder on it to make quick easy work of it ... Then re glass the skin back in ...
That is if the top cap off of the hull ...

 

[coalkracker]

The top is not off and I don't have plans to take it off. I don't really mind some extra work prepping the inside of the skins from the top of the transom. I am going to have to glass in the bottom of the transom since it is exposed under the deck.

 

[Woodonglass]

Sooo...Are you saying the transom below the splashwell is wood only? No fiberglass skin? If this is truly the case then you'll need to fabricate an inner skin for a SeaCast Transom. Not removing the cap or cutting away the splashwell will make this much more difficult. Not saying it can't be done.cuz others have done it.

 

[coalkracker]

Only from the floor to the hull is exposed. You can sort of see it in the picture I posted in the beginning of this thread. I plan on using some resin and a single layer of matting to enclose it so I don't lose my seacast into the hull.

 

[coalkracker]

And it being this way is going to help when I cut the cap off and start removing the old wood. Everything at the bottom is more easily accessible.

 

[sphelps]

The old inside skin stops at the deck height ? That would certainly make it easier to clean the stuff out for sure ... But I would recommend at least 2 layers of csm before the pour followed up by a couple layers of 1708 tabbed well onto the hull bottom ,sides , and overlapping the old skin ...

 

[coalkracker]

Yes it stops at deck height on both sides. In the middle it goes all the way down where the small well is where the drain plug is. I guess I'll be doing some glassing as soon as I get that old transom wood out from the skins.

 

[coalkracker]

No Title

BTW here is what I'm working with. It's pretty much all original. I love the style of these old larsons!

 

[Drb007]

My daughter and I are restoring her 66 Larson All American, just like yours but blue. Take a look at some of the pictures on our post to see what it looks like all apart
As for the stringers, you are right, they stopped short of the transom. We replaced the transom, so we had to cut them back a bit more. I saw no reason to no tie them in, so when we did our glassing we brought them right up to the transom, and made a much bigger bilge area. Great boats!

http://forums.iboats.com/forum/boat...l-repair/10070427-larson-lapline-all-american

 

[coalkracker]

Great restoration so far! Your thread is just what I needed to see since you have already done the things I'm about to tackle. I just breezed through it quick but tonight I will actually read the whole thing to get more info that I can hopefully use.