'86 liberator restore

[GracieBell1]

I am gutting a libby and am wondering about the stringers. They came from the factory with a gap at the bottom instead of being bedded into something. I am using a scarf joint to replace 3/4 of the stringer. Should I raise it off the hull or bed the new sections in. The problem with not bedding is the gap below the stringer is were water collected. I hate to have a portion of the stringer bedded and a prtion floating. Caould I put expandable foam under it if I raise the stringer off of the hull like done at the facotry?

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: '86 liberator restore

R U sure the Stringer did not ROT away from the hull?

 

[GracieBell1]

Re: '86 liberator restore

No, it's not because of rot. This is how they were installed from the factory. Four Winns says leave a gap but I know that is were water was trapped.

 

[Bondo]

Re: '86 liberator restore

Ayuh,... If there's Gotta be a Gap,... drain it with limber holes....

Alotta the guys here bed stringers in PL adhiesive...

Last I did were bedded in peanut butter resin mix...

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: '86 liberator restore

Hello Gracie..

There Is a reason for those floating stringers..

Its 50-50 .. some say solid mount boats..some say floating bulkhead/stringer boats ( I say floating is better).

Basically your going to create a "Hard Point" on the hull if your wood is right on the hull ( stringers or bulkheads ).

What can happen is you could start cracking your glass .. or at least having so much energy transferance that it starts cracking your gelcoat and/or skincoat of the boat.

Id float your stringers and add more glass in the tabbings and extend them onto the hull more. This will transfer the energy load across a larger surface area.

No need to fill the gap with foam .. just little shims that hold it to the right place untill the glass gels up..then pull them and glass/tab those locations.

Looking forward to some pics

YD.

 

[GracieBell1]

Re: '86 liberator restore

WOW, thanks for the advice. It seems that the bulkheads are directly against the hull. Should I float those as well? I will load up some pics. Also, from the Four Winns they only used matt. They tabbed with it and covered the stringer as well. The matt is about 1/8-1/4 thick at the bottom and the matt that goes over th stringer to encapsulate is maybe 1/16 thick. I am using woven roving and matt to tab it in. Should I use the roven to go over the top for encapsulating or can I just use mat to cap it. And how mony layer would you suggest? Thanks again, Stefan

 

[GracieBell1]

Re: '86 liberator restore

Do I need to use roving or can I use matt only. This is what Four Winns used on the motor mounts as well. They were about 1/4 inch thick. I included some pics of the motor mount and stringer. Four Winns did not even have glass on the back side of the stringer where the mount was attached.

 

[GracieBell1]

Re: '86 liberator restore

a few more pics and a pic were I sliced through the hull with my grinder. I gues I will fix with mat or maybe marinetex.

 

[j_k_bisson]

Re: '86 liberator restore

What I used on mine was a first layer of CSM 6" wide to tab down the stringers/bulk heads. Then encapsulated the whole stringers in 1708 biax (double layer woven/chopped mat) by two layers. It gave me about 3/16" to 1/4" thickness of fiberglass when I was done. but it took 6 gallons so far for this. Check it out @ http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=443915&page=2

Jeff

 

[tlynch99]

Re: '86 liberator restore

Great pictures. I am currently thinking of replacing the deck on my 1986 Liberator 211. The peice of wood that covers the gas tank was soft, so I need to do something about that, which has lead to thinking about replacing the carpet. I will probobly pull up the carpet and assuming nothing else is rotted, I was thinking of putting a layer of 1708 mat down on the existing deck and the new peice I am going to make for the gas tank cover, then totally new carpet.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: '86 liberator restore

Hello Gracie..

Personally I would float everything and mat mat woving mat woving mat woving mat mat it ( If you have room for the build up ).

Or mat mat then 4-5 layers of 1708 then mat for your stringers.

Its kinda hard to tell someone HOW to glass in stringers,bulks and transoms just typing though... things need to be just right.

Saftey is paramount though. Respos .. gloves.. eyes.. suit etc.

You just dont kick off resin and start slappin glass on .. Please Know before you do it.

YD.

 

[Fingernip]

Re: '86 liberator restore

Thats is identical to what i ran into when i tore into my santara 210. I ended up bedding it PL right on the hull and tabbing with 1 layer of 1.5oz CSM. Im reading of people using all these layers and im really suprised. Im just using 2 layers of 1708 and that alone seems much stronger than original. I also plan to gelcoat the entire underdeck area to seal it in.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: '86 liberator restore

Thats is identical to what i ran into when i tore into my santara 210. I ended up bedding it PL right on the hull and tabbing with 1 layer of 1.5oz CSM. Im reading of people using all these layers and im really suprised. Im just using 2 layers of 1708 and that alone seems much stronger than original. I also plan to gelcoat the entire underdeck area to seal it in.

erm... 1 csm and 2x 1708 for a trans or stringer is not enough.. trans..not enough tabbing..not enough..

You go out in the lakes here and start pounding your way home with this schedule is like looking at the red light saying your about out of gas and your still 60 miles from the nearest gas station...Scary..

If your going to do all this prep work... I would over build ( unless you make Bliners ). then your fine.

YD.

 

[Fingernip]

Re: '86 liberator restore

erm... 1 csm and 2x 1708 for a trans or stringer is not enough.. trans..not enough tabbing..not enough..

You go out in the lakes here and start pounding your way home with this schedule is like looking at the red light saying your about out of gas and your still 60 miles from the nearest gas station...Scary..

If your going to do all this prep work... I would over build ( unless you make Bliners ). then your fine.

YD.

Im sure the boat originally wasnt nearly as strong with just chopper gun and CSM tabbing with similar thickness at best.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: '86 liberator restore

Im sure the boat originally wasnt nearly as strong with just chopper gun and CSM tabbing with similar thickness at best.

I dont get your post ...

CSM tabbin wont work

YD.

 

[Fingernip]

Re: '86 liberator restore

I dont get your post ...

CSM tabbin wont work

YD.

Why is that? That an opinion or a fact? It was done that way originally so I dont see why its a problem.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: '86 liberator restore

CSM will not work for tabbin bulks,stringers or trans ..

I dont understand your disagreement...

Please let it be.. I dont want to do this m8..

But .. go for it if you like.. ON another Thread...

YD.

 

[Fingernip]

Re: '86 liberator restore

CSM will not work for tabbin bulks,stringers or trans ..

I dont understand your disagreement...

Please let it be.. I dont want to do this m8..

But .. go for it if you like.. ON another Thread...

YD.

I think your reasoning should be explained seeing how OP seems to also plan to tab using CSM as well as others who chimed in to help. This is a place we all come to learn from each other.

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: '86 liberator restore

I think your reasoning should be explained seeing how OP seems to also plan to tab using CSM as well as others who chimed in to help. This is a place we all come to learn from each other.

Mat will not work for tabbin... Trust me...

I think that Im giving an experianced opinion..

Trust me..

YD.

 

[Fingernip]

Re: '86 liberator restore

Mat will not work for tabbin... Trust me...

I think that Im giving an experianced opinion..

Trust me..

YD.

What do you recommend then? Matt and a layer of woven or something? 1708 even? Im most likely to just copy what they did from factory. It was all CSM and the only woven material was under the ski locker for some reason. Poly wont bond well without matt first though so i dunno. Also covering the stringers in 1708 will only be a mechanical bond to the CSM tabbing unless its done while still tacky, but thats still no worse than the mechanical bond to the hull.