Am I too late for the show? '93 stratos wood woes

[rockitsauce]

Well thank you guys for the forum and for all the great information here. I have owned this boat for about 13 years or so and the deck floor was just becoming a hazard with the soft spots. So, a little inspection led to some crushing distress, probably much like the feeling you guys had when you ripped up the floor. What I had hoped would be for a patch job but the wood appears to be wet in spots leading right out where I feel it may not be doable. Also, there are soft spots in the stringers in a couple places around the middle. So far I have just dug out old wet foam and cut to try and find dry wood. I believe I may have to do the old cap pull after all. Im not going to jump into that without researching and reading all of you guys' projects though. If you think I can get by without the cappage, please by all means make me feel better

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Am I too late for the show? '93 stratos wood woes

Welcome to iBoats!


Solly Cholly but... De-Capitate it!!!!

 

[rockitsauce]

Re: Am I too late for the show? '93 stratos wood woes

Well that would put me at ground zero. Id have to build a motor rack (found the thread) and rent an engine hoist. What I just thought of and really scares me is I dont have room to seperate the two halves and store them while I work on them. Argghhh! What would you think a marine shop would charge me to do floors/stringers/transom? Boat length is 17'8" which I didnt mention before. New alum trailer, $1k in redone seats, motor runs good, sumbitch was ready to roll for some redfishin. It would be crushing to have to bust out another couple grand but I may have to sell some guitars off or something. :facepalm:

 

[zopperman]

Re: Am I too late for the show? '93 stratos wood woes

A shop would probably be 6-8 G's.

It's pretty much DIY or nothing... for about 2000-2500.

Welcome aboard.

 

[rockitsauce]

Re: Am I too late for the show? '93 stratos wood woes

Well, I have some west marine epoxy/hardener/silica/chopped glass to make some peanut butter and I need to make a new stringer and joint. I also have some glass mat and some roving. I havent tested a mix yet or even attempted a mock up for the replacement but nevertheless, here is my bad section. Plan is to replace the T and about 4 feet of the stringer. My question is, where do I cut the existing stringer? Can you see the portion of the side where one side is higher? Do I cut it horizontally even with the higher side (its a hump)? I do plan to use it as a mold if it is possible. Do I need to cut out all the epoxy or just scarf it? I know that this isnt the best solution. If I could possibly pull the cap and redo the whole boat, I would. I am certain that what I am doing is in fact harder than that, albeit less expensive (in the short term).In reality though, the stringers are pretty good minus this portion. I had a marine repair guy who does glass work for many local shops come and look and he thought he would have left the cap on as well. I will continue to search youtube and look for a vid of a start-finish stringer install as well.

 

[zopperman]

Re: Am I too late for the show? '93 stratos wood woes

looks to me like that bulkhead is rotten... I'd take core samples all over before you start... there is definitely more rot.

You'll need probably 15 gallons of resin... I'd use POLY, not epoxy...

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Am I too late for the show? '93 stratos wood woes

Have you core sampled ALL of the stringers and bulkheads? Have you core sampled the Transom? What Kind of Boat is this? What Size? What Motor? Would like more details. You CAN do partial replacements on stringers in some cases but only if the remaining portion of the stringer has been determined to be 100% sound and all existing rot has been removed.

 

[rockitsauce]

Re: Am I too late for the show? '93 stratos wood woes

1993 stratos 17'8" fiberglass bass boat, 120HP johnson. I will take core samples and study up on calculating resin needs as well. I was told that the stringers were good, they appear good. We will see I guess. Wood square footage would be 4'x12" for the bulkhead. Ab out the same for the stringer if I splice. 15 gallons!

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Am I too late for the show? '93 stratos wood woes

15 Gallons is what is needed if you have to do a total restore. We need to see what were actually dealing with first. Trust me, you cannot tell by looking or tapping on em. Get the core samples from all of the stringers, in various locations as well as all the bulkheads and the transom. Core samples don't lie. If in fact you only need to do some "Sistering In" of your stringers and bulkheads then your materials list will shrink considerably.

 

[rockitsauce]

Re: Am I too late for the show? '93 stratos wood woes

I took a core sample farther up on the stringer that was the known culprit and it looked ok. I hope I'm right. I see now what led to the problems to begin with. There were three non-laminated 1x4s across and under the deck of the boat. I don't know why they were there other than a stability thing. I cant explain why they weren't laminated, could have been a factory job. No other wood was like that. Anyway, there were drains in the floor located somewhat close to these boards and obviously they became saturated. Well they sat across the tops of the stringers and of course you can see why this happened. Bad design or maybe the guy that had it before me did a bad patch job. I also don't understand why two of the floor drains went into compartments which were sealed with no drain holes to the hull. Have you guys ever created drainage holes through the foam when you redo the floor or is that a bad idea?

 

[rockitsauce]

Re: Am I too late for the show? '93 stratos wood woes

I guess poly makes sense from what I am reading as it seems that if I use epoxy on that bulkhead and stringer, when I use the poly for the deck, it wont make a good bond between the deck and those places which I wanted to use epoxy on. Is this true? I do have a gallon of epoxy that I could make these cutouts and start and maybe finish this portion today. Also, I uploaded a pic where I put in red, the area where I was going to make the cuts and the blue is the outline of where I think I need to scarf up to. Is it about 8 inches out from where the board will be that I need to scarf and lay the mat to? Also, when I cut out the bulkhead, should I grind out about a 1/2" notch in the hull for where the board will sit in?Scares me that I might go too deep and go through the hull but it would only make sense that the board would need to sit in a notch.
So, if I am tracking:
1. cut out the existing boards and make a template with an extra 1/2" inch on the bulkhead in height to sit in the notch properly (unless no notch is needed and I can make it somewhat flush which will alleve my fears of going through hull and then I can just use peanut butter to bond it at that joint where the bulkhead board meets the hull)

2. cut out the section of stringer that is bad and add an extra 1/2" in height like the bulkhead board too, or not and go flush w/peanut butter

3. scarf all of that area and then clean with acetone

4. bust out the credit card and get some poly (or use the existing gallon of west system epoxy).

 

[Woodonglass]

Re: Am I too late for the show? '93 stratos wood woes

Your epoxy will be fine for the repair, but I'm certain that 1 Gallon will not be enough. Are you going to use 1700 biaxial cloth in conjunction with the epoxy to tab all of you work to the hull? You must use something, either Woven roving or Cloth. Without the cloth to add the strength it will soon break free and cause bad problems. I also recommend cutting out and replacing the entire Bulkhead along with the partial stringer. You really should do some searching on the forum for "Stringer and Bulkead" replacement. There are plenty of threads with a lot of helpful pics and text to show and tell you how to accomplich this repair the right way.
Instead of Scarfing the joint it would be a lot easier and just as strong to "Sister" the joint. That is accomplished by placing two 24" piece of 1/2" plywood the full height of the stinger on either side of the joint and screwing and epoxying it all together.

The fast, easy & inexpnsive way of fixing things, Usually comes back to bite you. Study up and do it right.

 

[zopperman]

Re: Am I too late for the show? '93 stratos wood woes

I guess poly makes sense from what I am reading as it seems that if I use epoxy on that bulkhead and stringer, when I use the poly for the deck, it wont make a good bond between the deck and those places which I wanted to use epoxy on. Is this true? I do have a gallon of epoxy that I could make these cutouts and start and maybe finish this portion today. Also, I uploaded a pic where I put in red, the area where I was going to make the cuts and the blue is the outline of where I think I need to scarf up to. Is it about 8 inches out from where the board will be that I need to scarf and lay the mat to? Also, when I cut out the bulkhead, should I grind out about a 1/2" notch in the hull for where the board will sit in?Scares me that I might go too deep and go through the hull but it would only make sense that the board would need to sit in a notch.
So, if I am tracking:
1. cut out the existing boards and make a template with an extra 1/2" inch on the bulkhead in height to sit in the notch properly (unless no notch is needed and I can make it somewhat flush which will alleve my fears of going through hull and then I can just use peanut butter to bond it at that joint where the bulkhead board meets the hull)

2. cut out the section of stringer that is bad and add an extra 1/2" in height like the bulkhead board too, or not and go flush w/peanut butter

3. scarf all of that area and then clean with acetone

4. bust out the credit card and get some poly (or use the existing gallon of west system epoxy).

Yes, poly will have a tough time bonding to epoxy

 

[rockitsauce]

Re: Am I too late for the show? '93 stratos wood woes

Here are a few pics from the time that I started the job. I opted to do this without removing the cap due to space problems. Anyway, the floor had a 1/4" piece of non-epoxied wood that trapped water between it and the deck in the first pic. Others that follow just show how my inspection kept leading me further and further into the downward spiral of rot.

 

[rockitsauce]

Re: Am I too late for the show? '93 stratos wood woes

Floor 6 shows the first fiberglass attempt by me. Its just a board that goes horizontal behind that rotten bulkhead that was also unepoxied/rotten. Probably didnt need to be 3/4" but why not make it all a structurally sound and durable thing. I got confident from that first piece and then when I put the bulkhead in and attempted to wrap the cloth, it got exponentially difficult. I actually screwed up the first roving attempt and had to spend a bunch of time grinding it back out and prepping for redoing it. I did get it in finally and now moving on to stringer sister piece.

 

[rockitsauce]

Re: Am I too late for the show? '93 stratos wood woes

Couple pix of updated work. Spliced the stringer in with a couple of dowel pins, then PB'd it to the floor with a 1/4" dowel to keep it off the floor and then slapped a couple boards on the outside with as much coverage as I could. Fillet'd them and did 1 layer CSM, 2 of 1708. Got a couple air pox but all in all getting a little better with the glassing. I used poly, although I know epoxy would have been better. Now touching up the glass and building the 1x4s that will go across and under the deck. Filled 1 compartment with foam, half pour in, half old used foam. Cut a trash bag in half and laid it across the bottom of the compartment and poured/filled it all in. I am going to leave the flotsam/jetsam foam in the bag and just lay the bag in the compartment when I button it up. I did create drainage channels that I hope the bag/foam wont close up or block. Going with sheet foam for the compartments that I dont think I will doing walking on.

 

[rockitsauce]

Re: Am I too late for the show? '93 stratos wood woes

Well I got some work done this weekend and got the front half of the deck in and it feels good. Will wait until I have the back half done to continue on with the gelcoat which I wont worry about making look to good as I will cover the floor with carpet. I am not going to put a drain in the middle of the floor this time and I noticed something when I put the back 2 pieces in that there is nothing supporting the foot or so portion of the center of the deck in front of the seats. There used to be a drain there but now I believe I will need to install some sort of a stringer extension or something.

 

[rockitsauce]

Re: Am I too late for the show? '93 stratos wood woes

Here is my idea so far unless I think of something different. I do remember a small piece of wood that went underneath the seat front edge that went across but it was rotten and I removed it and I dont think it was a good concept anyway. I am thinking of adding in an extension to that stringer (actually just a beam) that would go from the end to the middle and right at the edge of the front seat. I would then add a bulkhead to further connect that across which would add stability to the beam and also help support the seat. I may actually try and duplicate the small piece of wood but this time put it on top of the new bulkhead/beam structure and then connect that to the deck pieces with dowel pins/peanut butter.

 

[rockitsauce]

Re: Am I too late for the show? '93 stratos wood woes

Thats a pic of the old bulkhead which I have redone. I cut all the parts and just need to fit them together and also going to add a small 3" wide piece of wood that goes under the seat front rim and between the stringers as it was in the orig, except the piece will have the support of the new stringer extension and a mini bulkhead underneath it, which it didnt have in the original design. Wish I had this weekend to lock it down but national guard duty puts me at a standstill this one. Lookin like I can take my time and do this portion right as its the last deal needed before locking down the last 2 deck pieces and filleting them in and glassing the whole shebang. She is ready for a day on the water after that. New carpet, new aerators, new bilge, new seats. Oh man the anxiety of near completion is driving me insane. Feels like I need to call in sick at work to get some more done!

 

[rockitsauce]

Re: Am I too late for the show? '93 stratos wood woes

Well i put in water today to ensure there were no water leaks before I glass down last half of deck. All good. Water pump died after 30 second on a plane and I think the stator is toast but thank God for trolling motors. If I had a dime for every time I got back to the ramp with a trolling motor, I could buy another trolling motor.