Boating until stringers are replaced?

[scca vette]

I have been reading threads on the forum for days now however I did not see the answer to my question so I am making my 1st post.

I purchased a 1989 Baja 216 bowrider and got a GOOD deal on it however it does need some attention. The hull is perfect and not even a stress crack, the interior needs a some attention however is not terrible. The floor seem pretty solid except 1 area on the removable center section above the tank. This piece was actually removed when I looked at the boat to drain the fuel tank (old gas).

Now for my big question!!! The one concern I have is what is under the floor. The reason I have a concern is the center window over laps about 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch and will not close. It seems to over lap even however I am concerned the center is sagging do to rot under the floor. Now I did not study this and could be as simple as the window bent or needs adjusted however I went into this expecting the worse. If the floor and stringers need to come out I am OK with that and more than willing to do it. My question IS can I use the boat this summer and fix all the other odd and ends and take on the floor and stringers next winter??? Is it safe to use the boat IF there is rot under the floor? I plan on cutting some hole to have a look BUT really do not want to waist some of the boating season doing this if I can put it off until winter.

Thanks for any help!
Phil

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Boating until stringers are replaced?

Welcome to iboats!!

Do a search on "bore holes" use the quotes and or "test holes" and you will get some more ideas.

More than likely your deck or your hull has some signs of failure based on the window.

If your stringer's are in need of replacement odds are the foam flotation is soaked too ........ it means next year after you repair it properly it should be stronger and faster due to the weight loss of the wet foam

If your decking is solid you are ok...... if it's an outboard tilt the motor up and put your weight on it and the transom should not flex..........

Do some bore holes and go boating!!

 

[scca vette]

Re: Boating until stringers are replaced?

Welcome to iboats!!

Do a search on "bore holes" use the quotes and or "test holes" and you will get some more ideas.

More than likely your deck or your hull has some signs of failure based on the window.

If your stringer's are in need of replacement odds are the foam flotation is soaked too ........ it means next year after you repair it properly it should be stronger and faster due to the weight loss of the wet foam

If your decking is solid you are ok...... if it's an outboard tilt the motor up and put your weight on it and the transom should not flex..........

Do some bore holes and go boating!!

Bob
Thank you for the reply and I have read thread after thread about drilling some test holes and MANY pages on the stringer replacement. I am really expecting the worse and like I said do not have a problem doing the job I would just like to postpone it until this winter.

The boat is an I/O (V8) and what I found strange was I could not find ANY stress cracks of anywhere on the boat. I would have thought I would see signs of the boat flexing do to the stringers being bad. I would like to go ahead and use the boat this seaon even if I know it needs stringers BUT is it safe to do that? What will happen if I do run it and the stringers are bad?

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Boating until stringers are replaced?

Worst case ....... the hull will crack and you will sink! Chances are the hull is strong and the stringer's maybe deteriorating but you might be fine...... I would still do some bore holes

 

[scca vette]

Re: Boating until stringers are replaced?

Worst case ....... the hull will crack and you will sink! Chances are the hull is strong and the stringer's maybe deteriorating but you might be fine...... I would still do some bore holes

I am going tomorrow to pick it up and bring it home to get started on fixing all the items that need fixed. I will drill some holes and see what I come up with. I will post up some pics of what I got and the progress of the work.

Thanks again!

 

[redfury]

Re: Boating until stringers are replaced?

The front window ( center ) over lapping is due to the floor giving in to the weight of the bow..particularly the supports for it. It's simply bowed in, which is causing the overlap.

Chances are better than worse that you can still use the boat this summer IMHO. I'm sure it was being used in the past like this, many boats are. Do you have a constant dripping from the drain plug hole when the boat is at rest, or does it seem to dry up after boating? That's a sign of water logged foam releasing water. If you can get into the engine area with a ball peen hammer, you can always do a "knock" check and see how solid the stringers/engine supports are by giving them a tap with it to see if you get any dull thuds anywhere.

If you suspect the boat is having problems, the easy answer is to simply listen to your boat when using it this summer, and don't be a show off until after you've repaired what needs to be repaired and have full confidence in the boat.

 

[scca vette]

Re: Boating until stringers are replaced?

The front window ( center ) over lapping is due to the floor giving in to the weight of the bow..particularly the supports for it. It's simply bowed in, which is causing the overlap.

Chances are better than worse that you can still use the boat this summer IMHO. I'm sure it was being used in the past like this, many boats are. Do you have a constant dripping from the drain plug hole when the boat is at rest, or does it seem to dry up after boating? That's a sign of water logged foam releasing water. If you can get into the engine area with a ball peen hammer, you can always do a "knock" check and see how solid the stringers/engine supports are by giving them a tap with it to see if you get any dull thuds anywhere.

If you suspect the boat is having problems, the easy answer is to simply listen to your boat when using it this summer, and don't be a show off until after you've repaired what needs to be repaired and have full confidence in the boat.

Thank You for the reply! I have not got the boat home yet and spent much time with it. It was a 2 hour drive to go and look at it last week and this is the first weekend I had to go get it. I will be able to answer your questions after I can really spend some time with it this weekend.

I will get some pics and do some testing this weekend to see what I can come up with. I will post some pics of what I find and let the experts on here see if they notice anything that indicates I should not use it.

 

[jonesg]

Re: Boating until stringers are replaced?

When you see the windows misaligned like that it indicated the stringers and deck supports are shot. You'll also find wet foam which guarentees rotted stringers, the transom soon follows suit.

But the question is how you use it this summer and how its gets trailered, the trailer can put more stress on the hull than easy boating.
I wouldn't plan on any waterskiing and if its a roller trailer I'd convert it to bunks for better support. A bunk trailer will allow you to do the stringers without worrying if the hull distorts during the repair.

I went through the same thing 2 yrs ago, trailering cracked the splashwell open because the transom was a gonner. Then I found the stringers were shot too. Its a 2-3 month job doing it part time.
Or a few weeks depending how much time you dedicate to it.

 

[MTribe08]

Re: Boating until stringers are replaced?

I just finished a pretty major stringer/deck restore on a 21 ft open bow with a I/O Merc V8. If you would like to look through it, its in my signature at the bottom of this post. when I dug up my deck and looked at the stringers, I guarantee you, the part I ripped out had been dust for many many years. My transom however, is super solid.

I obviously had never been in the boat when the stringers were solid, so I had nothing to compare too..but I have zero stress cracks anywhere on my hull, it seemed like a very solid boat when I was out on the water a bunch before I did the job...We pulled a wake-board, ski'd..tubed ect ect. and it was fantastic.

However, the construction of my hull and the strength comes from massive amounts if fiberglass buildup and strength I found, other boats rely heavily on the wood construction of the stringers. Not sure the case with yours.

I love the way my boat turned out, the deck is awesome, removable carpet ect ect..but I'd put money on it, that I won't notice much difference in the ride. But I do feel much better about taking the boat out.

IMO..which isn't worth much. I would bet you will be just fine this season. Good luck.

 

[scca vette]

Re: Boating until stringers are replaced?

Well I have it home now and had a chance to look it over better. First off I have found the reason for the window not fitting but I will post about that later when I can post up some pics. Second I hope you guys like answering questions because it looks like I might end up with a few.

Also I will post up some pics of the NICE work the previous owner did and why I was able to get this REALLY cheap.

 

[scca vette]

Re: Boating until stringers are replaced?

I just finished a pretty major stringer/deck restore on a 21 ft open bow with a I/O Merc V8. If you would like to look through it, its in my signature at the bottom of this post. when I dug up my deck and looked at the stringers, I guarantee you, the part I ripped out had been dust for many many years. My transom however, is super solid.

I obviously had never been in the boat when the stringers were solid, so I had nothing to compare too..but I have zero stress cracks anywhere on my hull, it seemed like a very solid boat when I was out on the water a bunch before I did the job...We pulled a wake-board, ski'd..tubed ect ect. and it was fantastic.

However, the construction of my hull and the strength comes from massive amounts if fiberglass buildup and strength I found, other boats rely heavily on the wood construction of the stringers. Not sure the case with yours.

I love the way my boat turned out, the deck is awesome, removable carpet ect ect..but I'd put money on it, that I won't notice much difference in the ride. But I do feel much better about taking the boat out.

IMO..which isn't worth much. I would bet you will be just fine this season. Good luck.

Not only have I read the link you have I saved it under my favorites. There is a LOT of usefull info in there, I spent a couple hours reading through it the other night.

 

[scca vette]

Re: Boating until stringers are replaced?

OK for those of you that like photos stick around! lol

Here is some basic pictures of the boat that I purchased.

Now I was able to get this VERY cheap because the guy that owned it decided he wanted thru hull exhaust. He decided to do it himself and this was the result.

 

[Mark42]

Re: Boating until stringers are replaced?

So what's wrong with the thru hull exhaust? Besides being in an inconvenient place where people are apt to burn themselves, and it will be loud, and it probably lets water into the boat. Other than that, whats wrong with it?

 

[scca vette]

Re: Boating until stringers are replaced?

Now for the window issue that I was concerned about. I did a little looking and found what I think is causing the window overlap.
If you look at the photo below you will see there is a board that goes from the fiberglass to the floor that is covered in carpet.

That board is SHOT! the bottom of the board I can almost stick my foot through it. If I support that area where the board is rotten the windshield closes fine.

I will still be testing the floor and stringers however this seems to be my problem with the window fitting.

Here is a pic of the window that wont close.

 

[scca vette]

Re: Boating until stringers are replaced?

So what's wrong with the thru hull exhaust? Besides being in an inconvenient place where people are apt to burn themselves, and it will be loud, and it probably lets water into the boat. Other than that, whats wrong with it?

Well they thought of that, I will post photos tomorrow on how they used coffee cans to cure the water problem.

Loud? CHECK!
Burns? CHECK!

Looking like a redneck on the lake! Priceless!

I was lucky that they did not clean up their mess and left all the original parts still laying in the engine compartment.

 

[MTribe08]

Re: Boating until stringers are replaced?

Not only have I read the link you have I saved it under my favorites. There is a LOT of usefull info in there, I spent a couple hours reading through it the other night.

Great..glad it helped you out!

Thats a pretty cool looking boat thats been "Redneck-erized" Look forward to following along and seeing what turns up with it..sounds like you have the window issue figured out. Shouldn't be anything to get that fixed. And that exhaust..oh boy But those holes shouldn't be too difficult to patch up if you (hopefully) decided to fix em.

Does it run??

Good luck.
~David

 

[scca vette]

Re: Boating until stringers are replaced?

Great..glad it helped you out!

Thats a pretty cool looking boat thats been "Redneck-erized" Look forward to following along and seeing what turns up with it..sounds like you have the window issue figured out. Shouldn't be anything to get that fixed. And that exhaust..oh boy But those holes shouldn't be too difficult to patch up if you (hopefully) decided to fix em.

Does it run??

Good luck.
~David

YES! I will be fixing the holes. lol

It runs and motor sounds good. I did not let it run long however because when they winterixed it they pulled every plug and hose (not sure why) and none of it was hooked back up. I am 110% positive that it will need a new water pump in the outdrive do to they started it without the muffs. No big deal I was going to replace it anyways just to be safe.

It does seem to have a issue with the trim pump not working. The solenoid clicks but no movement. SOmething I will have to look at when I get that far.

I figure the boat should be worth around 7-8K in great shape. I bought it cheap enough and can do most if not all the work myself so I can spend quite a lot of money to make it perfect and still not be upside down on it.

 

[scca vette]

Re: Boating until stringers are replaced?

I pulled the front cushions to see if they will clean up or if I want to go ahead and have them redone along with the ones that need it. Looks like they will claen up pretty good.

I cleaned the one on the right and compared it to the one on the left.

I think they will pass!

 

[redfury]

Re: Boating until stringers are replaced?

heh, that boat is much nicer than what I was envisioning If that board is rotten though, I'd want to find out why, or if it is just an indicator of something else that is going on with the boat just to be sure. One rotten board in a boat does not exist. If one is rotten, there are others....this boat has obviously seen its fair share of interior water, and it was not allowed to dry out.

Can I assume that you are in the southern part of the US by the color of your driveway?

 

[jonesg]

Re: Boating until stringers are replaced?

One rotten board in a boat does not exist. If one is rotten, there are others.... ?

sure it does, I only had one rotten transom that extended to the stringer and down the other one. What are those 10 steps of rot denial again?
I fell for all ten.

1. its just this one soft spot on the deck
2. only the top of the transom is soft
3.water probably didn'[t get in through these holes
4. etc etc