Update and inevitable question! 
I think I'm officially done demolishing, grinding, etc. The interior is all smoothed out, cleaned up, vacuumed out, etc - I'm genuinely ready to start putting pieces and parts together. (Big sigh of relief - I have come to detest grinding and sanding fiberglass, though I fear that dust and bits will continue to exude from the boat for quite some time to come!)
In measuring, planning and preparing to cut new stringers, I've come across a bit of a head-scratcher. I have stubs of good/dry stringer in the front and back of the boat (I kept cutting outward from the middle, until I reached solid, dry wood), and I left the outer sections of the bulkheads (it, outboard of the stringers), because they were pretty well sealed up (wood isn't 100% perfect, but there is as much fiberglass structure there, as there is wood, and they're so small, that I don't really think they're doing much structurally, anyway - big point was, however, I was able to retain a reference for stringer and deck height, where I pulled the stringer sections out). One of these bulkheads is at the front, where I stopped cutting stringer, and one was about in the middle of the section I cut out.
So, I stretched a string from the top edge of the front stringer stub, to the top edge of the rear stringer stub, to establish where the top of the stringer would be, and to start figuring out what kind of cuts/angles/etc I needed to put on the bottom of the stringers, so they'd fit the hull. The string on the port side lines up perfectly with the top edge of the wood on the port side outer bulkhead section (the one in the center of the cut-out stringer section). On the starboard side, however, the string sits about 3/16" below the top edge of the wood of the starboard side outer bulkhead section. The string would represent the top of the stringer and/or bottom of the floor. So, something is a little bit amiss here.
I don't know if the original stringer had a 'hump' in it (I'm replacing a 52" section of stringer on both sides, and this bulkhead is about 1/2 way down that length, so we're talking 3/16" height rise over approx 26" of length - not a huge 'hump'). Or, if there is something about the way that the boat is sitting on the trailer bunks, or something about how I braced the underside of the boat with additional wood (so that it wouldn't flex around when I was working in the boat) that has introduced a 3/16" upward bend into the hull on the starboard side. (This seems the most likely in terms of what *could* be wrong, but least likely in terms of what *is* wrong - the bulkhead bit sits between the chine and the lower/outer edge of the hull, which is a fairly well structured section of the hull - I can't imagine how that area would get pushed up, as its probably the beefiest section of the hull, aside from the keel and the transom...) The hull is sitting flat on the trailer bunks - if anything, the bunks bow down a little bit *away* from the hull near that area where the bulkhead bit is (just old bunks). I put an 8' section of 2x4 under the hull on each side, inboard of the trailer bunks (so, even farther away from the outer bulkhead bits), and used blocks and wedges between the trailer and each 2x4, to hold it snugly up against the hull. The area where the blocks/wedges are, are well behind and well forward of the bulkhead bit area, so I don't really think those are putting any particular upward pressure under the area where the starboard bulkhead bit is situated. (I haven't tried loosening those supports at all yet - I discovered this issue around 9pm last night, and had the sense not to start tearing crap apart late at night...
So, thoughts on this little conundrum?? It wouldn't be a huge deal to just build the 'hump' into the stringer, but that just feels way wrong - I'd rather see if I can figure out what's going on, before I start glassing a potentially new shape into the hull! I'll likely try loosening the wedges under the starboard-side 2x4 tonight, just to see if that drops that side down a bit. (I'm a little afraid of taking them all the way out, though, as they were put in place when everything was still together in the boat, so I assume that they're fairly true to the original shape of the boat?)
I think I'm officially done demolishing, grinding, etc. The interior is all smoothed out, cleaned up, vacuumed out, etc - I'm genuinely ready to start putting pieces and parts together. (Big sigh of relief - I have come to detest grinding and sanding fiberglass, though I fear that dust and bits will continue to exude from the boat for quite some time to come!)In measuring, planning and preparing to cut new stringers, I've come across a bit of a head-scratcher. I have stubs of good/dry stringer in the front and back of the boat (I kept cutting outward from the middle, until I reached solid, dry wood), and I left the outer sections of the bulkheads (it, outboard of the stringers), because they were pretty well sealed up (wood isn't 100% perfect, but there is as much fiberglass structure there, as there is wood, and they're so small, that I don't really think they're doing much structurally, anyway - big point was, however, I was able to retain a reference for stringer and deck height, where I pulled the stringer sections out). One of these bulkheads is at the front, where I stopped cutting stringer, and one was about in the middle of the section I cut out.
So, I stretched a string from the top edge of the front stringer stub, to the top edge of the rear stringer stub, to establish where the top of the stringer would be, and to start figuring out what kind of cuts/angles/etc I needed to put on the bottom of the stringers, so they'd fit the hull. The string on the port side lines up perfectly with the top edge of the wood on the port side outer bulkhead section (the one in the center of the cut-out stringer section). On the starboard side, however, the string sits about 3/16" below the top edge of the wood of the starboard side outer bulkhead section. The string would represent the top of the stringer and/or bottom of the floor. So, something is a little bit amiss here.
I don't know if the original stringer had a 'hump' in it (I'm replacing a 52" section of stringer on both sides, and this bulkhead is about 1/2 way down that length, so we're talking 3/16" height rise over approx 26" of length - not a huge 'hump'). Or, if there is something about the way that the boat is sitting on the trailer bunks, or something about how I braced the underside of the boat with additional wood (so that it wouldn't flex around when I was working in the boat) that has introduced a 3/16" upward bend into the hull on the starboard side. (This seems the most likely in terms of what *could* be wrong, but least likely in terms of what *is* wrong - the bulkhead bit sits between the chine and the lower/outer edge of the hull, which is a fairly well structured section of the hull - I can't imagine how that area would get pushed up, as its probably the beefiest section of the hull, aside from the keel and the transom...) The hull is sitting flat on the trailer bunks - if anything, the bunks bow down a little bit *away* from the hull near that area where the bulkhead bit is (just old bunks). I put an 8' section of 2x4 under the hull on each side, inboard of the trailer bunks (so, even farther away from the outer bulkhead bits), and used blocks and wedges between the trailer and each 2x4, to hold it snugly up against the hull. The area where the blocks/wedges are, are well behind and well forward of the bulkhead bit area, so I don't really think those are putting any particular upward pressure under the area where the starboard bulkhead bit is situated. (I haven't tried loosening those supports at all yet - I discovered this issue around 9pm last night, and had the sense not to start tearing crap apart late at night...
So, thoughts on this little conundrum?? It wouldn't be a huge deal to just build the 'hump' into the stringer, but that just feels way wrong - I'd rather see if I can figure out what's going on, before I start glassing a potentially new shape into the hull!
I'll likely try loosening the wedges under the starboard-side 2x4 tonight, just to see if that drops that side down a bit. (I'm a little afraid of taking them all the way out, though, as they were put in place when everything was still together in the boat, so I assume that they're fairly true to the original shape of the boat?)
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