Restoring 1988 sea ray seville v135 open bow outboard

[jeffbriggs18]

Hey all, this is my first attempt at doing stringers/deck. Everything is rotted. The stringers were just 1/2 ply, glued to hull and fiberglassed on one side. After removing starboard stringer and foam, I’m at grinding point. I’m paranoid of grinding to much and taking some thickness out of the hull. First time dealing with fiberglass. How do I know when i have ground down to the hull? Looks like the valley in the center has a fiberglass skin that also tabbed in the stringers. How important is it to put new stringers exactly where the old ones went? Theirs no flat spot to lay them in. I also can’t get a sheet long enough to do stringers in one solid piece. Should I run string from transom to first bulk head, thenglass in next section of stringer to bulk head, go to next bulk head and so on till I get to the bow? I know the boat is not worth the work, but it was free to me, and I figure why not use it as a practice hull. If it comes out good, then use it till the motor dies, and if I fubar it- lessons learned. Im also confused on that their are only 2 stringers, with a 2x2 cleat attached to the top on outboard sides. The perimeter of the deck appears to have just payed on the hull? Am I missing something?

 

[Scott Danforth]

I suggest you go up to the stickies at the top of the forum. 4th one down has a ton of information. Read links 14, 15, 18, 2, 3, 4a, and 4b in their entirety prior to grinding.

most of the questions you have and ones you have not thought of yet are answered in those links.

generally speaking

you want to make a cradle for the hull
have the engine off, interior out, remove the cap if it makes your job easier
you will need to take pictures and make sketches of the stringers, etc. take many many dimensions.

Then..... cut everything flush with the hull, then start grinding
you will do all the stringer/bulkhead work at once

no, there is no flat spot. you have to bed them to the hull (watch the videos in link 14)

 

[todhunter]

As you grind you'll be able to tell when there's a bubble or poorly adhered piece of fiberglass further down - it's a white patch. You'll want to grind those out. But I stopped grinding down once I had a relatively uniform appearance. Look in my thread - lots of pictures. You'll be able to tell how it looked before, during, and after grinding on my boat.

I can't say for sure if my stringers are exactly where the old ones were, but I'd guess they're probably within about 1/4". You'll want to make measurements and try to get it pretty close to what it was, but I wouldn't sweat it too much. My stringers form the walls of my bilge, against which my engine mounts are built. I wanted that width to be as close to the same as I could get it. For stringers under the floor, I think there is a little more leeway.

My boat originally had the stringers broken into sections at the bulkheads. I chose to make continuous stringers with scarf joints and do segmented bulkheads, but you're probably fine doing segmented stringers.

 

[JASinIL2006]

Those are pretty good questions and you really ought to start by reading the stickies as Scott suggested.

For grinding (eg., grinding off the tabbing that held the stringers, or the tabbing between the edge of the deck and the hull), you really only need to grind until the surface is flat and you have good, clean old fiberglass showing. Start with higher grit grinding disk (e.g, 60 or 80) and don't drop down to something more aggressive until you have a feel for it. If you grind a bit too far (for example, you make a hole), you can always repair it, so don't freak out.

Be sure to really pay attention to the info on personal protection equipment (PPE). Grinding glass, even when taking really good precautions, is itchy business, and ABSOLUTELY don't want ground fiberglass in your eyes or your lungs, so wear proper PPE.

 

[KJM]

As above, and try to do most of your grinding outdoors. Once that dust is in your garage you are looking at it for a long time, and it gets everywhere!