Sailboat Stringer

[bjurcina]

Hello folks

I'm in the process of restoring an old 17 ft day sailor built by Paceship. I'm about to install new stringers and have read that I should bed them in with something like PL Premium or a comparable adhesive. After removing the original white oak and plywood stringers I have found that there was no previous bedding compound and that the stringers were bonded directly to the fiberglass. Is this normal for sailboats and should I do the same or use a bedding compound?

Thanks for any help.

 

[BWT]

Re: Sailboat Stringer

Hi and Welcome to iBoats!!!

IMO it's best to bond the stringers directly to the hull (with glass/resin). Their purpose is to stiffen and add re-enforcement to the hull. A heavy duty adhesive would be acceptable, but not ideal. Given that you'll be glassing over the wood stringers anyway, why not take the extra step and mix up some peanut butter (search Oops thread for the recipe) and glass everything.. In the long run it's the way to go. Also, I believe if you search the posts by woodonglass he has diagrams on how this should be done as well as filleting for glassing over the stringers...

Hope this helps!

~BWT