Side of floor supports

[Jkain]

Hi brainstrust,

Im rebuilding 4.5 m glass stejcraft boat.
I’ve just put in a floor which goes from the outside strake (rather that the chine) leaving outside strip of hull which has no “floor” over it.
I have beefed up these outside sections. Before putting the floor down I put 2 layers of 400gm double bias, then I put 3 layers of 400gm biax ontop of the floor and out across the section between the outer strake and chine. (see diagram)
I see many boats have a sort of stringer which goes along that strip of floor/hull and attachs to the front bulk head (see pic) I was wondering if these are structural or more for storage purposes?
If they are structural, I was wondering if I require them as I have reinforced that area and its only 250mm wide. Also I would like the extra deck room.
Could be a stupid question but still learning
cheers

 

[alldodge]

Not a naval engineer but I think it might start to crack where the deck connects to the strakes. The pounding of the hull on the outside edge had the deck to keep it from flexing there, and the supports under it kept the rest of the hull from flex. Adding the extra layers will help, just not sure for how long. Guess it depends how much pounding is normal where your at

 

[garbageguy]

... I was wondering if these are structural or more for storage purposes?..

boat designers often combine these 2 objectives. I don't know what your boat's designer's objectives were on your specific area in question - if you need more structural support there (you can tell), build-in storage too, if you can

 

[kcassells]

Ear''s my useless opinion.
Putting a deck over a deck is BS and cheap fix.
Rip out the ole deck look at the status of the existing structure. Make a decision from there on how to repair, replace or bulk up so the new deck can go side to side.
From what I researched the company always made this style deck in the past and it is probably just a cheap drop in mold mass production.
What year is the boat? Is it the original deck?
Have you checked the stringers/bulkheads yet?

 

[Scott Danforth]

Any reason the floor wasn't rub all the way to the chines?

 

[Jkain]

Hi everyone,
So I’ve already ripped out all the old stringers and transom and replaced these. I have now just glassed in new deck.
I don’t have a great reason for not putting the new floor all the way to the chines, apart from keeping the floor height the same as the original.
I’ve attached some pictures of my actual rebuild.
Where I use this boat it is a large protected bay but it sees a fair bit of 3 foot chop.