Uh... Do I have a problem?

[croSSed]

When operating a boat, are there any signs that the stringers in the boat are rotten/broken? Without digging up the floor, is there a way to tell? Thanks for any reply.

TG

 

[ziggy]

Re: Uh... Do I have a problem?

i am just cutin my boat up now. my floor is solid and had been replaced, but i had no ft. motor mount holes. they were striped and mushy. this boat floated end of last season. well, in cuttin a few sections out of the floor. i've found the keel striger feeling like playdough on the end i can feel. the next stringer out to port is waterloged and ya can squeeze water out of it with yer finger. the cross member between the keel stringer and port stringer is rotted accross the bottom. this was the only place that i knew that is what i would find. stuck my finger in the drain hole and felt the back side of the board. my suspisions at that point were arroused about my delema. so far the suspisions were correct.....about the rot i thought i would find.... i also could see someone elses repair from the back of mine. an open hole leting me see a 2x4 mounted to a stringer. that i didnt think was a good sign either.
so basicly i used intution and made a guess i was hosed based on that one board i could feel the back of thru the floor drain and the scabbed on 2x4 to a stringer.
i would think any boat would be unique in yer observation of it. i just looked for any hole i could look in but in the end it seems to be deductive reasoning till ya cut a hole in it......so far thats what i've found out on the one boat i've got........boatless......

 

[Reel Poor]

Re: Uh... Do I have a problem?

If your boat seems to flex or shakes alot when hitting waves you my have a problem. Hatches don't close right, walk thru windshield doesn't line up and close like it should, soft floors, brown water seeping out of stringers, screws wont stay tight due the shake and flex, ect.

Your boat should ride/feel solid.

 

[croSSed]

Re: Uh... Do I have a problem?

"If your boat seems to flex or shakes alot when hitting waves you my have a problem."

Uh oh... That's exactly what it's doing. :% One time I was flying across the water WOT, motor fully trimmed out; water was choppy and the waves (because the bow was up) were hitting the bottom of the boat. The whole thing seemed to shake and buckle. I looked back and the side pockets were wobbling in and out, the motor (an '87 I6 Merc. 115) was shaking. I also was hearing cracking noises. I KNOW it's not the transom because I replaced it last year. It is REALLY solid. Also, the floor is not spongy like IT has dry rot, but it feels like it isn't attached to anything, like it has become de-laminated from the stringers.... I DO have a problem, huh...
:'(

TG

 

[Texasmark]

Re: Uh... Do I have a problem?

I rented a guide and his boat once. The boat was in such terrible shape that the floor flexed, I mean you could sit there and watch it come up and go back down as the boat went over every wave. Couldn't wait to get back to the dock. Obviously the stringers were shot.

Mark

 

[croSSed]

Re: Uh... Do I have a problem?

Is it possible for the hull to fracture in really choppy water?

TG

 

[tmcalavy]

Re: Uh... Do I have a problem?

Anything will break...given the right torque.