What did I find in my hull?

[petermarcus]

'94 Bayliner 1950.

I've removed the deck and stringers and seatboxes and I'm 95% down to bare hull. Instead of grinding away the glass tabbing where the stringers and deck meet the hull, most of the glass is delaminating from the hull, and I can just peel it off (sometimes it does need some persuasion, but usually I can peel it by hand). Once I do that, I'll grind everything smooth and start installing the transom, stringers and deck again.

But today, when pulling up some glass that used to be under a stringer, I found bare wood. This wood looks pretty embedded into the hull poly/glass, like it's something structural that the hull was built around:

It's in what used to be the ski locker, under where the stringer was, and seems to be right over a chine. Underneath, I don't see anything different:

Does wood make up the chine in a glass hull? Did I hit something structural? Did I screw up my hull, or can I patch it with glass then grind everything smooth like it never saw the light of day?

 

[zip34788]

Re: What did I find in my hull?

Without seeing it in person it is very hard to make a call, but I don't think you have screwed up. I have torn apart several older boats either to restore or modify and run into similar situations.

I first generally lay a sheet of glass cloth with resin. I then let it dry and next fill the cavity with resin, replacing the old wood. Let it cure for at least 24 hours and then apply another layer of fiber glass cloth. It should be stronger than whatever you removed.

 

[JAFO1]

Re: What did I find in my hull?

I don't think you messed anything up. It may be balsa mat, or something like it. I think boat builders use it to form structural ridges over where the chines are.

 

[Phazer230]

Re: What did I find in my hull?

No, I dont think you screwed up anything, my boat has the same exact same thing in the same exact location, I can take a photo of it if you like.

 

[petermarcus]

Re: What did I find in my hull?

Thanks for the replies, guys! I wouldn't have had a problem fixing it if I popped through the hull with a saw or grinder, but finding bare wood just threw me.

So, if it's exposed wood now, do I dig it all out before glassing over/in it? I'm not sure how far back it goes. Or, since it'll be in the ski locker, I don't have a problem glassing a bunch of layers over it for extra strength -- I don't need it to be deck-smooth. I'm using epoxy instead of poly (for a bunch of reasons I'll go into in my resto thread later) if that makes a structural difference.

 

[BigB9000]

Re: What did I find in my hull?

I need a hook on my mallet!

why didnt I think of that?! I could hang it anywhere!

 

[JAFO1]

Re: What did I find in my hull?

If the wood isn't wet or rotten, I don't see why you can't glass right over it. You may need some putty to smooth it out first, to prevent air bubbles.

 

[RobbyA]

Re: What did I find in my hull?

I think if it were me I would try to remove it. It is really in a strange spot. Does the other side have it?

 

[petermarcus]

Re: What did I find in my hull?

Big: The hook is handy (it came with the mallet), but it has also caught up on my extension cord, my grinder cord (pulling it out of the extension cord), and has hooked into and pulled off a couple chunks of my Tyvek suit when working on the hull. Sort of a mixed blessing.

JAFO/Robby: It's Florida, so it's always humid and in the morning, dew will probably be sitting on it (covering it with a tarp or something is kinda futile with the humidity). It seems solid, but my philosophy has been to replace the stringers and deck because parts of those seemed solid, too, but I didn't want them to rot later. On the other hand, unlike the rest of the wood in the boat, this wood won't be touching anything -- deck, stringers, transom. If I epoxy/glass it all up tight, I'm wondering to myself if it matters if it rots later. The problem being, I'm not sure how to get it all out without accidentally maybe putting a bigger hole in my hull.

There may be a similar on the other side, but I don't see it. I think there was a weak spot over this (starboard) side, and when the partially delaminated tabbing came up, it pulled off the weak spot over the wood underneath. The port side seems to be smooth over the same area.

 

[JAFO1]

Re: What did I find in my hull?

When I said "wet" I meant wet and rotted. I'd be willing to bet that there is one on the other side. Glass over it or replace it? I don't know. It's kind of "Ive gone this far, I might as well." But if it is solid, you may be able to glass over it. oops! put a funny story in one of my threads.

From oops!-



"but a good friend of mine and an expert on glass here told me.....
" in the early days of boating, your boat was designed by two drunks at a bar on friday night....the plans were done on a cocktail napkin.....then the same two hungover guys built it on monday morning with a beer break at 10 am"
they used old pallet wood for stringers. and when they got it in the water and the thing listed (because the could not see straight) they added lead to one side to even it out!

boat building is simple.....really simple."

Evaluate the wood, and keep on goin'.

 

[petermarcus]

Re: What did I find in my hull?

I read that quote, though I couldn't remember where. In my resto thread, I mentioned that when I pulled out the stringers, they really did honestly look like pallet wood.

Yeah, I think I'll evaluate the wood tomorrow when the sun is out. This kind of stuff always happens just after dusk.

 

[Phazer230]

Re: What did I find in my hull?

I would just leave it there, I am replacing all my stringers, and I am leaving that piece there, I dont know what it is for but mine looks just like yours does man. 23' cuddy

 

[Yacht Dr.]

Re: What did I find in my hull?

Hello m8s...

First off..thats not your Chine.. thats a Strake ( your chine is where your sides meet the bottom all those other steps are strakes ).

Im 100% sure ( minus 1% ) that the wood you see in there is a strake fillit. Basically in the mold they apply gel..then start to skin coat. Then layup a few layers ( possible ) then " filled " the strakes with the wood to make it ALOT easier to lam the whole bottom hull over ( without having to cut and mess around with ACRAPLOAD of inside/outside radius during the main lams.

Most/Alot of builders use some other kind of Fills ( fairing compound etc. ) to help in the final lams.

Just Imagine if you had to for every lam have to roll out those strakes. You would have to reprep for every lam because time would not allow you to complete multiple lams at once.

Its just a Fillet for EZ rollout in production. ( 99% sure of it )

YD.

 

[sasto]

Re: What did I find in my hull?

Its just a Fillet for EZ rollout in production. ( 99% sure of it )

YD.

I would like to give the other 1%. A fillet, used in production to fill a void and make the lay-up schedule easier. I would go with the Dr. and use a putty filler of your chioce (modern practice) . Remove the wood if desired and fill the void with putty. Continue with your lay-up schedule laminating over the strake. We used to do the whole procedure together instead of breaking it down into sections. Putty, biaxil, roll, biaxil. roll, clean-up, beverage.

 

[JAFO1]

Re: What did I find in my hull?

Hello m8s...

First off..thats not your Chine.. thats a Strake ( your chine is where your sides meet the bottom all those other steps are strakes ).

Im 100% sure ( minus 1% ) that the wood you see in there is a strake fillit. Basically in the mold they apply gel..then start to skin coat. Then layup a few layers ( possible ) then " filled " the strakes with the wood to make it ALOT easier to lam the whole bottom hull over ( without having to cut and mess around with ACRAPLOAD of inside/outside radius during the main lams.

Most/Alot of builders use some other kind of Fills ( fairing compound etc. ) to help in the final lams.

Just Imagine if you had to for every lam have to roll out those strakes. You would have to reprep for every lam because time would not allow you to complete multiple lams at once.

Its just a Fillet for EZ rollout in production. ( 99% sure of it )

YD.

First shaving cream (info from another post) and now "strake." I'm learning a lot today! And it is nice to have my "glass and go, putty if needed" confirmed.

 

[petermarcus]

Re: What did I find in my hull?

Thanks for the info everyone, especially the terminology!

I ended up epoxy/glassing it over this evening as I wanted to seal it up before more rains hit. More pics and discussion in my resto thread in my sig.

Thanks again!

 

[sasto]

Re: What did I find in my hull?

I like your procedure on restoring your boat. I see many boats around here where the owners have done cosmetics first only to discover the need for stringers, floor and engine. After many $s and hours, the boat is still sitting where they left off. You are not far from me, maybe we will run across each other someday. Best of luck, I have a feeling you will be very pleased with your work when done.