What did I get myself into!!!

[gugie]

Back in 2003 we were looking for a comfortable boat to do some family cruising in and after months of looking settled on a 1977 Reinell 30'. The owner had rebuilt the engines several years earlier and had redone the interior, installed new gauges and the boat looked pretty clean. The transom was a disaster and we knew it would have to be rebuilt which I felt I could do it after some research to understand what would be involved.
We had a survey done on the boat just to be sure there were no other major problems. Other than the transom there were just a couple of wiring issues and some cosmetic things that needed to be fixed.
We bought the boat, had a custom trailer built, pulled it out of the water and started taking everything off the transom.

 

[gugie]

Re: What did I get myself into!!! (Cont)

Re: What did I get myself into!!! (Cont)

Once everything was off the transom (Exhaust, steering, etc) I notice some water was in the forward compartment. Just a flip of the forward bilge pump and water was pumping out of hull fitting. I walked around to make sure it was pumping out OK and after several minutes of pumping I started smelling gas. I thought it was coming from the fuel tank vents but quickly realized that the bilge pump was now also pumping out gas. Talk about scared out of my wits! I quickly shut down everything, disconnected the batteries and walked away thankful I had not gone up in a ball of fire. For the next several weeks I was in the boat with a plastic cup and bucket emptying out a mixture of gas and water. After analyzing it I figured that gas tanks were leaking fuel. I spent the next several months hand sawing in order to remove the flooring in the lower helm. As with most of what I?ve read it seems that the tanks were encased with foam and when water seeped in the foam held the moisture against tanks and as a result they corroded to the point of leaking. So after a couple of weekends we dug out the two 100 gallon tanks and then noticed that the bulkheads were rotten along with the center and side stringers. Picture below shows the tanks removed, all foam in tank area removed, forward bulkhead cut out and center stringer cut to 5? above hull center beam.

 

[gugie]

Re: What did I get myself into!!! (Cont)

Re: What did I get myself into!!! (Cont)

Here's a picture of the gas tanks which were corrided way beyond repair. We had to have some custom tanks made which cost us an arm and a leg but figured this was our only option. Same shape and size. (Total of 200 gallons of gas! This will break the bank!)

 

[gugie]

Re: What did I get myself into!!!

After cutting away all of the rotted center stringer wood you can see where the forward section of the center stringer had separated where the two 3/4 ? plywood pieces were joined. The wood was still OK at this point so they just needed to be rejoined. In the second picture you can see where the tops of the center stringer have been epoxied back together and top edges sealed. In the third picture you can see the new center stringer placed but not yet epoxied in place yet. This new section will be sandwiched between two ? plywood pieces on both sides and glued with epoxy and SS screws. These side pieces will go all the way down to the hull floor and be tied into the older stringer.

 

[gugie]

Re: What did I get myself into!!! (Cont)

Re: What did I get myself into!!! (Cont)

OK so fast forward to today. After sitting covered for a couple of years we?ve done some exterior work with the railing, windows and fly bridge. We?re now getting back to the interior. We know we have some stringers that in some place seem to be rotted. We thought about cutting these and rebuilding these but have several problems: 1) With the forward bulkhead out (Actually it?s the center bulkhead) and the center stringer not glued in we?re reluctant to cut the side stringers for fear of the hull becoming deformed. The boat is on a pretty good base with it resting on 3 trailer rails that are almost 5? thick and 6? wide. 2) The stringer goes from the front of the lower helm to the transom and goes through the back bulkhead that separates the cabin from the engine compartment. So cutting it out in this area is going to be a major challenge. The stringer goes from a 2" width to 3" just before the rear bulkhead and then back down to 2" past the rear bulkhead in the engine compartment in order to splice the 2" x 12" stringer. (This stringer is not made of plywood but is a simple 2 x 12 piece of lumber)
What we are thinking about doing is adding two ?? sheets of MDO plywood and epoxy these to the sides of the existing stringers. Not sure if we?ll do just one side or both. Once they are glued we?ll add glass cloth to the outside and wrap it from the bottom of the stringer, up over the top and down the other side. Has anyone done this? Any comments?
Also what?s the best way to dry out the wood in the stringer? I?ve drilled 1? holes about 6? apart at the very bottom of the stinger but should I also drill holes in the top edges also? Should I place lamps along the stringer edges to help with the drying?
Also anyone work with MDO plywood and can tell me if the paper on the sides to be glued together needs to be sanded off or can I just leave this on and just glue these two sheets together?
I think the order we want to go with in putting this thing back together is:
1) Strengthen the side stringers (Both sides)
2) Replace the forward bulkhead
3) Replace the rear bulkhead
4) Replace the center stringer
5) Build the gas tank platforms and strap in the tanks
6) Add the flooring
7) Then work on the tansom
Any comments?

 

[capt sam]

Re: What did I get myself into!!!

boat rot is like rust on a car, it's always worse than you think. Denatured alcohol will absorb alot of the dampness out of the wood, so just try blotting some in those areas where there's moisture. I kinda skimmed your plan it looked fine, sometimes it's alot easier to pull the cap off and start over it just depends on how much work you want to invest. btw, bilge pumps have sealed motors, they in themselves won't start a fire but bad wiring to it can.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: What did I get myself into!!!

Wow. That's allot of work!

I think I will move this to our restoration section for you and you will get some guidance.

 

[gugie]

Re: What did I get myself into!!!

Thanks Bob!
Today did some more cleanup on the stringers. Did some sanding on the existing glass to give the new wood and epoxy something to grip. Also cutway the rear bulkhead so I'll be able to run new stringer supports from the front of the existing stringer all the way to the transom.The first picture shows where I notiched out around the rearbulkhead which will be replaced. The secondpicture shows where I drilled some drain holes. The wood is a little damp but not too bad.