bedding the stringers

then what is this im hearing about hard spots in the floor if you dont put a buffer between the glass on the floorand the stringer? Ive read that you can split the hull if the hull is tweaked right. Im gonna glass them over after i bed them in. Im kinda new to this stuff so bare with me.
 
Kracker Jack said:
then what is this im hearing about hard spots in the floor if you dont put a buffer between the glass on the floorand the stringer? Ive read that you can split the hull if the hull is tweaked right. Im gonna glass them over after i bed them in. Im kinda new to this stuff so bare with me.
Click to expand...

he might be talking about epoxy with some filler material in it?

http://www.fibreglast.com/product/Glass_Microspheres_22/Fillers

http://www.fibreglast.com/product/Thixotropic_Silica_23/Fillers

my father in law used liquid nails construction adhesive outdoor formula for his stringers when he did them. He said it worked just fine.
 
You want to take epoxy resin and mix it with a filler to fill the gap. There are many different formulas but I use Epoxy and West System 406 for my glue and fillets. I use micro balloons and Aerosil for fairing.

The epoxy glue will be the thickness of peanut butter, spread it on the stringer and put them in place. Then use the epoxy to make a fillet along the side of the stringer.
 
very cool thanks for the help. I was gonna keep the existing"bed" with about 1 1/2 of the factory lay up there as a guide then use the 5200 to bed the stringer in the factory groove then glass over the whole stringer and tabbing into the floor about 6 inches. Is that a proper way to do it?
 
If you have it all the way down that far I would just start fresh. Grind off all of the old stuff and put down the new. It will probably be easier anyways.

Either way you don't want to use 5200 for a structural part. You may be thinking that the glass wrapped over the stringer will be enough but don't give it that much credit. 5200 has many great properties but shear strength is not one of them. You are gonna have to get familiar with epoxy glue, fillets and fairing anyways. Bite the bullet and get some epoxy supplies.
 
Curapa that bateau 2 link has some awesome info on there. Great link for someone getting started with this stuff. This is my first boat repair of this magnatude and Im just trying to do this the right way the first time. The previs owner just stacked a 1x4 on top of 1x6 and let her rip!!!!! LOL!!! so demo was very easy. Can i use the 1708 to glass in these stringers or do you recommend something else? Thanks for all your help
 
I was wondering the same thing when replaceing stringers ,,They allways say dont have any HARD SPOTS when replaceing them or your hull could blow apare while you are hitting the waves ,,,I could never understand what "they" meant by NO Hard Spots... Some things i read even says to leave a void between the hull and the bottom of the stringer while others have said lay down a heavey bead od 5200 construction adhes. ,,and i seen also where they dig out all the wood in the stringer and leave the fiberglass sides and fill the strings void up with the same stuff they use for the trasom ,, the hole stringer rebuild thing seems to be very very confuseing to me,,,, I Know we got some real fiberglass pros on here maybe we can come to a "THIS IS THE BEST WAY TO DO IT procedure" like what epoxy,,, what filler,, what mat,, etc ,,,,,With step by step instructions like fiberglass for dummies
 
I'm no fiberglass pro, heck I wouldn't even make a fiberglass rookie. But I do know that the stringers are the strength in a non cored hull boat. Without stringers the boat would just crack apart to pieces as soon as it was put under any sort of load. From what I know teh stringers should be firmly atatched to the hull bottom to retain max strength and rigidity. I know BERTRAM and some others played around with hollow tabbed stringers, but many have replaced these with cored stringers due to flex and cracking issues with the tabbed stringers.
 
i have another question for you guys while we are talking about resin thickeners and glueing. Im gonna be use a polyester resin on this project just to get that cleared up. The guy who gave me this boat runs a cabinet shop and rips and planes hardwood for a living. I was in his shop today and the fine saw dust in piles is ridiculous!!!!!!why cant I sift my own "wood flour" from his batches of hardwood fine saw dust? and what should i be paying a yard for 1708? how many layers of 1708 should i put on my floor "deck" ?
 
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Do you think

Wellcraft used any special techniques? Or just cut some plywood patterns and throw a liberal amount of glass at it?

There are so many ways to skin this cat, everyone that does any glasswork has an opinion, myself included. Those sites are great Curapa.
 
Ridge im gonna be honest with ya there wasnt any glass work unnder this floor that impressed me at all!!!!! Huge pin holes in the glass to the stringers, looped glass over the secondary stringers that allowed water to penetrate and hold water since the first day it was splashed back in 1974!!!! anything i do to this boat from this point on is gonna be better than what the heck it was. not trying to knock wellcraft but in the 70's the glass work at factory was terrible unless my boat was built on a friday
 
Kracker Jack said:
i have another question for you guys while we are talking about resin thickeners and glueing. Im gonna be use a polyester resin on this project just to get that cleared up. The guy who gave me this boat runs a cabinet shop and rips and planes hardwood for a living. I was in his shop today and the fine saw dust in piles is ridiculous!!!!!!why cant I sift my own "wood flour" from his batches of hardwood fine saw dust? and what should i be paying a yard for 1708? how many layers of 1708 should i put on my floor "deck" ?
Click to expand...

I have no idea about wood flour, from the floor or store bought in the can. If it is dry,could be the same stuff. Try it on a test spot??:head: Then buy something you know will work. LOL. When you tally up the bill of materials and sweat you may think better of excursions into the unknown. Out of respect I will allow someone else to help/crush you with pricing.

Glad to see you made a choice on Resin. That topic gets ugly from time to time.. :clap: You could use chopped strand and cabosil for the wood free thickener solution.. What you have done so far is looking good. Keep it up. :beer:
 
thankyou for the compliments on the project thus far. As you can tell Im addicted to this web site and addicted to this build, I feel like with all my posts that people think im trying to take over this site!! lol!! I have looked and researched alot of other "boat building forums" and your right everybody has a different opinion on certain techniques to use when it comes to glass work.I am very opened minded and always appreciate all info and tips you guys give me on my project. I built a motorcycle last winter and have never even built a bike before i did it as a challenge just like this boat.
 
Full floating stringers is another method of building Reel. Cut some wood spacers, place under your stringers and tab them into place with some cloth wet out about every foot or so. Let it kick, remove the wedges, touch sand and lay the glass to it. Anywhere the plywood stringer comes in contact with the hull is a potential hard spot. I don't like the void it leaves under the stringer but I would consider this route if the boat wasn't getting any foam flotation, just install the limber holes. I would also coat the stringers with resin just in case water finds its way into the void. Filleting is the same procedure and would need to be done after tabbing.
By bedding, you are putting a small flexible barrier under the plywood stringers. You can use small wood spacers here too to ensure no plywood is contacting the hull. I like it because it fills voids where the stringers aren't conforming to the hull 100%, and it holds the stringers firmly in place. The layer(s) of glass you put over the stringers overlaps onto the hull and distributes the load.
If the plywood stringer is flying in close formation with the hull but only touching the hull in one or two spot 2" long, after glassing it in place the plywood can actually be pressured up against the hull bottom due to shrinkage of the resin. Some small boats have obvious hard spots just looking at the wavy gelcoat but are perfectly safe for what they were intended to do. Hard spots tend to spider crack gelcoat before catastrophic failure and stand as the main reason I don't like bottom paint.(hiding agent)
 
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