engine bed and stringers

[fishweed]

I have a 36 ft Roughwater motorsailer, and the stringers on the boat have about 5/16 layer if glass on them, I have drilled a few holes and the wood is all but gone,the hull looks like a trawler but is thick at the bottom, I am thinking of filling the stringers with urethane foam and adding more woven and glass, and I will try to encapsulte a Stainless steel angle into the engine bed and glass over it and drill and tap for the mounts, any suggestions?

[boatdude]

Ha, I had a old wood roughwater.

Why not just replace the stringers?

Look for beams called microlam .... they are strong and glass up really easy.

[fishweed]

I don't want to rip the entire floor and bulkheds out to do that, plus that the glass around the stringers are solid and thick, my main concern is the engine beds

[marshmat]

This does not sound good.
The core of a stringer does more than just take up space; it is an integral part of the structure.
There are a number of ways of repairing stringers, and I'm not the one to recommend the best method. I am pretty sure, though, that spray/pour urethane won't hold up for long. Whatever let the water in there in the first place (that's why the wood rotted out) will do the same to the foam over time as the boat flexes, water leaches into the stringers, and the foam is slowly eroded into powder. My vote is this: either do a thorough, proper job of it, or don't waste the money.

[the1much]

im with marshy ,, and even with pouring 2 part foam in it , you'll never fill it all the way,, and with the engines torquing, and space,,it wont be long till the first crack,,then the tearing.

[charmc]

Fishweed,

I was going to recommend that you search old threads here using the terms stringers and replace, but I see that several of them are yours, and that you've had mixed results in responses.

Some thoughts:

My first inclination is to suck it up and replace the stringers with wood so they are as designed. I think you could avoid ripping out bulkheads with some careful planning; possibly cut away and repair only portions of the floors.

I see that there are some sellers of commercial plastic materials intended to replace wood. I've seen many cases of this working on transoms, but I don't know about stringers. One caveat: Check references very carefully, don't rely only on sellers' claims. Some are very good, but you want hard evidence that it has worked on stringer replacement in boats similar in size to yours, not just on general repair work.

However you decide to proceed, it is very important to find the source of the leak that caused the problem in the first place. You want any repair to last.

The impression I get is that the Roughwaters were heavily built but had design and/or construction defects that allowed water to collect and eventually penetrate. Other Roughwater owners may have addressed problems similar to yours. There is one Roughwater owners group here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/roughwaterboats you might find some folks who have done this already.

[fishweed]

Thanks for the input, I have been in the service and industrial buisness for years, and I know there is the right way and many wrong ways to do things, you fellas are right I will suck it up and rip the old stringers and put the wood back in them, but will still use either stainless or aluminum to bolt the engine mounts,,, I do knot like lag bolts on anything, by the way I discovered the main leak, it was from the rudder seal post , it was attached with lag bolts and was a constant leak, I drilled through and replaced with a stainless plate and bolts

[the1much]

good choices hehe ;)