New Member intro and a couple questions.

And so the adventure of rebuilding my first boat begins. I picked up a 1978 powercat cc 19' for a heck of a deal. It was late, and dark, when I inspected the vessel. I probably wouldn't have bought it if I'd seen it in the day.
But I did and now it's time for a complete rehab. First is the rotted wood. My first plan was to pour seacast, but then I realized how much it was going to cost. So good A/B marine ply it's going to be. Well I got to cutting the back off the hull, and realized I cut kind of close to the corner about 1/2" from it to be exact. Guess I should have read this site before cutting. So am I screwed? or can this problem be fixed? Well after removing the wood I noticed the rot went up thru the stringer, to find out how bad it actually was? I stuck an broken 8' radio antenna and it want all the in the stringer on all of them. It appears the stringers are shot. They look like 1X6 with pretty heavy glass over top. That's where my next question comes in. Can I cut the top off the stringer, clean all wood rot, and moister out and epoxy new wood in the shell and re-glass overtop or will I have to completely remove them from the hull, and rebuild them? Any help is appreciated

Chad

 

The usual repair is done from the inside. Did you cut the outside?

 

Yes, I cut it from the back side. But now the cap has to come off anyway, to repair the stringers. so I think I'll grind out around the corners some, re-attach the skin back in place, and tab it with 1708 inside and out then complete the repair like I should have done in the first place (from the inside). How many layers of1708 do you think I'll need to insure a safe repair on the transom? I really don't wanna lose the engine. Also about the stringer repair, do you think gutting out the shell and putting new wood in with lots of epoxy will do the trick?

 

Welcome to the forum.

Yep, you screwed the pooch, by cutting too close to the transom corners (everyone does on their first transom). You'll have to rebuild the laminate in the corners, when putting the exterior skin back on. How much material depends on how thick the original laminate was. You'll want at least this thickness, divided up between inside and outside. Then put in your transom core (plywood), again tabbing this into place with at least the same thickness that was previously used.

Is this an outdrive or outboard equipped boat? If it's an outdrive, you should pull the engine, so you can get at the beds and stringers, without cursing your brains out. You can use wood or some composite for the stringers and yep, tab it in with the same or more material as was previously used.

 

Thanks for the info I figured as much. Also How should I go about hanging the skin in place while I tab it back on, since the wood is no longer there to hold it in place? And it's an outboard boat btw. Also when I glass the outside will I need to round the corners of the transoms on to the sides and bottom or will the 1/2" I left from my cut be enough to glass to? And lastly is there a fiberglass chart available for schedule thickness? I'm using 1708 with west systems epoxy for the build. Thanks again for your help.


Chad

 

Quite often you'll need to employ temporary bracing, screws, cleats, clamps etc., to hold things while the goo cures. These get holes filled, knocked off later in the process. Generally the transition from old 'glass to new work is a 12:1 slope, depending on thickness. So, if the old laminate was .5" thick, you'll need a 6" wide tapered area, where the transition from old to new takes place. This provides enough bonding surface so things stay stuck. This said, sometimes you don't have room for this shallow a transition area, but it is something to shoot for. A single layer of 1708 will be roughly a 1/16" of an inch thick, assuming a hand laminate, by a novice laminator.

Log onto westsystem.com and systemthree.com and download their user guides and epoxy book for details on how to apply fabrics, fillers, etc.