79 Ski Supreme Restoration and Stringer Replacement

[TStoney]

I have started a complete restoration on a 1979 Ski Supreme that I bought into about 10 years ago. Between the carpenter ants and being left outside for the last 27 years the stringers are rotten, the floor is soft, the top has many cracks and the hulls gelcoat is sun faded, but the motor runs well. The boat wasn't worth anything as it sat so I decided to embark on a learning process and pull the top off, strip the hull down to the fiberglass and completely restore the boat and trailer.

I left the boat on the trailer and built three cradles using the trailer frame and then I took 18' 2x12's and cut them to match the sides of the boat attaching them at the back with ratchet straps and chains in the front with mid span clamps so it would not deform. Finally I put the whole thing on jack stands so it won't move. Up to this point I don't think I have messed anything up to bad. I did alot of measuring as I pulled things apart and the cradles seem to be doing their job.

Here is where I'm confused and in need of some help. I read up on the process before starting (which is why I cradled the boat) and it seemed to me that I could pull out the old stringers (what was left) and use them as a template for new ones, which I did. The old stringers were angled to match the hull and sat directly against the hull. My understanding on the next step was to coat them in fiberglass and put them back in with a bed of fiberglass thickend up to a peanut butter consistancy which creates a bond between the wood stringers and the hull with a fillet that eliminated the sharp edges. Last night I put them in the bed of fiberglass and then I was going to go back and coat the sides and top with fiberglass. But tonight I found this forum and from what I'm reading on past posts I may have made a mistake by not putting foam under the stringers.

There is aproximately a 1/4" to 1/2" gap between the hull and stringers that I filled in with the thickened fiberglass. Is this okay or do I need to pull them out and start over?

Also can I use the Rot Doctors CPES on the rest of the stringers and floor if I'm using fiberglass for the repair instead of epoxy? I think I read some where that you shouldn't mix fiberglass and epoxy.

I look forward to any help because I really want to learn and do this correctly.