32 bayliner stringer repair

Discussion in 'Fiberglass and Composite Boat Building' started by pasty63, Feb 4, 2008.

  1. pasty63
    Joined: Oct 2007
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    Location: Lake Stevens, WA

    pasty63 Junior Member

    When replacing the tanks in my 1986 Bayliner 3270, I found a lot of moist spots in the stringer and transom, along with some delamination in the bulkhead. I've read all the stringer and transom repair threads I could find on this forum - and the information has been very helpful. I've written off many of the quick "fixes" as just not right for my situation. I have the engine "room" gutted at this point, and have test drilled several spots to see if the stringers get better going further forward. It appears as though the rot stops just forward of the bulkhead - ahead of the engines. The laminate is at least 1/4" around the stringers. If I open the top of the stringer channels and remove/replace the bad wood below and aft of the engine mounts with a wood/epoxy structure - can I continue to use the good wood forward - or must I completely replace the stringer?

    Thanks -.b
     
  2. Kay9
    Joined: Oct 2006
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    Location: Central Coast Oregon US.

    Kay9 1600T Master

    You could try to sister to the good part of the stringer then glass it all in.

    Some pictures would be helpfull though, for more through advice.

    K9
     
  3. Landlubber
    Joined: Jun 2007
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    Location: Brisbane

    Landlubber Senior Member

    pasty63,

    Sorry, I do not agree with Kay9 at all.

    Do the job right and do it once. You do not sister stringers in fibreglass boats.

    Simply what is required is that the old stringers be removed, just cut them off with a diamond saw in a 4" grinder, and then replace them. Opening the topd and removing old crap is not actually very beneficial, it will be a lot quicker and better result to just remove them. The wood used in there would never be made to fit as easily as new onew anyhow mate.

    Once the old ones are out, you them make new stringers, glue them to the hull with polyester bog/glue, do a nice radius fairing job where they touch the hull for the glass work that will follow. make sure that the top edge of the wood is also radiussed with a router. The glass is then simple laid over these forms and tapered to the hull with about 2" overlaps starting from the first one out. This will result in a reasonably smooth finish if rolled out nicely using bristle rollers and followed up with ring grooved rollers (or paddles if you like), as each laminate is put into place. You can use 300gsm CSM first them 900GSM woven rovings, placed as layers to build up the required thickness. Wet the timber with resin before applying the first 300 scm though as it will not wet out nicely if done on top of dry cloth.

    A quick sand when finished and apply flow coat of your choice to pretty them up again.

    There is no easy fix when working with boats, just do it once and do it right.
     
  4. Kay9
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    Kay9 1600T Master

    Also good advice.
     
  5. Landlubber
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    Location: Brisbane

    Landlubber Senior Member

    Thanks Kay9, I guess you were just trying to make life easier for him, but , well, life wasn't meant to be easy!
     
  6. Kay9
    Joined: Oct 2006
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    Location: Central Coast Oregon US.

    Kay9 1600T Master

    Well its a perspective thing. If shes an old lake boat that you want some more seasons out of but dont want to spend lots of time money...I would sister it. You want it back to more original do it right.

    All of this dose beg the questions as to why the stringer rotted in the first place. Thats the first thing you have to fix before you do anything.

    K9
     
  7. pasty63
    Joined: Oct 2007
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    Location: Lake Stevens, WA

    pasty63 Junior Member

    32 bayliner stringers

    Thanks for the advice. The boat is really rather nice with the exception of the structural rot. We would like to continue cruising her for years to come. I have the engines and tanks out - not sure what it will take to get the stringers out all the way forward - it looks like a couple state rooms, a galley and a head will be getting removed as well. How does one support the boat when all the bulkheads and stringers are out? I'm on stands at the present.
     
  8. Kay9
    Joined: Oct 2006
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    Location: Central Coast Oregon US.

    Kay9 1600T Master

    Your going to have to use shoring to the other stringers. Make some false bulckheads out of 4x4s and brace then against the good side of the hull and on the ground.

    This might be work for the shipyard.

    K9
     
  9. pasty63
    Joined: Oct 2007
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    Location: Lake Stevens, WA

    pasty63 Junior Member

    bayliner 32 stringers

    I'm leaning that way (pardon the pun). It seems easy to do one bulkhead, but to pull the stringers - I'm going to have to remove all 4 bulkheads (I think). Somehow the deck and flybridge will have to be supported. Like you said K9 - a sort of support jig anchored to the ground is in order. It all seems do-able but I can't take the rest of the year off! I'll look into getting a bit of help.
     
  10. Kay9
    Joined: Oct 2006
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    Location: Central Coast Oregon US.

    Kay9 1600T Master

    If you were down my way I could recommend some folks here with that kind of experiance. But alas you are just a bit too far for them to travel.

    K9
     
  11. pasty63
    Joined: Oct 2007
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    pasty63 Junior Member

    Too funny K9, and a bit ironic. This boat was in Coos Bay for the first 12 years of its life -which is where I think it picked up all the stringer rotting moisture. A couple of industrious guys brought it up to Anacortes, re-did the interior and replaced the pitted shafts and props. The boat had sat a lot in Oregon, which is never good. I had 2 surveys done when I bought it in 2004, but niether found material issues. I have covered moorage - so maybe it just took sometime for the rot to manifest. Thanks again for the info (Landlubber too).
     
  12. Kay9
    Joined: Oct 2006
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    Location: Central Coast Oregon US.

    Kay9 1600T Master

    Coos Bay sometimes has that effect on boats.....sailors....you name it.. :)
     
  13. pasty63
    Joined: Oct 2007
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    Location: Lake Stevens, WA

    pasty63 Junior Member

    I've been drying the structure for a couple of months now (with a commercial grade dehumidifier) and doing some test drilling around the transom, stringers, and engine bulkhead. It's interesting that the stringers in the engine room don't run forward from the bulkhead. They were apparently placed in the hull with the bulkhead and transom and glassed over. There's no resin barrier between the transom and stringers - and the stringers and bulkhead, so moisture pretty much went where it wanted in the structure. The stringers forward of the bulkhead take off from a slightly wider position in the hull, and appear to be a hollow plywood box. The plywood in the forward stringers from two 1" test cut outs (just ahead of the bulkhead) seems to be dry and solid. I guess I'll go after the bulkhead and stringer/engine beds first and see how the forward stringers and transom look after I dig out the adjoining areas. Has anyone seen a similar construction in other boats? A few boatyards in the area made comments along the lines that the construction technique varied at Bayliner to when the hull was laid, and which crew finished the hull. Built this way, the engine bulkhead seems extremely critical to the boat's continuity.

    btw - the engine bed/stringers are complete beauty bark for the most part.
     

  14. mongo75
    Joined: Aug 2007
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    Location: Orange County California

    mongo75 Senior Member

    pasty- I feel your pain- I'm in the process of doing a complete hull up restore of a '68 Luhrs flybridge. My stringers like yours had no resin under them, and that damn limber holes where never glassedup, so bildge water basically had its way with the stringers from day 1. 40 years later, I cut out both of the inboard stringers (on the trailer) and then instead of just glassing in a new 3/4" slab-o-ply, I actually glued two pieces together with epoxy and matt. A bit of overkill, but I don't like to take chances 50+ miles offshore with my block rattling around LOL.

    So yeah, your best bet is to cut out at least all the bad and replace it with good glass joins where the wood stringers butt together. If you can swing it, I'd try to cut a joggle (kinda shaped like an P) into the mating surfaces to add strenght to the joint.

    Have fun!
     
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