crossmember question

[cammo]

Hi all, my restoration of an old runabout is progressing along nicely as the old boat still has good wood throughout, after taking out the rotted floor. I have a few stress cracks outside where cross members have been detached from their flimsly attachments to the hull. This caused too much flexibility and movement when being towed, as the rollers sat right where the crossmembers came away. So i have reinforced this area and reattached the crossmsembers. Now I have found one forward member that is short of the hull and had never been attached. What are the thoughts on reattaching this to the hull vs leaving as is. There are no stress cracks on the outside near this piece, just looking for ideas.

Thanks in advance.

[llwjrw03]

is this your first restoration.if not i have some qeustions about my first restoration. email: llwjrw03@yahoo.com

[llwjrw03]

what is the best way to cut the old deck out of a fiberglass boat

[Gilbert]

Hi cammo,
I would guess the reason that front crossmember was not attached was because it is so close to the end of the longitudinal stringer that it rests on that there would be little benefit in attaching it. The fact that you say there are no stress cracks in that area (by the end of the longitudinal) would indicate that attaching the crossmember to the hull was indeed unnecessary.