Malibu stringer reconstrution?

[renovatio]

Hello everybody I have a 1990 sunsetter that badly needed the floor redone. Now that the floor is up I am wondering if the stringers should be redone while I am in there. Does anyone have any suggestions on what would be a good replacement material to use. The options I am looking at are penske, seacast or pvc. I am considering using penske material for the floor.

[the1much]

are your stringers bad?

[renovatio]

To be honest I haven't looked under the fiberglass yet I have been concentrating on preping the floor and tearing out the rotten wood in the transom not there there is much of a transom. But with the wood the way it was the wrong person on the swim deck could have made for a bad day. However at a glance the stringers don't apper to be bad at all, the wood only has a few places where it is discolored. Most of these spots are most likely from the holes that were made by the screws used by the previsious owner to attach the ??? floor. The only place that looks bad is were the ski pylon attaches to the center stringers. The thought crossed my mind to repair only this section but I'm not sure how that would affect the rest of the structure. The center section of stringers doesn't look like it is one solid piece of wood. It looks like it was built in sections and glassed in together. I'll try to get some pictures in here as soon as I get my camera back.

[renovatio]

I e-mailed Malibu to see if I could get some info about how the stringers were originally built. I don't think that they started to use there fibecs system until 1993 but hopefully they will be helpful. I really was wonering what everyone's opions were on different products. I used seacast to repair a transom on another boat that I had and I thought that it was good product and good way to make a transom repair. But for what ever reason there seems to be a number of sceptics out there. Does any one have any proof that is not a good product.

[renovatio]

Please try to forget what i said about how the stringers were constructed it's pretty plain to see now. The two pieces of wood for the center stringers were joined together were the engine was mounted duh. I think I inhaled a little to much of the old glass it's hard to aviod even if you do use a mask.So here are some pics you can see the rotten (black) wood through the fiberglass some of the wood looks ok however I'm willing to bet that its wet.
The 1' section near the ski pylon is rotten about half way down the stringer. So I have read many of the threads about stringer replacement and I am having trouble finding anything conclusive on what the best formula for repair is. You all seem to have different opions on what is best. Some of you say that wood is best because that's what the boat was origianly designed for and that's what should be used again and that synthecs are to ridid (like thatt's a bad thing?). Then there are some that say that synthetics are the way to go but there are no pics or results posted about how they turned out. So what is the best formula for a repair. Is something like penske board or thermo-lite board to ridged and what about seacast it kind of seems like a poorable version of the other two. I do know that despite the condition the hull was in this boat was still amazing to ski behind and I can't wait to get it done so I can get back in the water. So please give some insite to this project. I am prepaired to drop some money into this thing (Break Out Antoher Thousand). So what is the best replacement for the wet half rotten stringers. Penkse, Thermo-Lite, Seacast, or plain old subseptible to water damage should't be in a boat wood.

[the1much]

your stringers look o.k. from the outside,,but thats only 1/3 of your stringer,,,,,now that your out is o.k.,,,,you need to check the inside,,,,,were all them holes in your stringer "full",,did they all have screws or whatever in them?,,,and take a small "hammer" and tap along your stringer,,,if there is rotten wood in it, you'll hear a difference in sound,,,,then take a drill and drill a few holes,,couple towards the top,,,a few in the middle,, and a few down low,,,,,,,make your holes angled like ( / ) ,,so that after your done,,,you can tape the low end of the hole,,, then pour resin in them to fill.
rigidity is an issue for SOME boats,,,,and only if its a BIG repair ,,,, for your stringers,,i would jus use wood,,,,and dont worry bout all that otha ca-ca,,hehe,,,your stringers are pose to be rigid,,,and its actually your glass that gives it your rigidity,,,the wood,foam, whatever,,is there for filler.,,alright it was early this mornin,,,so if i missed something let me know,,,,,im "kinda""slow" hehe

[renovatio]

Here are some more pics. The previous owner had began to restore the boat. I bought it before he finished it. The floor he had redone. The pics show how how I found it. The glass on the side of the boat was not roughed up and did not bond, which did make it easier to remove the floor. Also the foam was not level and the plastic board was very wavy because of it. That was going to make it difficult to build seat mounts. Oh yeah there was no interior wood or seats in it when I bought it. The holes that are in the stringer are from large S.S. screws that were used to hold the floor down. There is also a 3/4" hole that has been drilled in the bottom of both center stringers for drainage (I'm sure that Malibu did not do this). And although the floor was glassed in over the top it was not water tight. The stringers do seam to be solid but there are a few places where the wood is rotten. The worst spot is where the ski pylon attach's but it is only rotten about half way down. Could I put a patch in this spot and leave the rest alone? The rest of the wood is wet and will rot in time. You said that the wood is just used as filler but it looks like there was only one layer of roven woving used to wrap the stringers is that enough if the wood is compromised? Or should tear out the old wood and put new or should I just use 1.5" penkse or thermo-lite to replace them. Do you think that using one of these synthetic materials would make a better boat? Or would it be a waste of money?

[renovatio]

forgot the pics actullay I had trouble loading them.

[the1much]

i would definitely replace the whole stringer in the first pic,,,,and if "some" of ya wood in a stringer is bad,,,,nothing other then replacing it will do,,,,even though you get the "rot: out,,,trust me ,,its still there,,,and will show a year or so after you "patch work" it.

[rickr]

renovatio
It's a BIG job. If the whole stringer system is not rotten I would just replace the bad areas.
Ski Boat Stringer/Sole Replacement

[the1much]

Originally Posted by rickr

renovatio
It's a BIG job. If the whole stringer system is not rotten I would just replace the bad areas.
Ski Boat Stringer/Sole Replacement

stringer replacement a BIG job?,,,other then patching a small hole,,,its 1 of the easier glassing jobs to do.,,reno,,,if you plan on keeping this boat for more then 2 or 3 years,,,do the RIGHT and SAFE thing,,and replace em.

[renovatio]

Well I guess that it's to late now. I had a feeling when I opened the floor up that I would be doing this. The good news is that this boat is great to ski behind. So now the only question is, what is the best way to do this repair. I think I have talked my self out of using wood. Actually wood has talked me out of using wood. If wood had not been used in the first place none of us wood have to go through this process in the first place. Well that's not true if people took better care of there boats we wouldn’t be doing this. But then we couldn’t bye them so cheap either. At any rate there are new products out that are far lighter, stronger and more water proof then wood. And while they are more expensive then wood, who wants to do this twice. Personally not me but maybe some of you like that itchy felling. I really wanted to get some options here about the different products that are out there. But I am starting to think that nobody here knows about them enough to comment. So anyhow my next question is what next. Oh yeah I wanted to make some suggestions about doing this kind of work. 1.) If you can do most of the cutting and prep work outside if you can don't make a huge mess of your garage. 2.) Go to home Depot and buy a paint (tyvek) suit, a good respirator, and some ear plugs or a full face mask. 3.) Trips to a swimming pool with a hot tub will do wonders after a full day of dust exposure. 4.) Put a bottle of sunscreen nearby when doing the job the smell of it will remind you why you’re doing this when you fell like you sanity is checking out.

[the1much]

just y in the word stringer in the search button here,,and you'll finds hundreds of posts on materials and procedures,,,its been dealt with SOOOO many times,,that alot dont want to type it all again.