manatee stringers

Depending on the wood uses , how its sealled once its been shaped , and how much glass goes over it , 15 years is stretching it a bit . i would have almost halved that !!
plus the wood exspands when it gets wet and this exspansion has such force it can start the glass delaminating off the hull !! so broken glass and the water gets i quite quickly once that happens !! most everyone uses woven roving thinking its really strong but in reality its not !! 50% of the glass strands are doing very little to almost nothing so you need to think a little and use a better glass where all the strands are working not just half of them!! .

 

I've examined more than a dozen boats that are 20-30 years and these have no problems with the wood stringers.

Granted:
* these are boats I've owned, friends own, or that I've looked at that are basically in good shape without other problems
* these are recreational boats that spend much of their life on a trailer or out of the water off-season

There may be more poor quality wood available now than what was readily available 20-30 years ago.

 

Thanks for the input

 

Prisma and High Density Foam Stringers

Good Info here guys. I was curious about using Prisma or other High Density Foam and Cloth stringers in my resto. Wanda has to go on a diet, because she definitely a little on the heavy side.

Video Link:

Website Link: http://www.preforms.com/

Let me know what you guys think! I know the video is pretty terrible....these guys don't win any awards for 'tool usage' and cutting skills.

 

Wood offers the cheapest strength per dollar. With careful fiberglass application and care to seal all holes, wood stringers last 15-20+ years. You need to make a decision whether you want to budget twice as much for a longer service life. I haven't looked through the Prisma foam site before and am not aware of the pricing. I would select wood-free stringers and transom for a boat I was investing $50,000 or more in.