24' Fiberform - Rotten Stringers/Transom

Go with polyester resin. Epoxy is a waste of money on a boat that was never built with epoxy. I would use a iso poly instead of an ortho. The iso is better for the small price increase. Do one side stringer than the other. Never never gut a boat unless its in a boat cradle. You will rack the boat and make it worthless. Use an unwaxed resin or you will have to grind and dewax every lamination layer. Just a fact to think about, 99.999 boats today and yesterday are built out of polyester resin. And yes vinylester resin is still poly , and it is usually only used for an outside layer to stop osmosis. You can feel very confident that polyester resin if applied properly will do a good job. I would spend my extra money on using a better fiberglass. The savings will allow you to redo the interior.
Have fun, and keep scratching!

 

How do I know if it's waxed or not (or poly instead of ortho)? The bottle just say resin and the vendor has no clue.. it is bule and the hardener is clear

 

The store selling it should know if its waxed or not. Some of the containers even have a box with "waxed/unwaxed" so you can see for yourself.

Cheers

 

Maybe I should have read your post a bit better lol

You should call the manufacturer if uncertain. Thats what I did.

 

I think I'll go with poly, about the fill/glue tu use under the stringers: is the chopped strad fill just matt fiber cutted into little pieces? If yes, should I add talco too? Talco was the only fill I was able to find here and order stuff from US take time and money.

Edhrian, about the "pre-tratement" of the wood: did you coated the wood, let it cure and then fiberglassed into the boat or you did it all at once with the resin on the woods still wet? Did you ude acetone to make the resin thinner?

Anybody knows anything about peel-ply, should I use it if I'm not able to do all the stringers and transom at the same time? how different is it from a normal plastic wrap?

Lot of questions, like usual! ... thanks to the people on this thread for their patient and support!!!

 

Never thin resin, it affects the hardness. Unwaxed resin will stay slightly tacky after it sets up. Regular bodyfill is talc and resin. Don't let the stringers touch the bottom of the boat, it will set up a local stress point that can crack the bottom of the boat. Set the stringers on a thin piece of foam. Don't use peel ply that's for vacuum bagging fiberglass.`

 

Had a different input, about 2 pages ago on this same thread suggesting that the bond stringer-hull has to be rigid (filled resin), are you sure about the foam sol? Should I use the same sol that Ehdrian suggested (3M5200)?
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I know I'm changing topic here and I'm sorry,but I just don't want to open a new thread just for it. Is sombody able to tell me who is the producer or which model is my boat? no references on it, if you need any detail just let me know..

 

If anyone suggest that you set the stringers to the hull with a hard filler, Please ignore their advice. They don't known the first thing on navel structural engineering. A soft joint is the best. Same with the transom, it should never touch the bottom or outside edges. 5200 is a waste of money to set them on. A small strip of foam will work fine. I use Nidacore and because there is no hard edge, I set them directly on the bottom. I'm making a wild guess but that looks like a 1977 fiberform. A friend of mine had one like that. They are a great boat in the rough stuff. Check out Dawsons marine, they have the original papers for most boats. Send them the pictures, they have helped me out with two older boats I have.

 

I used acitone to thin the resin and then apply 2x coats to the wood - especially the edges... but I didn't stop there - jimslade is right, it reduces the hardness a lot! I also find that the resin sometimes doesn't cure very fast when thinned (1-2days) So I made sure that each peace of wood had one more coat of regular unthinned resin and at least one layer of mat overtop of the 2xcoats of thinned resin and 1x coat of regular resin. I think this will waterproof the wood enough.... I am going to use 3M5200 to bind the deck to the baulkheads, so I don't use screws, and where I do use screws, I am going to fill the hole with resin and contersink - so the screws are imbeded into the resin, not the wood. I got that advice from another thread on this site.

If you don't let the resin completly cure before adding another layer - you come out on top. In this thread I was told that adding layers as they gel will cause each layer to bind to each other and create one big polymer, which is good. Waiting for each layer to dry will require you to sand the surface to create a mechanical lock.

Dam! I've learned a lot through this process..... This is like chemistry class and fun mixed together lol.

You have a fine looking boat there! Makes me want to finish mine faster and get out on the water!

Cheers!

 

OK, thx Jimslade, I'll go to the local supplier to see which "soft" glue/foam product they have availiable and post it here to see if you think it works. Checked the site you mentioned (www.boatingwithdawsons.com) but they ask you to pay for any doc, and no e-mail on the site.. I'll keep searching for fiberform 1977, couldn't find any similar boat so far.
Ehdrian, do you have some new pics of your boat.. I need to see that it is possible!! I'll wait for jimslade comments on your procedure to saturate wood.. makes sense to me. Yes put it in the water and go sur for a while and cross the canal so we can go out fishing some Merlin together!By the time you get here i may have finished mine too!

 

Scratching the back of the transom I was able to find the serial of the hull, loking at the first 3 digits (XVA) it should be from "Invader corp" looking at the last 4 (M80J), it was built in 1980.. right? Now: how do I do to have the plans or specs of it? no traces of it in internet

 

I need the whole serial number to decode. Thin resin with 10 percent styrene. Or use well dried out pressure treated wood. Thats what I use when I have to use wood.

 

XVA28301M80J this is the complete serial, I'll look for syrene.. thx for the info

 

Tja

Hello, The serial number will not end with a letter. The letter indicates the month it was built. I believe the j would indicate the month of September. If I remember I'll check today at work. Sincerely, Tom.

 

J should be May (of 1980) and XVA should be GULF CRAFT YACHTS INC (Invader).. but then how can I find model and specs? No traces of this company in the internet ... Looking at some picture of boats on sale, it is similar (but not the same) to the 21 Invader cuddy cabin, but it was of 1991.. is there any database when you can find your specific serial code?