Trojan Boat Forum

Well I finally decided to investigate the hull under the galley of my 1972 F26 Express Hardtop. When I redid the bottom I noticed the hull flexes excessively under the galley. I removed the galley; I plan on lowering the counter 1 or 2 inches and rotating the sink 90 degrees and get rid of the electric 2 burner cook top anyways to get more counter space.

This is what I found. The inner hull has a stringer attached to it, it appears that when they lowered the inner hull down into the hull, they just ran fiberglass up the side of the stringer to attach it to the hull with no bedding under the stringer. Well, this glass that runs up the side stringer and attached to the hull has broken, so the hull isn't attached to the stringer any more, (the stringer is only as long as the galley is) hence the flexing of the hull. Worst yet, right at the chine, water was slowly, and I mean slowly seeping in. Yes the boat is in the water. All around the chine, approximately 1 foot starboard and 6" to port and about 1 foot long front to back, the glass has some cracks in it.

So here's my plan of attack. I first will put epoxy putty (the kind that cures in water) into the chine to stop the water. Then use epoxy thickened filler to back up the putty. Then reglass from the inside. I'm going to sister the stringer with some new glass encased plywood or the like so I can get some bedding compound under the stringer and glass that to the hull.

This should stiffen everything up, but I think I'm still dealing with delamination due to the water intrusion. So when the interior is solid, I'll haul the boat and then deal with the out side glass. I'm sure I'll have to grind out the cracked glass and build it back up but at least my interior glass work will be solid for a good backer. I'm trying to do most of the work in the water because of the cost to haul and time out of the water adds up quickly.

What do you think? Any pointers/advice, and don't say get a new boat. I love this girl.

http://s853.photobucket.com/albums/ab96 ... %20Galley/

Ken
Norfolk, VA

I have been thru the same thing with a sport craft . It may not be the bad on the bottom But I would get it out of the water be for it gets to cold , I expect to see you off Rudy fishing again in Jan and Feb this year .

Yeah, I'll be out there provided this repair and galley remodel goes smoothly. Hopefully the weather and fish cooperate this year. Last year every weekend was blowing like crazy and the fish never seemed to be around when I got out there. I certainly didn't hinder the striper population with last years catch.

I stopped the leak but now need to fab up a stringer and start glassing from the inside. Once that's done I'll get it hauled and probably hire someone to do the outside hull work seeing how it's right on a chine.

Ken

I did not put a big dent in them myself. you may find it its not to bad on the outside of the hull and its somthing you can do yourself , good luck !

Well upon further investigation of my hull stringer layout I've decided that I'm almost in over my head. It appears that there is a defect in my hull stringer design, in my opinion.
On the starboard side, the two glass over foam stringers stop at the blukhead between the cabin and engine comparment. One then starts up again past the bulkhead at the v-berth. The two (not continuous) stringers that were mounted to the underside of the inner hull were to take the place of the missing 9 feet of 2 stringers. As described before, one of the inner hull stringers is directly under the front of the galley cabinet and the other is under the head door. These are not continuous.

On the port side, everything is they way it should be; 2 glass over foam stringers from the stern to the v-berth bulkhead where one stops and the other continues. Also there are plenty of intermediate bulkheads on the port side, none on the starboard side.

Needless to say I'm disappointed in the construction of the boat. Others around the marina can't believe that trojan would do such a thing. Maybe 1971 was the first of this model and the early stages of Trojans experience with fiberglass.

Well here's my plan of attack seeing how the boat is pretty much worthless until the hull can be repaired.
I'm going to have to cut out a good portion of the inner hull to access the unreinforced area. Install stringers where they should be, i.e. continue the stringers under the head and galley. Put in at least 2 smaller bulkheads from the center wood stringers out to the gunnel. And then put the inner hull back in as best I can with some modifications to it. I'm gonna have to raise the head floor a little, which is do able. Before I put the inner hull back in though, I'll get the boat hauled and have someone fix the delamination.

Needless to say, I've given up on Striper season on my boat this year so now I have to be a HO "Hop On" on friends boats.

I'll try to keep a good record of what I do and pictures. Right now I have the boat gutted. The head enclosure is out, the galley, all the cushions. The boat is sitting pretty high in the water needless to say.


http://s853.photobucket.com/albums/ab96 ... %20Galley/

I was thinking about using the composite stringers at http://www.preforms.com but they might not be too adjustable, so I might just stick with glassed over plywood stringers.

Ken
1972 Trojan Express F26 Hardtop

Glass over foam ? on 1971 trojan ? The place you repaired is not a stringer as far as I can tell by the photo . I would Like to look at the boat some time and tell you what I think . I havd to repair the samr type of problem on a sports craft I had . Let me know If I can take a look some time '

Paul,
That would be great if you could come by, I need all the advice I can get. And some motivational support, my moral gets lower and lower the further I dig. I'm gonna try to get down to the boat tomorrow, Sunday Oct. 25th, probably around noon or so. I'll shoot you a private message with my phone number. Let me know if that works.

Thanks.

Ken

1 if if by land 2 if by sea I should be able to get there

If you go by 2, it's gonna be blowing 20 kts to 25 kts out of the North. Bumpy ride... Don't put yourself out for my raggedy old boat.

Thanks Paul, I've give you a call when I'm on my way to the Marina. Like I said, I'll probably get down there at noon.

Thanks again.

Ken

This should be a fairly easy fix . It will take some hours but will better then new when done.

I just want to thank Paul "Prowlersfish" publicly for taking time out of his day to stop by and give me advice on my loose stringer issue this Sunday. Just a top notch kind of guy. Very informative, knowledgeable and encouraging. He had some great ideas and has given me a plan of attack. He even offered to help once I get her out of the water. It's hard to find such generous people nowadays.

Thanks again Paul!!!

I consider myself lucky to be part of the Trojan family.

Ken
1972 Trojan Express F26
Norfolk, VA

nu? so what was the overall diagnosis? paul phoned me later that day (as i was finishing up rewiring my electrical panel) to tell me what he discoverd, but i know others on here would be curious to know what you two found out.
aaron in baltimore

Just some fatiged no big deal , any place glas makes a tight turn its a weak point , not to hard to fix , no big deal , may be due to inproper trailer use by pervious owner .

I drew up a little sketch to try and illustrate what's going on here.

http://i853.photobucket.com/albums/ab96 ... Sketch.jpg

Thanks to prowlersfishs advice this is what I plan to do.

Bed the loose stringer to the hull with 5200, let it cure for 7 days. Then mix up some peanut butter consistancy epoxy and fillet the joint between the stringer and the hull to get rid of that sharp angle. Then lap the stringer with some heavy mat and epoxy.

I will then get the boat out of the water. Grind off the epoxy putty I used to stop the leak and then reinforce the inside of the hull with some epoxy and mat where it has been flexing for all these years. This should provide a good solid backer. On the outside of the hull, grind down the hull to expose the good fiberglass and then build it back up with some epoxy and mat. For a little more rigidity once that is done, I was going to use a 2 part foam in this area between the inner hull and outer hull to help reinforce the area due to the lack of a bulk head under the galley.

A lot of work but managable. This repair should be structurally more sound than the original design.

As prowlersfish stated, the previous owner would use a friends trailer every year to take the boat out of the water. I'm sure the trailer never was set up for this boat and could have caused a hard spot on the hull. Of course the lack of bedding compound between the stringer and hull didn't help either.

I'll keep you guys updated. Work is going slow due to my job, family and the days getting shorter.

Ken
Norfolk, VA

thank you for the sketch and the update. Makes interesting, informative, and educational reading. Good luck [and thanks to prowlersfish]