you guys are making me paranoid re: stringers

sluggo · Post by **sluggo** » Fri Aug 31, 2012 3:18 pm

I have an 87 mid cabin. I was in the engine compartment fooling around and noticed the stringers were cut in a 'half moon' to allow the mufflers to have clearence. I do not know if this was factory or not. I noticed that they did not reglass the stringer, and now it appears where it was not reglassed, there are some voids in the plywood. Other wise the stringers seem fine.

I thought perhaps I could force some sort of expoy into the voids to maybe seal everything up, but thought I would check here first. If I remember I try to take some pics this weekend.

thoughts??

todd brinkerhoff · Post by **todd brinkerhoff** » Fri Aug 31, 2012 4:41 pm

The wood needs to be dry and then use clear penetrating epoxy to see absorption into the wood.

BobCT · Post by **BobCT** » Fri Aug 31, 2012 5:03 pm

You should be paranoid, I saw how much work Todd is doing firsthand. On the other hand, Todd also shared with me that the fiberglass is really well done in at least in terms of thickness.

To your issue, I have the same cuts for the mufflers. I've never actually checked it for rot though but will now. I had the same issue with the circular cut outs right next to the small plywood hatch in front of the steering ram. I'm not sure what those were for... Generator plumbing?... But I did exactly as you described. Cleaned up the voids and used penetrating epoxy.

Bob

yorklyn · Post by **yorklyn** » Fri Aug 31, 2012 10:41 pm

My old rotted stringers were notched like that. Sluggo if the plywood has some voids but is not rotted I would test it with a moisture meter (home depot sells a decent cheap one) if its dry i would mix some epoxy and coat the wood, try to get it in between the layers of plywood. If the voids are large i would thicken the epoxy with cabosil or something similar. If it were me I would sand off any paint from either side of the stringer then use epoxy with two or three layers of chop strand mat to seal and strengthen the stringer. FYI check your drain holes that allow trapped water to drain thru the stringers and down to the bilge pump. make sure they are sealed. Thats what did me in. I was telling Bob that if I had to do everything over again I would consider replacing just the wood in my stringers where the engines bolted through and not worry about the rot that I had. Trojan used alot of glass in them. I'm not an engineer but I think they would have lasted without the wood. I had Two surveys done by two different people and nethier found any significent stringer rot. They sounded solid when hit with the survey hammer. I can tell you there was not 1 inch of good wood in them when I cut them out.
I would be proactive and seal up the wood once it drys and enjoy the boat!

Todd

Big D · Post by **Big D** » Sat Sep 01, 2012 9:15 am

Probe the ply by drilling a hole through the top. Inspect the wood fibers that come out from drilling. Go down an inch at a time until you're satisfied you've reached a depth that indicates good or dry wood. After drilling several holes, if she's found to be wet, set her aside for the winter and revisit in the spring or take measures to dry her up. IMO, simply pouring penetrating epoxy over the wood is not as effective as drilling several holes and filling with the epoxy. This gets the epoxy deeper into the wood's core for better/complete penetration. Apply 2-3 times as the wood will soat it up. Lastly, fill the holes and voids with regular epoxy; thichened if the voids are large, and cap the top with glass mat.