Fiberform stringer replacement update. Stringers aren't one piece!

Homerr	Got the floor off to get a good look at the stringers. To my surprise, the stringers are not one piece. The last 4 feet or so in the front of the boat on the main stringer is a completly different piece. They have the patched pieces held together with a piece of 1/2 plywood. The only reason I can figure they done that is for ease of construction. Any comments? The stringer is 21ft long. The front of it is cut at a curve to match the hull. Guess it could be difficult to do that on a 21ft board, but a jigsaw would do that nicely. When I was building Marlin boats, they were one piece. Of course, they were shorter boats too. Also, the main stringer is a piece of 2x10 with a 2" strip of wood on top of that (then the flooring) Wonder why they just didn't use a 2x12? I'm going to replace the whole thing from front to back with a solid 2x12. I don't like to patch. I might even go with a little thicker flooring. Any comments pros/cons on that? Also, should a person try and leave as much orginal glass in near the stringers as possible or just put in new completely through? So far, I've left about 1" of glass that is attatched to the bottom of the boat. This way I have a real nice guide to drop the new stringers in. I had a bit of a time getting some of the glass off the old wood. Some of the wood was so rotted, the glass came off with it. I didn't have a choice but to chop more glass than I wanted. I can always put in more I suppose. If anyone is interested, I was thinking of posting my progress online for all to see. It's actually kinds getting fun at this point. Tearing it down and rebuilding it to exactly what you want. H.	2002-05-26
djohns19	Homerr, I would not discount patching two or three pieces together. As long as it is done right, a patch is quite often stronger than one continuous piece of wood.. You won't find a 21 foot board without flaws. My sugestion would be to butt two ends together and then bolt with SS screws a piece of similar wood on each side of the butt joint. A little epoxy or waterproof glue will help the joint. I recently rebuilt a transom and I glued four pieces of 1/2" plywood together and also used SS screws. It's better than the original. Yes, I would like to see pictures. Some on this board do not like that, but I find it fascinating to see others projects.	2002-05-27
sea wolf	When I did my project I reused some of the glass. I used epoxy to reattach the pieces. to attach the stringers to the hull bottom I laid down a bed of epoxy for a strong bond. make sure the bottom of the stringers are sealed well to prevent water from wicking up through. post pics, i'd like to see em.	2002-05-27
Franki	Hi guys, I love seeing photos. and anyone who has seen some of my longer posts knows I don't mind posting them either.. :-) As for the stringer issue.. I agree with djohns... I can't recall seeing a piece of wood that size that didn't have a big knot in it somewhere that weakens it significantly.. There is also no law that says how they should be layed out.. I reinforced my stringers by bolting huge jarrah beams to them all along the back section of the hull, (about 8 ft long) it gives extra support where the hull cops most of a hammering from slamming waves at speed. (not that I do alot of that.) just make sure you use Stainless bolts.. don't go with galvanised.. its not good enough long term.. and if the bolts snapped you will certianly regret it later. I also believe in using as much of the original glass as possible, its bonded pretty well to the hull if it was done correctly to start with.. so unless you are using differnet width wood.. why cut it off? I'd do what you said and have at least an inch of the old glass left there... rgds Frank	2002-05-27

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