82 Floor Repair (I need help)

It is a general purpose thickener. You use it for making a paste with the epoxy that can be used for filleting or filling holes. Do not use it for fairing as it is not the easyest to sand.

west systems has some good instructional guides. Their "Fiberglass boat repair and maintenance" 002-550 goes into stringer repair among other things.

Jon, wait til Monday & it will be warmer. It's going to be a miserable weekend in Texas, so I worked on my stringers til nearly dark and put her up til next week. I can't get mine in the garage to work on it, too much stuff. The garage WOULD be big enough if I cleaned it out, but still no heat. I wish for A/C most of the time.

I wouldn't say I've found a good book. However, taking bits and pieces from a couple, I'm getting a better picture.
These books are written by guys that have done this type of work for many years, which is good. On the other hand, they are not
"authors" by trade. Accordingly, a lot of the text is not so easy to follow.

DavidF referred me to a book called The Fiberglass Boat Repair Manual by Allan H. Vaitses. It dicusses materials and application well, but much of the text is geered toward fixing big sail boats. He also referred me to a DVD called Fiberglass Repair by Will Borden. I thought it was best for showing application of gel coat. I picked up another white paper type book which is not sitting in front of me, but it was geared toward bass boats. None of these books were as desciptive about the application of the fiberglass specific to stringers as I would have liked.


Actually, if you follow the two threads by SkiBum, he's just about text book.
No doubt he was a little more zealous about fairing and building a smooth bildge than the experts, but his bildge does look great.

The one thing I am still not clear about: Once you have put the stringer in place, in a bed of mat, and let it dry, how do you apply the glass from the hull of the boat up the side of the stringer. The bass boat guy applied tow layer of mat to the sides of the stringers before he put the stringer in. Ski Bum appears to have used a lot of overlapping 4 inch strips up the side. I'm just not sure. BKH

Jon,

I've been reading some books on stringer replacement. All recommend two layers of mat, the same width as your stringer, as a bed. Than use filling compound to take up any gaps where you stringer is not perfectly contoured to your boat. BKH

Jon, Get some heat in the garage!!

Pete, I think that is a great idea.

What do you think about the temp?

Jon, I would say a layer of mat the width of and under the stringers would be helpful especially with sealing the bottom edge of the wood stringer. (lay the stringers into the mat with resin before it starts to set up) Bill (skibum) recommends this as well since it will even out any minor irregularities.

Eric, I will definetly give you a call if I need help.

I have my stringer all made and ready to install and now it is 30 degrees outside. My boat is inside but not heated and I am afraid that at that temp. the epoxy would never sit up. My stringer fits really tight to the bottom of the boat. Do I need to lay mat under the stringers or just epoxy them strait to the floor??

Has anyone had their floor and stringers professionally replaced? If so, what are we talking is a ballpark for having the repairs done? Problem is, I live in the Chicagoland area and I am tapped for space. I would have to most likely outsource the project.

Tonight I am going to start doing something productive and not just tearing stuff up.

Bill, Eric, Pete or anyone that has done this before, will you give me a step by step guide of how to epoxy and install the stringers. Remember you can not make it to stupid for me. At this point the only thing I know about fiberglass is it is really itchy and dusty when grinded.

I hope to get the first secondary stringer shaped tonight.

Thank you. BKH

Bill, question? Does the 403/404 come premixed, or do you need to add the fibers into resin? BKH

Fairing compound is for fairing - to make smooth, or aerodynamic. I believe the term comes out of aeronautics, but I'm not sure. This is why it is called a fairing on a motorcycle.

Bondo is a common fairing compound you are probably familiar with. You apply the compound and sand off to provide a smooth surface.

In this case, the fairing compound is being used to form a smooth, arced surface between the right angles of your hull and the stringer. Fiberglass has trouble making a crisp 90 degree turn. By using some fairing compound to create an arched surface, you provide a rounded surface to make the transition, and avoid air gaps under the fiberglass when making the 90 degree turn.

In this case, the fairing compound is resin with a thickening substance mixed in so that you can work with it and shape it.

BKH

Pete, I will try to take some pictures this weekend. They are pretty sad though.