Stringer Templates

How about a 1-1/2" mounted stone bit powered by a hand drill?

Thank you, we have a Harbor Frt. here in town I will pick up some things. I just ordered all new skins and carpet from Christine's, and I'm working on getting new gauges from Livorsi S/W style ofcourse. I need to repaint the dash, restore the steering wheel and speedo's and re-chrome the Ski Nautique dash emblem. I hope to complete it with a new long block with the GT40 heads, a bit more cam and new carb. I love being on the Nautique year round, thats hard to do in Buffalo.

82 Nautique 1 wrote: Started my project today... Wow.. Yes the most damage was in front of the motor box. The Main stringers were not glassed over the tops. ( I wonder why)

To me the issue of the stringers being glassed over the top comes down to how do you do that and still end up with a flat floor. With the wood to wood joint you simply sand down the stringers till they are flat and level, but to glass over you need to leave a predetermined gap and then add glass and then resand. Not a deal breaker with wood, but a lot more work and definitely harder to get perfectly flat. Certainly not something the factory was going to do, if someone else has worked out how to do it well I would interested to see it.

When I did my mustang with non structural foam stringers I had to fully wrap them with many laminations for strength and because I was unwilling to sand through the layers of glass that I was relying on for structure I ended up with a very not flat floor. Coosa was my solution in the second set of stringers to get around this problem. Basically I glassed fully up the sides of the stringers, cut and sanded everything flush (making the tops of all stringers and supports that were going to have floor attached to them bare coosa on top), and then I would soak strips of fiberglass mat with thickened resin and place them on tip of the exposed coosa before putting the floor on top. I just didn't see another way to get a flat floor?

Okieboarder if you are using those sanding disks and going through 10 a stringer you should really consider getting some flap disks. One diamond cutting wheel and 3 flap disks was the sum total of equipment I used to remove and grind the entire job on my 83 SN. Those tools produced better finish, cheaper cost, and quicker progress than previous methods which included combinations of sawzalls, bodys saws,grinder cutoff wheels, sanding disks, and the regular grinding disks. For any radius or cutout work I used the zip saw with flex attachment and mostly cartridge rolls, but also some with a 1 inch diameter flap disk drum. Many ways to skin a cat of course but with things that wear relatively quickly like the cutoff wheels and the sanding disks I find you spend most of the project working at less than ideal cutting speed, or stopping frequently to change disks/wheels.

ThAt would be them, I buy them at a manufacturing supply place.   They are commonly used in metal body working. Less pressure yields excellent control and a flat surface, more pressure and the will remove a ton of material quick.

JoeinNY wrote: ThAt would be them, I buy them at a manufacturing supply place.   They are commonly used in metal body working. Less pressure yields excellent control and a flat surface, more pressure and the will remove a ton of material quick.

Nothing listed at Home Depot, but Lowes shows that they have them. I assume go with the most aggressive grit that I can, right?

DEWALT 36 Grit 4-1/2" Flap Disc

Tim, those are good disks, a bit pricey and 24 grit would be nice but 36 will certainly tear right through. Is there a Harbor Freight around. These go a little quicker but the price is right and they get the job done.

As to attaching the floor to the stringers, It depends on how you design the system. I am usually trying to get additional strength out of the system by tying together. Additionally these boats bang pretty hard through the waves, a boat constructed with a floor screwed down to the stringers instead of as one bonded piece feels, sounds, and performs differently than a nautique.

Dont get me wrong the harbor freight ones are not what I would go with if you could get some good industrial quailty ones in the 6 dollar each range, but buy two packs of the harbor freight ones and you will go a long way.

All good advice here. Looks like H-F has a bunch to choose from in the 24-80 grit range, so I may try a few different ones and see what works best. Lord knows Ill use them all eventually. Thanks guys!

BuffaloBFN wrote: I think their only weak spot is that green glass clogs them up quick, but a quick buzz on rough concrete will usually clean them up.

Greg,
I'm surprised you don't have one of these:


They work great too. Plus, it saves the concrete!!

I am waiting til it is about 30 or 35* out and windy. I refuse to do this inside my shop.

I wont grind inside anymore- it makes too much of a mess. Cold or not, the BFN is getting pulled outside this weekend to get the final hull grinding complete.

82 Nautique 1 wrote: Well, I would not mind doing it outside but sub freezing Illinois prevents that this time of year. I am doing it in my garage. Devil of a time keeping things clean. Fire up my portable heater and "GIT ER DONE" My wife did ask how much longer her new car had to sit outside ???

We did not even break zero on Tuesday. Some warm clothes under the tyvek suit make it not entirely unpleasant to do it outside.

Ouch. We were windy too. We have been throwing on the Carhart's just to feed the horses.... I cannot imagine having to work all day in these conditions.   Although, it has been a balmy upper 20's today. Barely requires a jacket.

BuffaloBFN wrote: For belts I turn them around and they self clean pretty well

It's nice that the belts have been coming through with the unidirectional splice in them for quite a few years but have you noticed they still put the direction arrow on them???

woodworker.com for the rubber cleaning blocks. BTW, I get so much from Woodworker's Supply that they've classified me in the "PRO" category. Different web site and pricing. I also have a Woodworkers Supply Visa card for the points!

81nautique wrote: It's not really fair Pete that you live a stones throw from both Owl Hardwood and a Wooodworkers Supply Store.

Owl yes as it's on my way home but no with Woodworkers Supply. That's online ordering! You must be thinking of another woodworker type store.