Another 1980 Stringer

Then my new 4" conduit to replace the 3" pushed me over too far and I ended up breaking my plywood bulkhead piece. I had played around with making one with gelcoat layer (painted on a piece of plastic) and two layers of 17 oz biax on either side of a piece of cloth - when it was done I thought it was a it too flimsy so stayed with the plywood - until it broke anyway. Since this bulkhead is backed by foam I decided it was suddenly good enough.








Cutting the air box area with a saw was easy enough but if I was to do it again I might make a nice form to fill with foam to get it a bit smoother. I elected to go with no wood at all as I do not plan to puts screws through the glass - I will glass pieces externally to screw the kick-plat piece to.

Trying to post some pics of foaming but has crashed twice now so will try later.......

Also did it for the rudder backing and the rear lifting ring backing - but that was as complicated as it got - tried on the stringers and it was too difficult (for me) to get it all sealed. Plus the venturi vacuum system probably doesn't have near enough air flow.

(The system doesn't want to upload pictures for me right now, complaining already uploaded one of that name, maybe because I tried earlier and it crashed?)

Over a year since posting - but the project is still going on and the end is 'near'.

Oh - and no, photos were posted straight to the forum not on photobucket

If you had them on photobucket,did you delete them?

Tim - I did keep the original carpet. The vinyl is all getting replaced too (in fact i have the seats all sitting in the basement ready to go - just the motor box to have the vinyl (from Christines) installed - once I have the carpet.

So I will roll it out in the garage to measure tonight (and be sweeping up pieces of carpet for weeks I am sure).

Pete - I am keeping it 'pretty much original' - converting to GPS speedos though(Dean has both my airguide and electro-marine speedos right now).

Hopefully you saved your old carpet to use as a template? If so, then lay it out on the floor and see if you can arrange them in such a way that would allow you to get all 3 pieces out of a '8 width. I suspect you'd run short.

The carpet is sewn to the motorbox vinyl... so thats a challenge if youre replacing with a different color/style than you had before.

CC 3-pieced the carpet (floor + 2 sides)... they didnt wrap from the floor to walls. 6' width would be fine, but I'd order 2.5x the boat length. 1x for each (floor + walls) and then some left over to do all of your panels up front against the airbox, in front of the gas tank, batt box cover, etc. Running short and having to reorder more would be a PITA (and cost you more).

If you want to stick with an original style carpet (blue astroturf) you can get it at Marine Carpeting.

Does your '80 have carpet on the bottom of the motorbox? Something else to add to the list if it does.

Well, after a week of procrastinating got back to the stripped manifold bolt - against Pete's advice I tried drilling it first - two worn out bits and a cramp in my arm was about all I got for that effort. Broke out my (brand new - another project tool) dremel and kind of laughed at the mini cutting wheel that came with it!

Wow - that was easy - that cut the head off in like 10 minutes - if I hadn't broken the two wheels that came with the dremel and had to run out for more it would have been sooo easy. After the head was off the bolt the manifold came off no issue and putting vice grips on (cut a bit of a flat spot to help them grip) bolt was out.

I was very sceptical about how well that dremel would cut the hard steel - well I am certainly a believer now. What a great tool.

Well - maybe concentrate on some epoxy/glassing for the next while. It is -28C (-24F) out right now but supposed to warm up a bunch by the weekend.

dwouncmd wrote: ski-guy wrote: yes - built the squirt a while ago when my kids were much smaller - doesn't get much use now but no-one will let me get rid of it..... I really like that squirt. I am very tempted to try something like that in the next year or two. My boys will soon be the right age to help with a project like that.

Glenwood makes some pretty neat designs.If this would be a first time build I recommend a Stitch 'N' Glue boat. They are fairly simple and go together pretty quick. So younger minds stay interested and see an end in sight.

Glen-L Main Page

Stitch "n" Glue Boats

A friend of mine at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri knew Glen and said that most of the designs go together as advertised.

Glenwood publishes some pretty good books on boatbuilding in wood, fiberglass, and metal. Very informative. And their hardware catalog has parts that I hadn't seen outside of museum pieces in a number of years.

Way cool.

ski-guy wrote: yes - built the squirt a while ago when my kids were much smaller - doesn't get much use now but no-one will let me get rid of it.....

I really like that squirt. I am very tempted to try something like that in the next year or two. My boys will soon be the right age to help with a project like that.

ski-guy wrote: I missed this conversation until now but had been looking for drill bits since mine didn't touch the bolt (thought I just had cheap bits)- was going to try some left hand bits thinking it might work the bolt out during drilling?. I don't have a dremel but I can get hold of one I am sure (another project tool) but what kind of blade can you get for that to cut the hard steel? It always seemed like such a little tool (if only my 4" grinder would fit).

Chuck,
Dremel has a small abrasive cut off wheel that's about 1&1/2" in diameter. It will fit into tight areas. Check it to see if it would work. Besides the cut off, you could try some mounted stones in the Dremel. It won't be quick but they will grind the head off.

Pete,

okay, point taken.

Stop beating me up, already.

Tonali_III wrote: If I understand you correctly, the "hex bolt" you referring to has an inside hex, correct? I was thinking hex bolt as in hexagonal shaped head. If it's a inside hex, then yes, those are typically heat treated bolts and will require a pretty stout drill bit and a lot of time. Tony

ski-guy wrote: Stripped the 5/16 hex on one of the exhaust manifold bolts.

Tony,
What size bolt uses a 5/16" hex head?? I doubt his manifolds are held on with 10-32 or 10-24 machine screws!!!