floor repair and exploration

Hers a pic of my 89 with the new pipes ran ... the old venting had alot to do with the failure of the foam and stringers..

inglesideshawn wrote: Hers a pic of my 89 with the new pipes ran ... the old venting had alot to do with the failure of the foam and stringers..

That is exactly what I plan on doing there as well as the engine vent tube.
Do you have a picture of what you did with the air box? The 89s are a little different in that the tubes are so close to the hull. Did you have to get rid of some of the foam on the side hull just above the air box in order to get a good bond with the new fiberglass and epoxy?

The four inch pipe was the most difficult,I dident use a elbo,the bend was to sharp for the steering cable. what worked for me was to make small cuts in the pipe and epoxy them one cut at a time till I had the correct bend. the smaller ones just use elbos and its not to bad, just leave them long on bouth ends and trim them up after the foam and glass work is done.as for the air box I used the old one to use as a mold for the new one,the old one got cut out with the floor..I should of made the batter box bigger to hold either dual batts or have a storage place.

inglesideshawn wrote: The four inch pipe was the most difficult,I dident use a elbo,the bend was to sharp for the steering cable. what worked for me was to make small cuts in the pipe and epoxy them one cut at a time till I had the correct bend. the smaller ones just use elbos and its not to bad, just leave them long on bouth ends and trim them up after the foam and glass work is done.as for the air box I used the old one to use as a mold for the new one,the old one got cut out with the floor..I should of made the batter box bigger to hold either dual batts or have a storage place.

Man, I don't know how yo could have made your battery box any bigger. There isn't much room there especially once you put the vents in.

teelta wrote: Has anyone tried using an oscillating tool to cut out stringers? I'm really nervous about cutting them out.

I remember the feeling well. I used a cut-off wheel on a grinder, but since then guys are using a diamond wheel. Cut the seam/fillet to separate the two. I would start by looking for a place where you can see a little something underneath whether it's delaminated or just showing through thinner glass. Once you see the joint, you can follow it home.

Still haven't decided whether to use plywood over foam or just fiberglass over foam.

if there was no foam in these boats we would not have to do all these stringer jobs .
until they design a foam product that doesn't soak up water don't put it back in the floor.
my 2¢

70% of my main stringers are good. Most of the damage is around the pylon area where there was no fiberglass on top of the stringers.   I wish I could just replace that area and be done with it but it sounds like a lot of people regret doing that in the long run. My thought is however I decide to do it - foam, no foam, plywood over foam or fiberglass over foam...it will all be better than factory and if it has lasted almost 24 years from the factory then it will last even longer after I get done with it. As long as I can get over my fear of cutting those stringers!

Mabe its just the 89s, but the hull kept oil canning and that was the reason for me going with the foam again..Its possible to make it better than new,you can see why the parts failed, and what should be done to keep that from happing again.. Oh and dont forget to do the platform brackets, their was just mush in their.. Make the new blocks double thick so the lags dont go through.... and mine all four were the same..

What is oil canning? How did you cut off the blocks? Chisel them out? Did you use 1x6s or plywood?

The 80 sounds like a great winter project...

Got a stringer out. Couple of questions...there is a channel in the fiberglass now that the stringer is removed. Even if I grind it down there will still be a channel there, which is fine I guess because the new stringer will go right back in unless I need to move it over an 1/8" or 1/4" to allow for thicker fiberglass (several layers to attach to hull and several layers to attach floor) than what was original. I'm not sure how thick the fiberglass will be on the inside (bilge side) of the stringer and want to plan so the engine cradle will fit.

This pic is all resin piled up where the base of the stringer was. You can see where I thought I was ready...    Had to go back and cut all of that out. The dark area under the old stringer is the hull.

If the gray splatter is in the bilge area, then it's probably gel. You'll want to cut that back for new glass to adhere. I'd use 36-50 grit on a flapper wheel.

Did you figure out the canning yet? If not, think of a coke can without its inner structure(coke). The sides 'can' easily when unsupported. My guess, based on the age of your boat, is that you will have zero to minimal flex to worry about.

FWIW My suggestion to go with heavier grit is to aid a possible mechanical grip to the chemical bond. When you get down to where you want to be with the 36 grit, don't be afraid to bounce it for deeper grooves.