Stringer Replacement 86 Silver Nautique.

Stringer pieces cut and ready to epoxy up.  Vacuum bagging a secondary stringer.

If you want to save some money over the West system and have quality products check this place out- http://www.uscomposites.com/products.html  many boats here in past have used their products. They ship fast and are there to answer any questions.

Adding in a lessons learned...  I am using West Systems fast set epoxy (bought the 4 gallon jug at West Marine) and Total Boat for the fiberglass matts.  I also bought six tubes of Total Boat Thixo adhesive epoxy to glue the stringers down.  I really liked the Total Boat adhesive epoxy constancy and the using a caulk gun makes it super simple to install, plus you can stop in the middle of tube come back a day or week later and start up again just by changing the nozzle.  BUT, due to the internal stuff in the tube, you probably get a half a tube of epoxy from each tube so it takes a lot of tubes and the stuff is moderately expensive.  I used four tubes to install and fillet one secondary stringer.

I took these measurements from the bow side of the pylon.

Did you ever get the dimensions you needed?  I think all 86 Skis have the same measurements but I do have a Silver that I can grab some numbers for you.  I'm also looking to so stringers in the next year or three so this thread caught my eye along with the elephant.

I am as new to boat repair as it gets but I recently ground down my bilge all the way to raw fiberglass on my 1980 SN to put on new Total Boat Bilge Epoxy. I tried and tried and tried to just get the spots that were lifting up and cracking but the more I ground the more I found so eventually just took it all down to raw fiberglass. I figured if I am this far and I really don't want to have to do this again if the new Bilge Epoxy starts to lift up because of the old gel coat was cracking and peeling. Also if you only do some it will definitely be very visible, atleast with the Total Boat Bilge epoxy because it shows every minor blemish underneath. This part of my repairs generated the most dust though.  Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Removed the screws from the exhaust nipples and tried to tap them out with a hammer and block of wood but nothing moved.  I will try a heat gun next and see how things go.  Probably have another go at removing the pylon at the same time, working around it is a pain.

 

Grinding is mostly done but I’m sure there will be some touch up work once I get to installing the stringers and start concentrating on exactly how the fiberglass matts are going to lay.  I’m working up the layup schedule now using info from other stringer rebuilds.  Once I’ve got the schedule finalized, I will post it for comments.

 

Coosa Board has been delivered and I’ve set up an efficient cutting plan, won’t be much left after I’ve installed the stringers and deck. The secondary stringers where ¾” x 12’ and the mains where 1½” x 13’ so I’m going to lay up the secondaries out of three pieces of ¼” Coosa and the mains out of three pieces of ½”.  

 

Per some information from online, I will use a slightly thickened paste of resin to glue the Coosa together.  I’m going to use a vacuum bag technique to press the three layers of Coosa together for the stringers when I glue them up.  I have a vacuum pump that I picked up somewhere along the line so the rest of the vacuum bag setup only cost about $50 in fittings.  Sometimes we use HEPA negative air machines on our jobs, which require venting to outside the construction area so I have 6 mill plastic disposable ducting that comes flat in a 100’ roll.  Seems perfect for a vacuum bag to slide the stringers into.  Just cut the length I need, install the little hose fitting, slide the stringer in, seal the ends, suck out the air and squish.  What could possibly go wrong!

 

Once the Coosa stringers are glued up, I will scribe them to fit the hull and then layout and cut the various notches before installation.  The deck will be ½” Coosa with a fiberglass matt on the backside and a seal coat of resin on the topside

It would simplify the grinding and glassing at the transom if I can get the two exhaust nipples out.  I'm sure others have removed them.  Can I just pull the screws and tap them out with a hammer and a block of wood or does it get complicated?  

I had my windshield powered coated and am very pleased - for me satin was the choice.

Got the last bit of main stringers out with a router and a half inch bit, used a guide to keep the bit in the middle of the stringer and cut down ALMOST to the hull (was very careful about that!).  Then I was able to split one size of the stringer off in small pieces and pop the other side out in large lengths, so not as difficult or time consuming as I expected.

Enjoying this thread. Keep up the good work! Think about using thickened epoxy to bed the stringers instead of 3M caulk.

Ok, no noodles.  After reading lots of posts, foam is back in the project.  Sound dampening was a large driver in my decision.  Since I'm planning to use a composite board for the floor I don't need the foam for any significant support so 2 lbs foam should be fine and gives minimal weight gain.  

link

What happened to the pool noodles for flotation in the early days of CCF?  How did those boats work out? There were a few people that tried it.

Indeed, that math didn't factor displacement