Starting 87 SN Floor/Stinger Repair

thanks for all your help

Terrence

sterlingmermaid wrote: Do you know where I can find a template for the wood part of the floor where the two seats get screwed into? mine was too far gone to make a template from and the foam is already removed. I should have taken an impression of the foam before I removed it but I didn't

A template of this section is not necessary. The wood will run from the front of the motorbox to the back of the battery box (3-4' deep). It comes within 6" of the side of the hull, but it doesnt have to be a precise fit.

The only reason CC used wood in this area instead of gla$$ over foam is because it spans the width of the bilge. There is nothing supporting the floor between the stringers.

Thanks for the info, now it is starting to make more sense. Do you know if the transom has any wood in it at all? where the stringers attach to it? I just took my swim platform off and the bolts seem to go into soft wood and one bolt seems to line up with the stinger but they are too far apart for both to make it into the 1 1/2in wide stringer. I will start taking pictures and posting my progress if the boat doesn't sekk first

sterlingmermaid wrote: Hi Can you tell me how you got the stringers out? Did you cut them at the bottom or did you cut the top of the gla$$ off and pry them out? What kind of saw did you use?

I do not think it is possible to cut the top off and pry the stringers out. The bottom of the stringers are bedded into the hull very tightly, despite the gla$$ being loose or damaged in other places. You may cut the top and chisel the stringer out in pieces if you wish to preserve the shell of the stringer in order to fill it with some pourable material.



This is the saw I used. It is air powered. Very fast, very easy to work with. I got it at an auto parts store. It takes thin blades similar to a jig saw. So long as the blades are good it pulls right through the material. There is a pocket at the base of the stringer where the saw blade is only cutting gla$$. You can feel it when you make your cut. If you are cutting wood it will have a lot of resistance. When you are just cutting the gla$$ it pulls through easily. That is the sweet spot you need to find to cut the stringer out in one piece.

Now if you don't have rot at the base of the stringers it would be much easier and many times less expensive to repair a section of the stringer. Simply mark a line parallel to the hull an inch or more above the hull. Then use a saws all or similar cutting tool to cut along that mark. Then you replace the damaged wood that you cut out. Just put down a bed of epoxy resin with two layers of epoxy mat, saturate the bonding edges of the new piece, install, weight down, then gla$$. This way, you don't have to totally remove the stringer. You don't have to gla$$ it in from the bottom up either.

How did you get the old stringers out? Cut at the bottom or at the top and pry them out???

Wiped with acetone. Grinded and sanded the bilge and ends of the brace. Applied resin and epoxy mat in the channels on the stringers. Applied resin on the brace. Set it in place and put weight on top to hold it down. Added some epoxy mat to the ends and wiped most of the run off in the bilge. Just going to have fill and sand when it all cures.

Tried to outline the buildup with mMicrosoft Paint. Wiped with Acetone, sanded, then applied epoxy resin. Used epoxy mat and resin to buildup the height by about 1/4". Grinded off the excess then filled the gaps with epoxy resin and 403 Microfibers. Once cured I'll grind and sand some more. Not going to install the cross brace just yet. Need to sand the bilge again because the resin ran down the sides of the stringers into the bilge again. Gravity sucks.

Bill,

This is a fantastic teaching thread you've put together. I'm sure many will benefit from it.

Question, how are you getting your complete work-out in when your weights are in use?

Ken

David F wrote: SkiBum: Just FYI, CC uses plain old bilge paint in the bilge. Or at least they did on my '93. I restored a '77 Martinique in '89-'90 and used bilge paint in the bilge. When I sold the boat last year, the bilge paint was still in perfect condition...no peeling, flacking, nothing.

That is what I ordered the other day. Got any application tips. Plan to wipe with acetone then lightly sand once again before applying the bilge paint.

SkiBum:

Just FYI, CC uses plain old bilge paint in the bilge. Or at least they did on my '93. I restored a '77 Martinique in '89-'90 and used bilge paint in the bilge. When I sold the boat last year, the bilge paint was still in perfect condition...no peeling, flacking, nothing.

The picture earlier in this post of the grey paint that someone surmized was epoxy paint is the color of the bilge paint and thus I suspect that is exactly what it is.

See this link: Interlux Bilgekote. You will notice they make it in white. It truely is very durable just as they say. On the '77, I replace the removalbe floor section with 3/4" plywood and simple painted both side with the bilgekote (I would use epoxy resin now) and then glued the carpet on. When I sold the boat, it was still just as solid as it was in '89 even after getting saturated with water each time the boat was used.

bkhallpa$$ wrote: I pulled the port side floor out my 82 yesterday. It does not have the bracing which runs parallel to the stringers on top of the foam as yours does. Is only has the three small pieces runing perpindicular to the stringer. I'm guessing they had some issues with the floor sagging and added more bracing in later models. BKH

I am not really sure what purpose those serve. If your 82 didn't come with them it would be easy to add them. I just traced, cut, and chiseled until they fit tightly.

SkiBum wrote: I was staring aimlessly at the boat trying to think of what to do next. That is when I realized that I needed to make te braces that are perpendicular to the secondary stringers. I went back to the photos from deconstruction to remember how to put it back together. Thought these were more interesting than photos of sanding. The floor is gla$$ed over this foam with 1"x2" supports that rest on the foam and are attached to the secondary stringers

Interesting Bill,

I pulled the port side floor out my 82 yesterday. It does not have the bracing which runs parallel to the stringers on top of the foam as yours does. Is only has the three small pieces runing perpindicular to the stringer. I'm guessing they had some issues with the floor sagging and added more bracing in later models. BKH

This is the underside of the removable floor piece. Yes, the underside. Mixed up some epoxy with a generous helping of white pigment. That stuff has been disappointing so far. Seems like the epoxy always dries with a yellow tint. So this time I used a bunch of the stuff. Probably broke some chemical pigment - epoxy mixing rules. That's what I do.

Guess I'll end up just sanding the bilge one more time. After that I am going to have to find a bright and shiny epoxy paint. Spent too much time on the bilge already.

The Lake wrote: Waterdog, I think that's a great idea. If you guys could put together a restringer refoam manual we'd put you in the CCFan Hall of Fame. It really would be a great help. Chuck

Yeah, the adventures of Bumbling Bill!

Waterdog,

I think that's a great idea. If you guys could put together a restringer refoam manual we'd put you in the CCFan Hall of Fame. It really would be a great help.

Chuck