vector4

I have a bad port side stringer on my Baja 232, I cut the top off the stringer and pulled all the wet and rotted wood out. I am going to build a new stringer from 2 pieces of 3/4" plywood matted together.

My question pertains to the way I cut the stringers open. I cut vertical strips down the center. Seems like when I put the wood in the tops will already start to round over the wood, so I am thinking I might have to use some putty on top of the wood to get it to an even surface for me to glass over the top of the whole thing. I guess the other idea is to horizontal cut the tops full off the stringers that way the wood would be flush with the cut and I would basically be building an entire new top to the stringer instead of 3/4 of a top.

I have included pics as a visual aid.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y17.../stringer2.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y17.../stringer1.jpg

BoatnBrad

I can't rember where i saw this , but check into a company called SEA CAST they claim to have a fix for your problem. Good luck.

vector4

I've read about Seacast, I'd rather just replace the stringer with wood and glass them back in. That seemed to work for 17 years, and I bet my repair will be sturdier than factory. I think I pulled out 2x's and I am going to put in plywood.

Just not sure if I should cut the stringer down further and glass over the top or do it like I did where I'll have to lay some putty on top of the wood to get it even, then glass that

mach1magnum

i use west epoxy thinken it up with there powder you can make it like peanut butter then glass over the whole thng

dereknkathy

cut the glass off flush with the hull and re-glass the whole thing. trying to scootch wood down into that hole and dump resin in? might as well use the sea cast cuz that is pretty much how that stuff works. take stringer all the way back to transom.

Lutra

Putting wood in there and surrounding with some filler is just taking up space. It'll add some strength, but I personally wouldn't count on it. I'd cut it down, glass a new wood (or composite) stringer section to the hull, then glass in the whole thing using cloth and resin.

merlpebtall

yeah,i think so,You can use 1708 to go over the top, and down as far as you deem needed. This will be better than plain cloth. thanks

vector4

I drilled the other stringer and its got some sportatic soft spots towards the bulkhead, but near the transom it's good. I drilled a bunch of holes and am going to pour some thinned resin down them to help stop any rot that might be oncoming.

The water got into that port stringer because of the drain holes at the back, baja just leaves them as exposed wood, water was just filling that stringer up, stupid design. On the starboard side the wood at the drain hole is still solid so water hasn't penetrated down into the stringer shell. When I first bought the boat I put some caulk over that wood to keep it from doing so, now that I have some extra resin I will cover it in that.

I think I'm going to bed the new stringers with a layer of thickened resin, from the factory it looks like there was nothing on the high side and they used a layer of thick resin to make the 2x4 conform to the hull shape. From what I understand baja's aren't built incredibly well, I am thinking my repair will at least be as strong as the factory 2x4. I am going to use 1708 over the top and halfway down the sides. And the thickened resin I'm goign to use is VE with cabosil from US composites.

Thanks for the advice guys. I am not looking for a 100% the best ever repair here. I am perfectly ok with an 80% solution that is equal to the factory job that lasted 17 years. This is a 60mph inlake lake boat, not pushing boundaries.

vector4

Just some pics of the repair for informational purposes.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y17...727141600a.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y17...0727141948.jpg

sparky24

look up friscojarretts on youtube for some videos of a more conventional way to build stringers etc, Not everything he does is 100% spot on but it is all more than adequate.