stringer rot
#1
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From: toms river nj
i have a stringer in my boat were the top of it is soft but the bottom is soft. a fiberglass guy i know said there was sometype of epoxy u can pour in between the fiberglass pieces to makes it sold or can i epoxy it throw in a chunk of wood and fiberglass on top of it any recommendations would help thanks
#2
As rule of thumb you probably can only see about a forth of the actual damage. Those mix and pour repairs are temporary at best it will just mask a much bigger problem that will eventually need proper attention.
If i read your post correctly both the top and bottom are soft? If you have just an isolated spot on just the top from something like a screw hole and you can get at it and open it up its possible to do an area repair but if its a whole stringer section you'll need to get into it a bit more. Products like Seacast do have their place and none are as simple as drilling a hole and filling a void. They do require a clean dry surface and for any bad wood to be completly removed. Sometimes this alone requires as much labor as if you just did major cuttling replaced whole sections.
How big of an area do you suspect is bad?
If i read your post correctly both the top and bottom are soft? If you have just an isolated spot on just the top from something like a screw hole and you can get at it and open it up its possible to do an area repair but if its a whole stringer section you'll need to get into it a bit more. Products like Seacast do have their place and none are as simple as drilling a hole and filling a void. They do require a clean dry surface and for any bad wood to be completly removed. Sometimes this alone requires as much labor as if you just did major cuttling replaced whole sections.
How big of an area do you suspect is bad?
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Last edited by glassdave; 02-14-2010 at 05:35 PM.
#4
thats a pretty good chunk of wood and like i said thats only going to be a quarter of what will need to be removed. How much access do you have to the damage? Is it buried under the engine?
Seacast is OK for doing smaller repairs but you need to be sure 100% of all wet wood is removed and i mean a true 100%. you need to be deep into dry wood for it to be an affective repair. Still i'm not a big fan of the stuff.
Seacast is OK for doing smaller repairs but you need to be sure 100% of all wet wood is removed and i mean a true 100%. you need to be deep into dry wood for it to be an affective repair. Still i'm not a big fan of the stuff.
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Throttles- Cleveland Construction 377 Talon
08 OPA Class 1 National Champion
08 Class 1 Geico Triple Crown Champion
08 OPA High Points Champion
10 OPA Class 1 National Champion ( happy now Ed! )
Throttles- Cleveland Construction 377 Talon
08 OPA Class 1 National Champion
08 Class 1 Geico Triple Crown Champion
08 OPA High Points Champion
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Last edited by glassdave; 02-14-2010 at 06:48 PM.
#5
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From: toms river nj
its perfectly accessible and the fiberglass on either side of it are still strong was wondering if i could put epoxy in then slide a chunk of wood then fiberglass on top would that be any better
#6
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From: Minneapolis, MN
The wood/ epoxy is a way of doing a stringer repair but there are several others that are easier,stronger,neater and better. Review older posts and threads and see what will work best for your application. The prepartation is a "not fun" job and once the repair is accomplished is is even more difficult to undo and redo.
#7
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From: Toledo Oh
it's a wellcraft.... unfortunatlyif it hasn' already been redone, there is a lot more than you probably realize thats wet. I would look at the transom and the rest of the strigers really close. My friend did a nova last year, the stringer was bad under the motormount. we kept cutting untill we were well into good wood, cleaned the cut up nicely than epoxied new wood in and reglassed.
#9
If you can find a uniform way to cut it out and get to dry wood then yes you can section it in. You might even think about sistering a piece on the outside of it as well. Do you have any idea what cause the spot to go bad? Screw hole or cut through, anything like that in the area?
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Throttles- Cleveland Construction 377 Talon
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Throttles- Cleveland Construction 377 Talon
08 OPA Class 1 National Champion
08 Class 1 Geico Triple Crown Champion
08 OPA High Points Champion
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