That's a good question for Dave.........Can't go wrong with the pros here!

Well, I figure either rebuild the Motor Mount, or add a peice of plywood to the striner I already built. By the way the stringer from the bulk head back to the transom is already 1 1/2 thick ( 2 pieces of 3/4 laminated together), thats the way it was from the factory. another 3/8" surely would be a strong core.

Yep, you most certainly can get creative with the process. Thats exactly what i did in my Scarab, the original center board was four layers thick of 3/4". Musta weighed two hundred plus pounds when i took it out (). I re did it as just two layers and just built a stand off pad where the mounts go. Kept everything right where it should be.

Its easy to get drawn into the hype of epoxy, its fantastic to use but far beyond what many of us really need and many times not worth the hassle. I cant say anything bad about the process its just over marketed in my opinion. The reason why stringers and transoms fail 99.9% of the time is not because of what was used but rather how it was used.

Thanks Dave, Youve made my mind up Im going to make up the differnce in the mounts, Im happy with my decision to use epoxy, somehow I just feel better about it. must be a mental thing.

Thanks to everyone who responded to this thread.

I will apologize now, cause obviously i am a moron when it comes to this....but uhhh what to you use to secure the stringer to the transome and to the bottom of the boat? i re-read over both pages here and every bit of that was greek to me...think i followed the ply wood part and yeah i was lost..

I have been recruited to help out 38 X with his fiberglass work, lol.

He has a hole that is rotted around the edge. Would it be okay to cut out all the rot and fill in the hole with a 2 part foam and then use 2 layers of polyester resin and 18oz E-Glass? Or should we fill in the hole we cut out with layers of plywood like is in there now?

I cut mine pretty accurately and if i need a gap fill and fillet i will use ATC's Corebond or a mix of Cabosil. The stringer will free stand, once you get the first layer on its pretty secure. Heres a couple cross sections of a good stringer layup. Pending on your needs you can stagger in one, two or three tabs. Hate to say it but i rarely fillet the joint or bed the stringers in compound on standard replacements, i cut them close enough to not need it. I also think that first single flat layer i put down helps box the stringer in and makes it a strong "T" joint structure and ensures that its uniformly sealed all the way around.