to Core or not to Core
 

Rebuilding an old hull, it is solid fiberglass, and only had "stringers" made of looped up woven roving, no wood or anything else. I have made large full length wooden stringers for this boat and intend to put in ample bulkheads and small bulkheads under the floor etc. Question is : is the bottom of the boat good enough with just glass or should I have it smooothed out and lay some 1/2" balsa on there and overcoat that with a layer of 1708 ? Any opinions ?

What is the boat?

Funny, I see in your signature. It was a Mach 1 290 but it has been cut down in height. Actually they are nowhere near 29' to begin with.

hep me, hep me, any opinions?

All glass should be fine. We don't core any of our bottoms.

thanks for the answer, I really dont think I will have any area as large or larger than like 4 sqft that would be without a bulkhead or stringer of some sort.

Envisions are all glass bottoms as well.

How thick is the current running surface? Does it have any flex? I am a big fan of solid running surfaces for several reasons, strength and lower center of gravity to name a few (not a big fan of lightweight boats). Is this the cat you were working on?