I plan on replacing both.... I left the other stinger in for now to have something to measure from and have something to clamp the other one too.

I have been too busy to post lately. I was trying to get the stringer in so I could get it glassed up this weekend. It hasent worked out in the end. I finally got it all ground and ready for the stringer.

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I cut the stringer and copied the factory one. It all fit great but the last foot didnt fit as tight as i wanted. I also cut the the notch for the gas tank filler neck. I reinforced the area ware I cut it.

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On to the fun part. I decided to mix my own bedding compound from VE and silica. I mixed in enough to make it into a gel that would not run and would hold its shape. I also threw in some milled fibers for a little extra strength. I bedded the stringer in and radiused the edges when we set it in. I mixed the harder according to the amount of Resin I started with @ 1%. The compound did shrink some and took 2 days to fully set up.

And upon inspecting the crack at the front where the putty is thickest it was still not set up! By the time i was done poking and prodding i had about two feet broke loose. Which pissed me off... so I ran the saw down both sides and pulled the stringer back off. (more like kicked the F#*&out of it) It looks like it bedded good and then shrank where it was about a quarter inch thick in a couple spots towards the front. Not all the putty had set up either it was hard in some spots and still gooie in others. The stringer came out pretty good... only broke a couple of little strips off the outside, much better than i was expecting. I have put way too much time up to this point to do this half assed now. And this tops off a ROUGH week. Im done for the day and going drinking :ernaehrung004:

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Good decision, just walk away and get back to it later.

Your boat isn't going anywhere and it is way to damn cold outside for boating! Took me about 5 months of being overly anal about my transom and stringer replacement project that also included rebuilding both engines and drives since they are already out. I had a few of those days where you just need to walk away but when you're done you can rest assured it will be better than when it came off the production line. Keep up the great work and posting pictures!

Question ... How much silica can you add to corebond to make it hold on a vertical surface before having problems with shrinkage and it setting up. I thought I had mixed I thick enough when I did the transom but it was still a bit runnier than I wanted their too. I would like the consistency of bondo for bedding the stringers and making the fillets. Is that possible?

seeing that the stringer is on the side of an incline couldn't you just put a line of tape on the bottom side and then just pour the liquid filler into the gap on the top side until it is full. Then when is is set remove the tape. Can you use 2500 caulking to bed it or isn't that strong enough? (Not sure on the number)

There's no specific ratio because factors like temp and initial viscosity will have a big affect on the end mix. I try to keep the gap small as I can (1/8"or less) but I also try to do the fillet/gap fill and glassing them in all at once. In other words wet on wet but it can be a hustle.

Its not quite that runny of stuff but it still wont hold a shape and I think most of the gap it too small to for anything to run into. I don't think caulking would work out too well. Most people seem to go with the stringer firmly attached with a hard bedding. Look up bedding stingers.... better explanations than I can give. I wanted mine as solid as possible, and I am not worried about hard spots with a cored boat. Although I did try to fit it the best I could.

Thanks Dave!

I ended up mixing silica in the core bond till it would hold its shape. I did a test batch this time which i should have done with the crap i mixed. Bedded the stringer monday. Cleaned It up tuesday and got everything ready.

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Yesterday we laid the glass, it went pretty good for laying that much glass. Used a spreader to squish the air out this time after rolling on the resin, which worked great. We laid two full layers of 1708 efor i had to go to work. When I came home I laid a layer of tabbing down too. So one stringer down one to go.

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