On my boat anyhow there are some plugs in the top of the stringers. On my boat the stringers are also full of foam so you could never inspect for this issue after that foam was put in there. I don't imagine a seller would want you to pull the plugs out of the boat during a survey. They could break or you could scratch the boat taking them out. It would be easy however for Formula to do this before they put the plugs in...

Ok finally got a day I can work on the boat again. Pulled all the motor mounts, holding tank, removed a bunch of clips, and I am about to go out and try and pull out the through hull fitting for the holding tank. It is very loose so I would not be surprised if it was leaking when the boat was running. I am trying to figure out if I will even put the tank back in. Most of our boating is local and I can't remember the last time I used the head. It will give me a lot more room. I will keep everything in place so that it will be easy to put back at minimum. Pictures later. I am sad to see that the stringers are all crushed in under the center motor mounts. They clearly did not fill the space between the stringer so more shoddy construction. It also is clear that they did not treat the wood blocks between the stringers. So now I have some more crap to figure out...

These two pictures show the compression of the stringers. There are only two ways this happens. 1) The wood rots out that is between the stringers and you loose your support. This would be caused by not using god quality wood and/or not treating the wood when it was installed to encapsulate it. I know the wood is not encapsulated from conversations with others that have dug in deeper then me on these boats. 2) There was a large space between the stringers and the blocks of wood. In this case an almost 1/4" space! I want to scream! The pictures below is an attempt to show just how much the stringer compressed. I had a hard time getting it to show well but it is about 3/16" on either side or more. Also some one needs to teach these guys about dissimilar metals and how they react when you do not put any product in place to prevent corrosion. There was no grease or anything used on the bolts so the stainless and aluminum corroded badly on the motor mounts.

Ok got another decent day in today. I reached about 10 hours of working on this so far. This is just the work on the boat, not the time that I have spent talking to various people and researching the way I wanted to go at this repair.

This picture shows how much plexus was missing or not in contact The back of the boat was better but up hear there was very little. I am starting to wonder if the holes in the liner are really for putting Plexus in because there are some places that there was very little plexus near the holes. also if you look at the second photo there is a line of plexus front to back. The only way this could happen is before the sections were assembled. I was originally thinking this was a mistake in volume but now I am thinking this is a mistake of the guys on the production line not understanding how important this phase of the build is at least back then anyhow. You can't have that much missing and actually expect the boat to last long term.

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This picture better shows how the plexus is barely past the holes. It also shows that less then 1/3 of the area was supported.

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Pile of plexus shavings after i used my power planer to take it all out.

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So far I have found that using my 7" grinding wheel on very slow speed is the best way to grind this stuff. It does not seem to clog the paper.

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Sorry about the red in the photo's it was raining today so I used the boat cover to keep the rain out. Next will be grinding out all the plexus that I can then inject the plexus back in as much as I can. I figure I need about 1 day of grinding to finish that part then plexus. It will then go off to the glass shop and let the pro's install the core material and the lamination on top. They are going to do it all under vacuum and I do not have the ability so I thought better about trying to do it myself.

AAAAAAAARRRGGG!! . . . . FLASHBACKS FLASHBACKS . . . OHHH THE HORROR . . . THE HORROR


oh my god . . . . actually got a cold sweat there lol

Or........ $$$$$$

I don't want to speak for Dave but this is one of those jobs that is not something you want to do for any amount of money. It is a lot of extremely detailed work that if not careful you can go through the bottom of the boat! It is a very technical repair both the way he did it and the way I am doing it. One mistake and you are bumming. That is why I am going to have some one else do the glass work and vacuum bag it. It has been way to long since I have worked with glass and resin to feel comfortable doing that part.

Dave I am thinking about just having them build back up the stringers were they crushed? I guess the damage is done already and if I build it back up then it should not get any worse? Thoughts?

Crazy stuff. Just put it back together AND USE it, then sell it.....stop looking for more problems.