Stringer Replacement Formula 302
 

Well guys welcome to my nightmare. I took up the floor in my Formula the other day to make the plates for the new bolsters and found rot central. So hear we go out it all comes. I contemplated just stripping it and selling off the parts and looking for new but I can not afford anytying better, and I already put so much into this thing that I figured I would forge on.

Step 1: Hook up a hose to drain out all the gas.

We hooked up this little electric fuel pump to get all the fuel out of the tank and into 5 gallon jugs. All my neighbors were REAL happy with all the free fill ups :D

Then out comes that back seat and in the Formula about 30 screws that hold down the center of the floor

Please keep those pictures coming. and thank you for your reply to my project.

Thanks
Roby:)

I lifted out the center piece and this is the foam on top of the tank.

So I had to chip out all that foam.

Then the fun began. At the advice of a friend that build boats I stopped over to his place and he gave me this electric chain saw to go to town with :eek: :eek: :D :D

The chainsaw was great at taking out the foam btwn the tank and the stringer. It was amazing that it did not even touch the glass on the stringers or the tank. Very efficient way to take out all the foam.

This may show it a little better.

Then over on the sides of the floor on the port and Starboard side in the corners I cut along the floor. To do this I used a sawzall with a short blade. The glass on the corners of a boat are typically very thin at the corners.

Then out came the floors. They were bonded to the stringers so I used a very large pry bar to get them to pup up. This is the foam that was under the floors and it reveales the stringers underneith.

Unfortunatly this is what I found. ROT

More ROT :( This is the front of the stringer that goes along the side of the gas tank. As you can see if you look close they did not glass up and over the top of the bunkhead. This allowed the water to travel downt he bunkhead and cause all this trouble. :( Another 30 bucks in material and this would never have happened. Oh well.

I then cut out all the foam that was btwn the two stringers.

Another picture of the stringer damage

I started to then take out the bulkheads going to the cabin. When this boat was built it was made with just plywood that was carpeted NOT glassed in. I am going to change that part of the design.

This is what I was working on tell I found the nightmare :( This is what all the wireing will look like when I am done. Now that the bulkhead is out I will have GREAT access to the dash to wire it up :D

How is this for a NIGHTMARE!!!! Had to take out the Fridge and the Microwave and a bunch of other stuff.

After I got half the bulkhead out I was able to pop out the tank

And out comes the tank.

At this time I probably have about 8 hours. I sat in the cabin for about a half hour last night contemplating suicide and it was at that time I decided to leave :D:D Today I will go down and try and finish cutting out the rest of the bulkhead.

Jon

So TooOld Did I keep up with you this weekend? :D:D

Jesus Jon, that's not a project, that's a career!:eek:

What a freakin mess looks like Beruit on a bad day!


Good luck Jon you have more patience than me.

I think Too Old just took a BIG lead!

You have more heart than I do, there is no way I'd tackle that job. I know me, I'd do the demo, then it would sit there until I took a chain saw and cut it up to haul it off.

My hat's off to you!:D

Well Cuda I do have the chain saw :D:D Today I think is going to be mostly shop clean up. If I have time I will try and cut out the other side of the bulkhead.

Jon

Great project!

I did same thing 3 yrs ago on my brothers boat. A stringer was no more, just the FG matting left.
We found it when we seen a crack in the hull at the front that was coming from the inside. Boat was flexing enough that the good part of that stringer was poking it's way thru the hull. We gutted the the whole boat as you are doing, replaced the stringer and the forward and rear most bulkheads, then all new flooring. Also redid the whole interior. Changed over from the rear jump seat to a full bench config. It was a very long summer working on it every day after work for most of summer, but once it was done, it is better, stronger than when new. Plus the feeling of pride made it all worth it!

my hat is seriously off to you bro.....doug:)

Good luck.........looks like one hell of a project.

Damn Jon you the man! Now if I can just come and buy it from you for penuts when it is 95% done. (like too old sells stuff :) ) ! Rag's :D

Rags unlike TooOld I will be holding on to this one for a while. Unless of course some one offers me STUPID money :D:D

That's more work than I'd ever tackle.

While it's out, you going to have the tank pressure tested and repaired if needed?
How about a good cleaning and a heavy coat of zinc chromate to stop external corrosion?

Man those pictures scare me to death. Although I know I could do the work I don't have 1/10 th the patience you do. By that time I would have used the chainsaw to chop my own head off.

So, if you wouldn't have taken up the floor you'd have never known the rot was there? That's what worries me and since I have a very similar boat (1985 357 Formula) I'm really concerned. I had the boat surveyed before buyng it but you can only check so much and I don't think they will really check the stringers on a basic survey will they? I too could have a nice rotten surprise waiting for me. I may have to pull my floor just to see. Or, maybe I don't want to know.


My hats off to you. I wish you the best of luck. Please keep us updated. The pics were great.

Iggy I will take the tank to be inspected. I did find some fuel in the foam but very little. I think it may have been fuel that leaked out when it was filled up to the top. If the tank is ok and they say to go ahead and reuse it then I will paint it before putting it back in.

I would not read to much into this one. This boat was NOT taken care of at all before I purchased it. This boat also sat in the ocean for some time as when I purchased it it had bottom paint on it. There were also a LOT of holes drilled into the boat that were never sealed up. If you boat was taken care of and covered then I am guessing that it is ok. On my boat I could tell there was a problem before I started in but was not aware of the extent of the damage. You can see if your bulkheads are glassed over (the newer ones are and maybe yours is as well) if they are not you can push into the tops and see if the wood seem solid. Don't freek out, Formula makes a great boat and there is no reason that when taken care of they should last for ever. Unfortunatly this one was not taken care of.

Jon

The problem Fred, that you're going to sell it before spring! :D

good luck on the project Jon, man you get this down you can get a job as a boat builder/rigger, :D

HEY TooOld that is ok all that time you have to jump in and out of the boat to change your depends :D:D

You forget what I do for a living? The wires I can do in a day or two, it is the rest of it that is going to kill me....... :D:D

You change depends on old people for a living??? Weird career,,, hey what's important is that you like what you do.

Got a very little done this evening. However I took a look at the bank account today and realized I had less in there then I first thought. I had to hustle to get money collected from some people. I will spend tomarrow getting out esimates and hopefully collect some more money. Then I can get back on it again. So far it is coming apart the way I had hoped. Fairly easy so far. It is dirty itchy grunt work. I worked another hour or so since the last picture. Unfortunatly I forgot the camera. My brother and I spend a little time trying to figure out how to make the template as accuratly as possible. I want it to conture the hull perfectly for added strength. Believe it or not this is actually fun :D:D

See if I am saying that after I have to grind it out :rolleyes: :rolleyes: