I decided to strip my Mini Hawk on Sunday, to get ready for paint, when I found the front 1/3 of both stringers rotted and missing. I removed the rub rail and poped the deck off to get a better look, it looks like I need to replace both stringers from the bulk head to the transom (8'). My question has to do with the knees, they were barley attached, the fiberglass had very little resin and was not bonded well where there was resin. I was able to grab them and just tear them out. The knees were 1/2'' plywood and the stringers are 3/4'' can I make a one piece stringer/knee instead of trying to replicate what the factory did, which did not work, because they could not get resin between the original knee and the stringer?
Thanks

Yes you can. Be sure to brace the boat correctly befor you remove the stringers and knees so you don't lose the shape. Also make sure your surface is clean and properly ground back so you don't run into a bonding problem yourself.

Cat5
Thanks, by ground back you do you mean getting rid of the old air filled joints and down to solid glass ? Also since there are many areas where there are loose fibers and seemingly dry areas on the inside of the hull would it be appropriate to roll some resin over the entire inside to try to bond these fibers before I use a bildge paint to clean up the hull before I put it back together?

Yes exactly. I would grind all those dry unbonded fibers away untill you have a good base of solid glass then install your new knees and stringer and lay new glass then paint or gelcoat.

It's hard to say without seeing the boat but rollin in new resin over the dry fibers may cover them but it won't add any structure. So if you have dry spots all over that may clean up the look of the inside but don't laminate your new stringers over that dry stfuff.

I guess I could just paint over the fibers, they are not causing any structural problems. Just a few fibers sticking out here and there, hey I might as well save the weight of all that resin right? Light =fast