Stringer & Bulkhead Repair Planning
Once the fuel tank was removed and the residual mess was cleaned up, the rot areas were examined closer. Afterwards a plan of repair could be developed. One of the challenges of this repair will be the design and construction of the boat. It is essentially a 2-piece ‘clamshell’, meaning that the cockpit floor, the forward consoles and the rear and fore decks are all one giant piece. The other piece of the ‘clamshell’ is the hull itself. Boats of earlier years had several pieces making up their design. So, you could remove the cockpit floor without disturbing the decks. Not so with this design, it is all or nothing.
So, the repair approach will have to be somewhat creative. It is fortunate that the rot has not extended too far forward, because a significant amount of rot in the forward areas would require complete disassembly of the hull and deck pieces - a monstrous task.
Below are some pictures of the various rotted areas in the hull structure.
The rot areas were pretty much where I was expecting, except there appeared to be a little bit of rot starting forward in the starboard stringer.
I also drilled a few holes in the engine compartment stringers to check for rot in the bilge area. I found that the engine support stringers were pretty much rotted most of the way back towards the transom and the outside stringers had some rot that was moving aft.
The diagram below shows the various stringers and bulkheads and where the rot was located (yellow areas). This allows me to formulate a plan for the repairs.
My plan is to open the top of the engine support stringers, clean them out and load them up with fiberglass, then pour in penetrating epoxy. This will work its way back into the transom and forward into the bulkhead.
The main stringers look like they can be repaired by replacing the rotted section and installing a mending joint, a.k.a. ‘sister’ joint.
While I have the main stringer sections out, I should have good access the most of the bulkhead and the joining points of the outside stringers. I plan to clean out the rotted wood and replace it with fiberglass mat and then pour in penetrating epoxy.
The bulkhead will be rebuilt with fiberglass mat and polyester resin.
There is also an area on the forward bulkhead with the early stages of rot. It looks like this can be repaired with penetrating epoxy and fiberglass mat to cover it.
After things are put back together, I plan on adding some fiberglass to the main stringers for additional strength and moisture protection.
The next step was to cut things open and remove the rotted wood.
