Stringer Job; leave boat on Trailer??

OK guys, I'm in the "thinking about" stage of doing the stringers on my 80SN and have a question for those that have done it; did you leave the boat on the trailer? Or did you support it by chine and keel? The reason I ask is that I would think that after taking away the structure/backbone of the hull it would have a tendancy to "oil can" over the trailer bunks and take a permanent set once the new stringers are installed and cured.

For those of you that did leave it on the trailer, did you notice any disturbance to the original lines of the hull bottom? If not, I'm assuming Correct Craft put enough glass into the hull and rely on the secondary stringers to simply support the floor.

Thanks,

Noel

Lift it off the bunks onto stands. Otherwise it will distort the hull.

I think it's important to support the hull, but I think you can use the trailer to help with this. I used some supports either side of the bow with columns under the keel by the drain plug and another just in front of the strut. I also supported the stern on either side just aft of the trailer bunks. I then removed and replaced the stringers one by one. It's a bit tricky to get the weight supported equally but I think the trailer actually helped distribute the load.

I think alot of others have done similar with good results. May not be optimal but it worked for me.

When I started mine, my floor was pulling away from the sides and by bracing up the boat, while it was on the trailer, in the front of the boat in 2 places then 2 more places in the back it brought the floor back up to the hull so there was not a gap any more.

I do not think it is going to hurt if you do not brace but the hull is going to be a little distorted from it's natural position that it came with from the factory.

These hull are so small that distortion is minimal. Mine is also a 2nd gen hull ('77 SN) and I braced the hull while on the trailer. I stripped everything out all at once, too. Some blocks were placed under the transom, the chines, and under the keel at the eye. I could lift the hull into position from each corner (barely!). This also would make it easier for you to move the boat around to spray out the grinding dust. My boat is faster than ever with no handling defects. I wouldn't waste too much time building supports when you could be knee-deep in fiberglass and foam dust!