Broken Ski Pylon/69 CC Mustang

I just pulled the pylon out of my '66 and the floor support was 2 pieces of 3/4" plywood. It appeared to be original.

If your buyning an older boat, prior to a '94 or whatever the 1st year was that they went to all fiberglass, I don't care what brand it is or how well it's been taking care of, if the floor hasn't been redone, you've got some problems down there.

I did do "some" stringer investigation a year ago. Primarily checking the motor mounts to make sure the bolts still felt secure. I've also kept a close eye on the transmission and how much it moves when engaging forward/reverse. When you ask about checking engine/shaft alignment, I can't say I've done this procedure as I don't know the specifics of doing it (clearances, etc.). If someone can give me a few pointers, I'll do it before I consider putting Big Jim in the water.

There's no doubt that a complete stringer/foam overhaul is needed at some point (maybe now). I had hoped to do this over the 07/08 winter, but had difficulties securing an acceptable (heated) garage.
I'd really like to use the boat for one more season before the "project" begins but don't want to risk the huge amount of time and money I've already put into Big Jim. As is common with boats, this entire project has turned out to be way more than I bargained for. Had I know how much of an investment this would be, I'd have purchased a nice "restored" boat or gone for a much newer boat. Looks like boats and my other hobby (sports cars) have a lot in common. The old saying “the way to make a small fortune racing sports cars is to start with a large one”, seems equally applicable to boating.

What really irks me about this is my initial concern about the cracks in the lower portion of the outer hull (before I bought the boat). I even called CC and gave them the engine compartment plate # to see if I could get a history. During that conversation (with Jeff Warner-CC’s vintage boat guy), I was told not to worry about the cracks in the hull?? Why I was told this is certainly a mystery. It's now plainly obvious that the cracks are related to the water being held in the foam core. When it gets to be -40 in Minneapolis that water isn't liquid anymore. I'm sure the stresses on the fiberglass are not trivial. On a positive note I've learned a hell of a lot about boats working on this guy. Most of it has been fun. In truth I'm more of a slalom skier and not a boat guy, but I like mechanical projects too (damn engineer in me). Unfortunately I think the stringer project will be the first one I’ll need some help with. Maybe I’ll get lucky and find someone in the area with some experience doing this. As my background is electrical engineering and elaborate home theater/home automation design, maybe I’ll find someone I can do a labor trade with.

I guess what I could really use would be the tell tale signs of what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable stringer conditions for one more season of use. If anyone has any observations about when they realized it was time for the stringer project (breaking the ski pylon?), this might be helpful to my decisions.

Thanks in advance to all the experts here on CC Fan.

Big Jim Slade

It's been almost 20 yrs since I repaired mine,but I kind of remember replacing a 2x6 in that area. I'm not a wood worker so I don't know the terms, but it was inset into the stringers.I'm missing the side panels so I don't know about them but I did have the fiberglass floor pan,which had to be removed along with all the seats and motorbox