77 Nautique Stringer Job

Hello again everyone. I know i have dropped of the radar for a while but it's time to get the '77 re-strung.
Last winter i started ripping up the floor after i discovered a soft spot just to the left of the battery box in the fall of '09. Well long story short, one thing lead to another and now it sits compleatly gutted and ready for the new stringers. Last year i started gathering materials but just could not find the time to finish it before the spring so it sat all summer .
Last March i took a trip out to Mertons Fiberglass Supply in Springfield Mass. Mertons Fiberglass Supply The main reason i drove out there was to talk to the guy because he was so knowlegeable and willing to help me with the project. While i was there i asked him what i would need for materials and he set me up with everything i would need to get the stringers glassed in. Here's what i came home with,

-12 yd x 38" 24 Ounce Double Bias Stitchmat
-2 gal Polyester Hull And Deck Puddy (for bedding in the stringers)
-5 gal Polyester Resin
-enough hardner for the above and some stainless steel screws to fasten the marine grade plywood deck to the stringers.
-and a cool laminating roller

While i was there i aske him if i should get epoxy resin instead and he pretty much said it would be a waste of money. He said that since the boat was manufactured using Polyester products and that i would be doing a better job than the factory did by coating all wood with resin and compleatly encapsulating the stringers vs only coming up 1/2 way with glass, that the Poly was the way to go.

So all of that coming from a guy thats in the thick of the industry and restores boats himself. Of course now everything i read on this site about stringer replacment it seems that i should have gone epoxy. I'm never one to do things 1/2 ass but it seams to me that the boat has lasted 33 years and the only wood rot it had was attributed mostly to vent duct falure up in the foam along with no dranage in the bulkhead area.

Thanks for all your help guys! I'm going to get some pics together and post them in a bit.

Jeff

Geez Jeff, even your demolition work is neat and clean!

Dont forget though- like we discussed at LG '09, your boat has been restrung at least once before. Those exhaust pockets should have tapered one more time so that they weren't visible when the motorbox is closed. Make sure you add some more material when you build up the secondary stringers. Here is the proper shape:



Another clue is the gray bilge- from the factory, it would have been a white/gray splattered gelcoat finish rather than the plain gray paint. I also dont see the jog in the main stringers- though maybe its the camera angle playing tricks with me. Somewhere aft of the front motor mounts, the stringers would have dropped ~3/4" so that the removeable panel in the rear would sit on them and be flush with the rest of the floor. The only wood in the floor would have been between the motorbox and battery box- everything else would have been glass directly over foam. I dont see the notches cut in the stringers in front of the motorbox either, so Im guessing your entire floor was covered in ply? I have to say that overall, the last restring looks pretty darn decent. Better then the other "pro" jobs posted on here that have failed... though it clearly didnt last as long as it should have!

As far as poly vs. epoxy goes, that's your call... but it does seem to be a shame to use inferior materials on a project this big and important. The few hundred bucks you save with poly is a drop in the bucket on a project like this. Other than bondo, Ive never really used it myself- but I hear poly is much less fun to work with as well (fumes, etc). If its not too late, I would seriously reconsider your choice- but thats just me!

Im sure you'll do a quality job no matter which way you go- your boat always looks great. Make sure you read the detailed stringer jobs (Buffalo, Skibum, etc) thoroughly... there are a lot of good tips shared in those threads that first-timers can benefit from!

Thanks Tim! Yes the entire floor was ply. It had ~1" holes drilled in it where they poured in the foam. That wasn't how they did it at the factory hua?

I'm supprised...i didn't see any evidience of the stringers being replaced other than the grey paint like you said. The workmanship was pretty good except the way they cut the stringers. They didnt follow the contour of the hull at all. They left that up to the hull & deck putty.

Based on Mreton's website the epoxy resin is ~$400 for 4 gallons plus two gallons of hardner. I paid $120 for 5 gallons of the polyester. more than tripple the price!

I, like Tim, am disappointed you are going the poly route. I'd say Mertons isn't aware that the poly is hygroscopic and one of the reasons stringers fail/rot. We have all seen examples of "pro" work and have been shocked at some of it. Don't believe everything they tell you!! At the very least, use the epoxy on your ply. Also, don't forget to CPES it!!

Keep the pictures coming!!

77 nautique wrote: Thanks Tim! Yes the entire floor was ply. It had ~1" holes drilled in it where they poured in the foam. That wasn't how they did it at the factory hua?

Nope, not at all!

77 nautique wrote: I'm supprised...i didn't see any evidience of the stringers being replaced other than the grey paint like you said. The workmanship was pretty good except the way they cut the stringers. They didnt follow the contour of the hull at all. They left that up to the hull & deck putty.

I noticed that- the factory didnt always do a great job of matching the stringers to the hull, but they did a bit better than that!

77 nautique wrote: Based on Mreton's website the epoxy resin is ~$400 for 4 gallons plus two gallons of hardner. I paid $120 for 5 gallons of the polyester. more than tripple the price!

Sounds like you need to shop elsewhere... US Composites is probably the most popular fiberglass supply house on here- you'll pay in the $50 range for a gallon of epoxy. Even at double the cost, youre only talking a $250 difference (you'll need around 10 gallons total), which is peanuts considering all the time youre investing in this project. Maybe you can try returning the poly from where you bought it?

Another thought- do you know what you want to finish the bilge with? You may want to consider removing all the paint and gel so whatever you use can bond to the bare glass. If youre going to repaint, that may not be necessary though.

Also, have you thought much about the other wood in the boat? Transom, etc? Every single last piece of wood in our BFN was soaking wet (if not rotten) so it all got replaced. It makes the project a bit longer and tedious, but nows the time to get it done if it needs it!

Beautiful Boat and Sweet Engine.

Donald

Thanks Jeff.
Alright, alright everyone...there will be no Polyester products going into the boat. That didnt take too much convincing. I'm just disapointed that Merton's lead me down the Poly path.
Later today i'm going to use a small hole saw in the rest of the wood to look for evedience of wet/rotted wood.
Now...what to do with 7 gallons worth of Polyester garbage i bought...

Jeff

Well I used a 3/4 " Speedbor bit and drilled in several locations and i am convinced that i have no rot or soaked wood on the transom or the rudder mount.

Now, being that these stringers were replaced once already and they seamed to fit and work fine (although the motor mounts seem to be adjusted as if the stringers were ~ 3/4" too high) should i use them as a template?

I will post some pics. For some reason i can't do it form the computer in the garage.

My 77 nautique didn't have any moisture or rot in the transom or bow eye mount either. Must be a "77" thing. My paltry little thread was woefully lacking compared to some of the others recently, but there might be a useful pic or two of the same year boat. "77 nautique resurrection". My carpet appeared to originally be blue, as well. There was blue behind the back seat. Today it was warm enough to paint the second new engine water pump. Hope to install that and the packing rope in the driveshaft seal. Maybe make the templates for the side floor sections, too. You'll be on the water in no time if you follow the advice of these guys.

Hay 77 Nauti! the pics look like thay have moisture to me, left side rudder port is discolored, the transom lift ring anchor shows rust only moisture does this,   these fixes are very easy at this point just a little time consuming. hope i didnt piss ya off, but check out my 75 sep rebuild. i also thaught the best till Tbenj talked some sh#t into me. goood luck jeff! PS i did the drill thing also to my surprise I was wrong