Temporary Stringer Repair

Okay guys, like some, I have read bits and pieces of threads talking about stringer repairs, and there's a lot of great info on the website for sure - lots of truly talented CC owners out there.

Now, for the insane question - in looking at these pictures, is it totally ridiculous to think that I could put some temporary fixes in place for the secondaries in order to get a floor down and make it through this season?? I absolutely know that this boat needs (and deserves) a complete stringer job. The mains appear to be fairly solid yet in all of the areas that I have checked thus far. I know it is money not well spent, but I am willing to accept that.

Pete:

You're absolutely correct! Great eye. I did not even pick up on this. This makes total sense now that I'm thinking about it. I crawled under the boat the other day because I was considering replacing the strut bushings and noticed the shaft not centered. This was after I watched your strut alignment presentation - nice job BTW. Could you remind me how much movement is acceptable in the strut bushing when moving the shaft in all directions? Was it an 1/8"??

The layer of plywood over the existing is something I did not consider and is a great idea. How would you suggest attaching it to the boat if the secondaries and cross members are rotted? Should I CPES some 1x6s pieces on both sides and just bed them in some epoxy?

Thanks for the encouragement. I truly thought this was going to be a lost cause.

I deserve the beating!! I fully expected a flogging right off the bat! I do appreciate the fact that you chose to humor me on this even thought it totaly goes against all common sense and logic. Lots of fun to look forward to in the Fall. I hope I can muster the courage.

Why do you need ply on the floor? It looks from your pictures that the floor is OK.

What you could to do with the secondary in your second picture is...
1) Scrape out as much of the bad wood as possible. Cut a piece of wood to fill the void.
2) Lay a thick bed of thickened epoxy in the void put your wood in the epoxy bed.
3) Use some mat from the side of the stringer over the top of the new wood and on to the floor.
That way you at least have the floor attached to the stringer again.

Robb,
That sure is a beautiful boat there. I hope you find a temp fix to get you through. But a rule of thumb is check your engine allignment periodically to ensure where you are at. At any given time, rott could be be infested and could damage many other vital areas of the boat. Good luck on your temp fix and hope all goes well...

Rob .You have a nice looking boat . I see you are from Fort Wayne, where do you boat at ? My brother does a lot of boating on Wawasee.We make it over ther about 3 times a summer .

Ive always wanted to check out the chain of lakes, is it my understanding you go from us 12 all the way down to Coldwater Lake? The day we were going to do it I had just put the boat in and a huge rain storm developed so we had to high tail it outa there
never been back since and that was 20 years ago boy how time gets away?
Kirk

I have another question. If you look at my prop shaft picture at the beginning of this thread, you'll notice it has (2) bolts in it. Are these pinch bolts? Can someone refer me to the right thread on how to remove this flange in order to remove the shaft and replace the strut bushing? I've read threads about the long bolt and socket method, but I'm not totally sure that I totally understand how this works. Also, do I need to remove either the prop or the rudder to get the shaft out once the flange is off?

Firts you need to remove the prop, then the shaft from the coupling...Rudder sometimes is not required to be removed..mine slided out very tight though..had to force it a little to clear it....

I forgot to menction theres a big nut that bolts to the shaft inside the coupling also, needs to go away...In my case I have a metric nut 28mm. Used a pipe wrench to secure the coupler from spining while loosening the nut....

not that I´m aware...

Thanks for the tips. I'm going to give this a shot tomorrow, so we'll see what happens. I noticed a collar on your shaft. I don't have this. Is this something I should add? Does a 1" I.D. x 1-1/4" O.D. bushing sound right? That's what my crude measurements came out to be. I'm also missing one of the bronze set screws in the strut. Is this something I can order?

Swatkinz wrote: First a black president, then Pete with the half a$$ repair. What's next?

A tower is ok on a wood boat to tow tubers,as long as you 'glass the bottom first, I would venture to guess

I've got part of the secondaries out and I'm waiting on the resin and mat from USC to rebuild, but I'm not sure what kind of wood to use. Any suggestions? When I do the entire stringer job later, I know to use douglas fir for the mains, but I don't know what's recommended for everything else.

Thanks.