76 Ski Tique Floor/Stringer Replacement

I have to replace the stringers and therefore the floor also in a 1976 Ski Tique I recently purchased. As a disclaimer, I am lazy by nature, I have a very limited budget for this project and I have no boat repair experience. Therefore, I am not trying to achieve and don't expect my results to compare to some of you guys awesome and thorough work. I don't want to do this again though and would like to do any maintenance and repairs that would be much easier while the boat is torn apart.

Here's a few pics of the floor, one main stringer is 90% rotted out, the other is ok. The secondary stringers are 50% rotted in the rear.

I've got a couple of questions, but I'll post those shortly. Any suggestions/comments/help are welcome. I really appreciate all the great info on this site, I wouldn't be able to do it without it.

Thanks in advance

one bit of advice on this one, there is nothing like factory glass, IF it were me i would keep the existing glass on the stringers, cut the rest of the top and remove all the wood and let dry thouroughly. slide your new wood (douglass fur) and use close to the existing curves and sawzall to shape, acid etch or acetone and scuff with 36 grit, fill with epoxy resin and set your wood and hold in place with temporary screws. then come back in and re-glass with 24 ounce woven. I use a planer to skim the top of the stringers until the wood is exposed. also if needed bye some cheap c-clamps and clamp the sides so the epoxy adheres.
Alot of times you do have to remove down to bare skin but in your case i think it would be beneficial to skim the tops and pull the wood

My first thought was about getting it supported VERY well before anything structural is removed(or what's left of it). The '1 stringer at a time' meathod may be in the books already.

Good luck and ask away.

LMAO...why you be on my case today?!!? I just didn't want him to write back about a pancaked hull!    

I'll also admit that I sometimes overthink things, but then I think about how things can move...not good for glue-ups.

Thanks guys. I've spent WAY too much time reading the website lately. Im gonna hit you with a bunch of questions right off the bat

The other stringer seems ok, I haven't dug in real deep, but if it is good would it be better to go ahead and remove and replace it?

Or would it be ok long term and easier on the wallet if I injected it with CPES and left it?

If I do remove it, should I carefully remove the good one FIRST so I can use it as a pattern? My concern would be A) support of the hull, the other stringer is already garbage. B) The good stringer is a reference point

Eric, I am kinda want to go that direction with my main stringers, if nothing else to have the original reference points, but I've tried digging out the stringer and it seems to be a real pain in the ass. I think Im at least going to have to remove one side to get it out. I want to leave the other side on as long as possible as a reference point.

Here's my plan as of now. It's constanly evolving the deeper I go but as an engineer by nature I must have a plan at all times.

Ive removed all foam around the outside secondary stringer (long one) I was going to build this one first as it seems to be the easiest and less important? Basically use this one for a bit of trial and error. Before I epoxy it in Im going to build the secondary system like skibum did. (Props to his website btw) Good idea?

I was going to cut the fiberglass off on each side about 1/4 to 1/2 inch above the hull. Can I get the stringer out all the way with 1/2 inch of fiberglass up the sides? If I could get the stringer out and clean up the channel, I was going to fill the channel with epoxy mixed with West 404 filler, so I would have a 1/2 inch or so epoxy bed so keep from having to get the stringer so precise.

How much more of the bow foam do I need to remove to replace the main stringers in the front? The less foam I remove the less I have to replace $$. My foam was only wet on the bottom 1/4 inch, I was a little surprised consdering how bad the stringer was.

Im planning on replacing the foam, but I want to put 1/2" plywood floor in on top of the foam. That way the foam doesn't have to be perfect or structural. How about mixing cut up noodles and pourable foam in the cavities?

Alright guys, sorry for the book. Im in the process of making an autocad layout of the inside of the boat, I would like to have elevations of all the wood pieces that make up the bottom of the boat for my use and hopefully it will help someone in the future.
Thanks for all your help. It's greatly appreciated

JD,
I'm completely with Tim on this one. You need a complete stringer replacement. If one stringer is "90%" rot, I guarantee the other one has started too. Don't try to save any wood. The risks are too great and since you have said you are lazy, you want to do the job once. I also agree with stripping the hull down to nothing. The time spent goofing around trying to save the factory glass isn't worth it. Eric, Don't you have a trans to go work on?? What makes you think the factory glass is better? Remember, the original will be polyester and not epoxy!

Roughly half of you material cost will be the foam. I'd leave it out. My Tique doesn't have any!

Apparently Pete and I are on the same page. I wouldnt refoam- especially if you want to put in a plywood floor. The next boat I do (another little 16 footer) will get the pool noodles. You can save some money by going this route. Dont skimp on the epoxy resin or fiberglass supplies!

I do think that keeping the bottom 1/2" of glass from the original stringers is a good idea. The original stringers were bed down with foam and glass, approx 1/4" thick. I left just enough of the originals to hold the new ones in place while I glassed them in.

If I have to do one, I might as well do the other one, I don't think I would feel good about it anyway.

Can I get a consensus from you guys that since budget is a high priority (Like saving $500 dollars is the difference in having it in the water May 1st and July 1st priority) that not replacing the foam is the best way to save money and still do it right? I've seen lots of arguments on to foam or not to foam, but in the context of my question is it the best place to save money? Again, if I put the plywood in, therefore eliminating the structural floor requirements of the foam, could I mix in a filler such as chopped up noodles?

I have found the original diary for your boat Pete, that seems to be the best picture of a Tique structure I've found, do you guys have any more, I'd love to take a look at them. Tim, do you have any other pics than what's on your thread?

To foam or not to foam...how deep is the lake you'll be running in?!!?   

If you put pool noodles inside the floor cavities and epoxy the wood down, wouldn't it still work?

What about putting foam in some of the cavities, say, the one outside of the secondary stringer on each side?

Does anybody know the rough weight of the boat?

thread with noodle calculations

why do we use foam again?

if its for structure, then why do big yachts that need structural support not have it?
your on the right track though, what happens to the psi of water on the hull with the boat in the water?

JDiggs - Great analysis. Wouldn't it be great if someone could model a CC in CAD & run a FEA (Computerized stress/strain simulation)? Then we would know exactly where the weak spots are!

Any college students out there looking for a project?

JD - That would be a really cool addition to this site's library. My company has the software but it would be totally against policy to use it for something personal. Not that I know how to do a FEA in the 1st place.