Is it safe to operate Tique with rotted stringers? |
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MikeRa
Newbie Joined: June-28-2009 Location: Charlotte, NC Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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Posted: June-28-2009 at 7:42pm |
I just purchased a 1980 Ski Tique after doing what I thought was excellent due diligence (had a very reputable marine firm specializing in Correct Craft ski boats do an inspection for stringer damage)as well as water test with owner. The written inspection reported on soft floors under seats but made no mention of engine area of stringer. Over the phone, the maintenance manager stated the boat was sound, no concerns except soft floor noted.
After trailering the boat back 500 miles and cleaning up, I find that no engine/tranny bolts grab and soft/punky wood when probed with coat hanger, rotten front stringers found under the seats after cutting 4" inspection holes through floor, a scab repair on each stringer at the pylon and basically no solid wood in many parts of the stringers, including under engine/tranny. Is this boat safe to operate? It seems as thought the fiberglass shell around the stringers must be enough to hold the engine in place. The boat ran nice/good power; albeit it was short test due to small size of lake. Anyway, I really didn't expect anything after independent inspection by boat dealer. Had planned to use this summer at least for a week or two. Any thoughts on operating this thing? |
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8122pbrainard
Grand Poobah Joined: September-14-2006 Location: Three Lakes Wi. Status: Offline Points: 41045 |
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Mike,
Next time get a certified independent hull survey and not a dealer. The subject of damage from rot came up today in this post: stringers The fiberglass covering over the wood stringers is NOT strong enough to handle the stress/load. Welcome to CCfan. How about some pictures? |
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SNobsessed
Grand Poobah Joined: October-21-2007 Location: IA Status: Offline Points: 7102 |
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Mike - If this inspection was fee based I would be on the phone with them negotiating a settlement. Your stringers are going to cost you about $1500 if you do the work yourself.
Sorry to hear about your problem, it sounds like you tried to avoid it better than most newbies. Running the boat without adequate structure is not recommended, but you wouldn't be the first to do it. |
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MikeRa
Newbie Joined: June-28-2009 Location: Charlotte, NC Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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Service Manager with dealer is only willing to refund inspection fee. Service manager has worked with CC's for 3 decades and gave some suggestions for repair, including piecemeal stringer repair and use of wood fiber/expoxy mixes to fill in empty stringer cavity. Any experience on this type of repair approach versus what I've seen on this site with total replacement? Any help greatly appreciated including do you know of anyone that has done this work on a ~80 Ski Tique in the past year or two.
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8122pbrainard
Grand Poobah Joined: September-14-2006 Location: Three Lakes Wi. Status: Offline Points: 41045 |
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This recommendation from a dealer is very concerning!!! At best it's a "band aid" to get your through the summer. Yes, "git Rot" can be poured into the rot. Yes, "piecemeal" repairs can be made but there are no guarantees that you won't have hull/trans damage. The only sound method is replacing the stringers. Do a search here and start reading up on stringer replacement. The principle is the same no matter what the year/model of boat. Give us a hint on where this dealer is. I want to make sure I never deal with them!!! |
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kapla
Grand Poobah Joined: March-27-2008 Location: BA, Argentina Status: Offline Points: 6148 |
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Is sad to hear that even taking the precautions you took you can get fooled!!!
Depending on how bad the rot is you can end up screwing the engine/tranny due to alligment issues as the drive is Floating and not fastened firmly to the hull... also the gel can crak.. About to use it or not for 2 weeks its always your call... but in your case it seems that your engine is not firm and may get damaged if used as you describe... |
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<a href="">1992 ski nautique
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JDiggs
Groupie Joined: November-06-2008 Status: Offline Points: 51 |
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Welcome to the club compadre. I didn't have mine inspected but I thought I did due diligence only to find the same problem. Just be aware that you need a serious long term commitment to pull it off. I wanted to have mine done by May and Im around halfway through now. Granted, I don't have much time to work on it. Less than 40 hrs, but that's 2 hrs here & 3 hrs there. Not the most efficient way to tackle this project.
To be honest with you, if I had to do it over again, I would have waited till after this season and gone light on the boat. That's just me and I guess I'll never know. However, when I do get thru, I know I won't have to worry about it again. I don't regret doing it, just would have enjoyed the boat for a while before I dove in. Good luck which ever way you go. You have come to the right place to get the info to fix it. |
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MikeRa
Newbie Joined: June-28-2009 Location: Charlotte, NC Status: Offline Points: 12 |
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Thanks for the words of support. I'm on a tear to repair this thing. I've got the floor cut out except at ski pole and stringer wood (more like mulch) out. I am doing a modified approach after studying this site extensively. Basically, I'm going to replicate the CC approach post '93 and essentially form fiberglass and foam stringers for the secondaries and SYP stringer (2 pieces sistered at engine)for mains but sealed and well encased with additional glass. Planning on bedding bottom and sides with PL-1 poly-glue for engine stringers. Old floor pieces to be epoxied back and then final course of glass on top, up sides and down towards hull. The ski pole had already been repaired with sistered 2x's on to main stringers and then epoxied until the cows came home. My new main stringers that go foreward will bolt through the old mains and into these 2x pieces. I am not messing with the front bulkhead at all as stringers up there serve no purpose other than to support floor. That bulkhead ties the whole "V" together into a tremendously strong truss and I really don't see the need to mess with it. The secondary stringers weren't even touching the hull at their front ends so were really only providing floor support also. Still, I'm going to glass up to their ends.
I'm focusing most of my efforts on the rear of boat where the hull is flat and because of engine in middle, design does not allow for substantial "trussing" across entire width of hull. From pictures on this website, it appears that similar cracking can be seen in the same locations on many of these boats, primarily along the exhaust channel wall (towards side of boat) all the way back to the boxed corner at transom. I'm going to strengthen that exhaust wall and over to the hull side from the mid-engine point to the transom. When they did the ski post repair, the strengthening was done well (but sloppy) but they didn't set the post plumb! Hole through floor not drilled right. I've removed the post (thanks for the advice here) and will reinstall plumb and probably seal with PL-1 around opening or figure some other way to attach well. As you can tell, I'm a big fan of PL-1 poly glue. I bought a case at Lowes and have used for house projects over the past couple of years. The stuff is incredibly tough and once cured is very resilient. I'm not counting on any tensile strength with use (even though it has some) but in compression, it is very tough. Based on what I've read, I think this is the same stuff as this 3M5200? and probably a whole lot less expensive. Thanks to this site, I've got most of my glass supplies and should be ready for that part next week. I'll probably not get much boat time this summer, but I need to finish up before cooler weather sets in. Still will have to re-carpet and set gas tank, engine and seats. I love the Tique size for trailering and storage but at 53 it's smaller hull makes the work a little tougher on hands and knees. Thanks for your posts and hope your work goes well. |
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JDiggs
Groupie Joined: November-06-2008 Status: Offline Points: 51 |
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Sounds like you're well ahead of the game. Get some pics, I'd like to see it. I'm always up for new ideas. There's always other ways to skin a cat.
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