Stringer splint...

Did some investigation on the stringers on our Southwind. Drilled out fore and aft of where the rear motor mounts are located and found nice dry wood. The holes where the mounts were lagged on...not so good. "cut out the stringers and replace them" yes this would be the right thing to do. I'd like to get on the water before the world ends in 2012 Our collective thoughts were to mount angle iron or stainless angle around the stringer attaching where we've got good wood fore and aft of the current mounting location. I swear I've seen a pic on here with stainless mounting plates on the stringers. As temp fix how does this sound?

Installing an aluminum engine cradle, or even some aluminum angles under the mounts, might be a pretty big job. For a temporary fix, Id be more inclined to pour CPES down the mount bolt holes, followed by thickened resin- then redrill.

Seems like a fix of owners past was to go the epoxy route. When i pulled the lags I got a hard brown substance out with them. Almost seems that somebody put epoxy in without letting the stringer dry out. Digging around the holes left by the lag bolts it seems pretty mushy and wet. But 3 inches away dry wood. It really seems like it is a localized problem. By the look of the glass on the stringers I'd say some kind of repair has been done. Full stringers or just scabbed in I'm not sure. When I say a temporary repair it is as short term as it wants to be. If my engine stays lined up I'll just run her till she tells me she needs stringers.

connorssons wrote: She has already told you!

touche!! The hull is solid on this girl so far! We'll definitely have to the stringers for real at some point. I think we're going to dig further into these stringers and I'm thinking if its soft at the front motor mounts we'll bite the bullet and strip her down bare.