POURABLE STRINGERS "a no brainer"

Guys-

Sorry, it must have been 1 1/2 5 gallon buckets per main stringer, because I bought 5 total and used one per secondary.

As far as the weight is concerned try weighing the soggy wood you pull out of your current boat. I pulled 2 1/2 big trash cans worth out of the boat and they weighed a ton. The waterlogged foam I pulled out was also a huge amount of weight as well. I think it was 8 commercial size trash bags worth and they were not lite.

It's hard to say if my restored boat will be exactly the weight of an original "DRY" 78'SN, but it will be a ton lighter and more dependable than my old "WET" 78'. So because of this I am acually looking foward to a faster more responsive boat in the spring! Dry= Faster! Sweet!!

Food for thought...

If you want to compare apples to apples look up the weight of Old Growth Douglas Fir which was the original material and do the math. I think you would be surprised that the weight is going to be very close to the Seacast product. Old Growth Fir is pretty heavy as it has a high sap content.

I myself am not that concerned with the minor weight difference as I'm going to load the boat full of 30 packs before I go out anyways.

Back to my sanding...
NM

OK -My "doubting Thomas" self is starting to come around. I think I'll do it. With my own recipe of epoxy resin ,a pinch of LP-3 for ductility and ground gla$$ - kevlar matrix.
The lag bolts will have to go though. The resin system just won't stand up to the shear forces they will see in a 180s. And I will do 180s. When a wood stringer yeilds it rots over time, a resin system fails catastroficly. So I'm thinking about fabing up some stainless/steel brackets with nuts tig welded to them and encapsulating them in the poured stringer.    

I've got real problems sinking lag bolts into the resin. The ceramic matrix filler is just trapped(suspended ) in the resin. They are not tied together like fiber. Composite materials get there strength from the solid matrix part(gla$$,kevlar.carbon,boron ect..) and the resin holds it in the desired shape.There are epoxy thread repair systems for "cosmetic" repairs that work for a single striped out thread hole,but won't stand-up to the torque of the origanal thread.But;this system is designed for an engine to be thrugh bolted at the transom sandwitching it with a nut, washer & bolt. The only way to connect the engine & trans mounts to the composite stringer is with an encapsulated bracket. The resin lag bolt interface will fail, not if ,when.

N/M

I like your idea,it will tie the mounts to the stringer in a horazontal plane.
Maybe use the 3/4 S/S rod 4 inch lenghts or so ,drill & tap one end about 1 1/2 or 2 inches deep. Drill a 3/4 dia. hole in the stringer top so the rod is flush with the top of the stringer. Cross drill the stringer & rod , pin it with 1/4 pins.Use 3M 5200 to bond the whole mount in place.
If anyone is going to use lag bolts,they could be cross drilled and pinned through the lag bolts , maybe two 1/8 solid pins per bolt 1 1/2 inchs apart, but that will permantly set the lag bolts in the stringer.

NM, perhaps it would be better (and easier) to build an aluminum cradle like hasbeenskier suggested?

As usual: Been there, done that.

Here is another company with a section dedicated to "pourable stringer & transom replacement".

http://www.seawolfindustries.com/seacast.html

Very nice and have used it on raceboats with up to 50hp motors and speeds to 85+mph with not failures and no sign of weakness. Downpoint in the case of racing is that it's twice the weight of wood transoms.

Tom

hasbeenskier,

any dimensions for that aluminum cradle you suggested?

I have a 79 CC w/ a 302 Commander. I was just curious what the thickness of the aluminum was.

Thanks

Well how did the arjay and seacast stringers hold up? Do you still have your boats? are the stringers still solid? Did anyone add extra support for the engine mounts?

I still need to rip my floor and all up but I am hoping to be able to pour new stringers. I can get polyester resin for like $50-75 for 5 gallons locally and I have a giant box of fiberglass mainly 6oz E glass. I would use the is it 1708 or whatever glass is suppose to be used and epoxy for re-glassing the caps and any extra support. From my understanding epoxy has a 20% better bonding ability and bonds really well to polyester resin, opposed to polyester resin which does not bond well to epoxy.

Would love to hear the end out come and I sure others would as well.