| Author | Message | ||
     Scott Corder (Pastcommodore) Rating: N/A |
Jeff: While I cannot remember the specific grade of stainless we used on my stringers, I do recall a conversation about corrosion that led to a clear choice being made. Your concern about glassing these in is legitimate, however the stringers "fit" the bilge in such a way as to make it very difficult for anything to move down there. Yes, we did glass the daylights out of the areas contacting the innner hull. If you recall my other descriptions, my new stainless stringers are actually shaped like an "I" beam in cross section. That means that the bottom of the "I" was in full contact with the inner hull. We glassed over this "ledge" the entire length on each side of each stringer overlapping the inner hul at least 3-4 inches. We left the stainless above this otherwise exposed because we needed to connect the extended keel bolts to the tabs. The bottom line was that, by bolting the keel to the stringers, the new stringers became "one" with the keel. For the keel to fall off, it would have to take the entire bottom of the boat with it (the keel bolted to three of the stringers). Any random weakness in the stainless/hull connection has been more than compensated for by the sheer quantity of contact surface. It also helps that there are bulkheads and cabinetry in close proximity to much of this work. Remember, we also created small tabs from one of the stringers to the lav and closet bulkheads. Suffice to say, the center of my boat does not flex. Your choice to use laminated stringers (mahogany?) is a very good one that I might have done had my keel not needed more support. This, in fact, is what we did to reconstruct the mast step around the new stringers. Carbon fiber is also a good idea. I think anything you can do to reduce the chances of water penetration, compression or decomposition is a good thing. In my experience, no matter how hard anyone tries, a bilge is a naturally hostile environment where there is no such thing as "too few" preventative measures. Please keep us posted on what you finally do. I'm confident we are not done learning what works best on this repair. |
