Wood rot in stringers

[chillman]

Long story short... doing some boat repairs, found wood rot in the stringers.

I cut away the fibreglass encasing the stringers and found that wood rot was so bad the the wood had turned to what resembled compost.

So my questions are:

1) Will this affect the strength of the hull given that the encasing fibreglass is quiet thick?
2) Should I replace the wood stringers completely/partially?
3) I have read about fibreglass stringers. Would it be better to replace the stringer with fibreglass stringers? What are they? Can I make them myself?

Thanks
Chillman

[Tidas]

Hi Chilliman,

If it were my boat I would be fixing it;

1. If the timber was not needed for strength it would not be there in the first place.

2. I would replace all stringers that were affected for their full length.

3. I would use a good marine grade ply, someone else on here may have some more info regarding the use of completely fibreglass stringers. #My concern would be that it could add significantly to the weight of the hull, which may affect the trailer, towing capacity of car/tow pack, on water performance and fuel economy.

Cheers,

Paul

[FNQCairns]

Hillman another option would be to leave the wood alone and add good glass to the stringers (not just chop strand like it is now) until beefed up enough to cope without the wood stiffener, I rebuilt my boat this way so if ever the wood rots the glass covering will be more than ample to do the job alone.

First ensure the boat is not warped before glassing. heaps of boats around worldwide with glass over foam stringer cores or just hollow glass stringers.

Cheers fnq

[Work_Bench]

1/ Yes this severely weakens your boat , for the timber to rot the water had to get in and this will be from the glass stringer de-laminating in places from the hull.
2/ Yes
3/ Just glass over timber , it's simple cheap and easy to do , just bog new timber into place and simply glass over it.

You can't glass over rotting damp wood , this will come back to bite you on the backside , do it once and do it right.You need to remove all the old glass and wood prior to the repair , some serious grinding ahead.

If your stringers are shot you had better check your transom as well , never leave FRESH WATER lying in you boat this is what rots your timber...... not the salt water.

Rob

[Fishin_Dan]

Have a look at the ShareProject sites in my signature, and in FNQ's...

Just an idea on what you might be looking at... :-/ :'(