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Stringer Question

Repair, or reconstruction. Gelocat or structural fiberglass. If it's hull related, you'll find it here

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Tom Gruenauer
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Stringer Question

Post by Tom Gruenauer » Sun Apr 20, 2014 8:18 pm

Are the stringers in a 1978 17' Chris craft SS ski boat glass over wood or glass box construction?

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Tom

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Paul P
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Location: Nashville, Tennessee, Cumberland River and Lake system
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Re: Stringer Question

Post by Paul P » Thu Oct 30, 2014 10:36 am

Hey I saw this note and it has not been responded to, so here are some comments, sorry so late. A fiberglass Chris of this age is undoubtedly following the standard construction developed from the Corsair and Commander experiences, and that is all hollow box beam construction AND with a wood base installed above the wet zone at the engine stringer location either encapsulated or on top of.......(not for strength necessarily, but for something to screw the engine mounts into).

More times than not, the wood is in good condition. However, if it must be replaced this is not the end of the world, it is MUCH easier than working on a wood boat, here is one of our guys at the Chris-Craft Commander Forum site doing some surgery. Using the proper wood (personally, I would use fir or white oak for this) with a saturated fiberglass wrap, and lag bolts, and the boat would be good for another 30 or 40 years :-) While this may seem excessive, it is not all that difficult and it could be a LOT worse...... :-)
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1956 17' CC Sportsman, 300-hp
1957 17' CC Sportsman, 95-hp
1966 20' CC fiberglass Sea Skiff, 210-hp+
1973 23' CC Lancer inboard project, 427/375-hp.
1966 38' CC Commander Express, 427/300-hp(2)

So many boats.........so little time.....but what a way to go!!

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Paul P
Posts: 622
Joined: Mon Oct 30, 2006 1:48 pm
Location: Nashville, Tennessee, Cumberland River and Lake system
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Re: Stringer Question

Post by Paul P » Tue Jan 02, 2018 3:37 pm

Here is a bit of work I've done on my 23 Lancer, replacing some rotted wood. There isn't much wood in the wet zone on these Lancers, but there is some and here is an example of what it takes to fix it.

Basically cut the fiberglass bonding around the rotted wood, remove the old wood, cut some new wood to fit (I chose to laminate up a piece for each side of the boat), treat it and then I wetted it and smeared a water activated polyurethane glue on mine and it foamed itself in tight, and then I trimmed off the excess foam glue, topped it with a fiberglass cloth saturated in resin and painted everything with bilge coat. The same basic process is used for any wood in a Lancer hull that needs to be replaced. I note the transoms of these boats are reinforced with 3/4" marine plywood, and some of them show water intrusion down close to the bilge. In my case the integrity was good so I did not have to remove anything, but if you get one that has rot in this location (the outdrive boats sometimes deteriorate around the hole for the outdrive) then a section of the inner fiberglass needs to be removed, new marine plywood installed, and a finish glass overlay installed. Thankfully I didn't have to do that. The photos should tell the story of my rather easy rot replacement for the Lancer (photos appear to be arranged new to old in this format).
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After a little clean up, the pieces were ready to go back in. The receiving area was wetted, polyurethane foaming glue was added, everything was bonded tight enough to lift a 747, and then edges were faired, a fiberglass cloth saturated in resin was applied over the top, and everything was sealed up with bilge coat.
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I didn't have dimensional lumber big enough to replace the old pieces so I laminated some to the same dimension using a water activated polyurethane.
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Here is what came out once I cut away enough fiberglass wrap to get it loose and out.
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Here is an older photo of my 1973 23 Lancer project, and the area that was rotted.
1956 17' CC Sportsman, 300-hp
1957 17' CC Sportsman, 95-hp
1966 20' CC fiberglass Sea Skiff, 210-hp+
1973 23' CC Lancer inboard project, 427/375-hp.
1966 38' CC Commander Express, 427/300-hp(2)

So many boats.........so little time.....but what a way to go!!

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