Thread: 1996 sprint caps off

Going back with a composite deck glassed well on each side will help prevent the condensation penetration.

Composite floor, yeppers. Ain't no wood going back in for sure. Plus, there will be some sort of foam under the floor, but it likely won't be spray foam. I now have an aversion to spray foam, yuck! I have to look for a foam that resists absorbing any water (if even available), and at least will shed it. Maybe board foam foam from the home depot designed for water contact. I'll cut it to fit vertically so water can flow down, and I'll try to do something to keep it just off the actual floor, so it never sits in water. Maybe even cap the top edge of that foam somehow to keep water off that top edge. An aluminum tape might work to cover that top edge, dono. And I'll have drain holes at the bottom, transom end of the stringers for drainage. At least that's what I'm thinking now. Keep watching y'all, we will see what happens.

Slab, that 1708-S Glass I have is the stuff for your stringers. Conforms great. Best to use Epoxy on the stringers going back too. Just reminding you I have most of a roll.

I posted this video on another thread but it belonged here too:





Watch till the end, those stringers at the front of the boat are rotten for sure.

Watched it yesterday! YUCKY

The interesting thing is the stringers on a well made boat is intended to be just the forms for the fiberglass to be molded over. If they rot, no worries as it is the fiberglass Waffle shape that does all the reinforcement. Take a look at the Phoenix as well as many other quality manufactured boats there is no wood or any other "Molding Filler" within the stringer system. Phoenix videos are on YouTube, you can see they have a mold for their stringer system, one of the best I have seen (I hold a Unlimited Chief Engineers License) since no "Hard Lines" are created to fracture the Hull Skin against. Phoenix fills theirs with flotation foam. Now Slab's boat the builders just didn't put much glass on the stringers much like all the Champions I was paid Mega Bucks to fix. Age alone will wet out any foam flotation, you can't stop it unless the boat is garage kept. You can only slow it down. Condensation has a very tenacious way of penetrating most substrates. The skin on the expanding foams is one of the best at resisting condensation but it still makes it in over time. Also not discussed is how much added "Structure Strength" that foam shoveled out added to the hull, torsional stresses especially are dampened by the foam to the point of almost total arrest. Unfortunately due to the lack of Transverse structure (Transverse Bulkheads) twisting is allowed. Back to the Phoenix, their Waffle Stringer design is well engineered for the torsional stresses applied to the hull as they use well placed Transverse support in their design. Due to the depth of the stringers you can see the hull has a very nice V from the inside and Slab this is a bright line moment to add a bit of transverse structural support. Just my

Bow floor cut open.

New one I did yesterday.