TOPIC: Replacing rotten wood with foam an fiberglass

Get a cup of coffee and see the video...

One section was edited out of sequence, but still a good, if long, video for Classic Fiberglass boaters.

What a cool system.... It seems too good to be true.. What would the downside be (beside the fear of soggy stringers).... Inexpensive too from what I've seen.

You might want to re-think the "wonders of fiberglass stringers." The down side is that there's not a damned thing to bolt/screw to! I just finished re-doing the interior and re-powering a boat that had the "new and improved fiberglass stringers." Fastening the seats and fabricating/mounting aluminum L-channels to mount the V8 engine was a giant pain in the butt! I'll take wood any day...white oak, mahogany, even cypress. I'll coat it with CPES and wrap it in a fiberglass cocoon but wooden stringers are going into all the boats I restore. Most have lasted fifty years. If they only last another 50 years before they have to be redone, fine. Guys in 2063 will need to earn a living too!

Nautilus wrote:

You might want to re-think the "wonders of fiberglass stringers." The down side is that there's not a damned thing to bolt/screw to! I just finished re-doing the interior and re-powering a boat that had the "new and improved fiberglass stringers." Fastening the seats and fabricating/mounting aluminum L-channels to mount the V8 engine was a giant pain in the butt! I'll take wood any day...white oak, mahogany, even cypress. I'll coat it with CPES and wrap it in a fiberglass cocoon but wooden stringers are going into all the boats I restore. Most have lasted fifty years. If they only last another 50 years before they have to be redone, fine. Guys in 2063 will need to earn a living too!

Good point...

I totally agree. The added expense of creating composite stringers just so someone 50 years from now won't have to worry about it is not justified in my opinion. Most people won't own a boat for that long. If they do, and if they take proper care and maintain it properly, the wooden stringers and Transom will still be functional.

Nautilus wrote:

You might want to re-think the "wonders of fiberglass stringers." The down side is that there's not a damned thing to bolt/screw to! I just finished re-doing the interior and re-powering a boat that had the "new and improved fiberglass stringers." Fastening the seats and fabricating/mounting aluminum L-channels to mount the V8 engine was a giant pain in the butt! I'll take wood any day...white oak, mahogany, even cypress. I'll coat it with CPES and wrap it in a fiberglass cocoon but wooden stringers are going into all the boats I restore. Most have lasted fifty years. If they only last another 50 years before they have to be redone, fine. Guys in 2063 will need to earn a living too!

Right on Jan... Give me wood any day.