How to tell if boat stringers are bad

You will be able to discern between damaged and undamaged material by feel and sound. In power boats stringers provide the majority of the longitudinal hull resistance to bending in the vertical plane.

Drill a hole in the stringers to see if the wood is rotted.

How to tell if boat stringers are bad. A common scenario is wood rot from moisture getting under the glass. The stringers are through bolted and over time sitting water may sneak past one or all of the fasteners. Look for soft spots not just on the stringers but everywhere.

Tapping a quarter all over the hull works pretty good. How do you know if your boat stringers are bad. Taking a hole saw and opening the floor under the observers seat and then removing the foam will tell you if the foam is wet.

You can get a look at the main stringer too. You can buy a plastic access cover for about 10 and leave the access hole. If the foam is dry you can fix spots.

Demonstration of what a disbond is and how to do a test to determine if your wood stringers are rotten. Only way i know is to put a hole in the floor. You can drill a small hole and if you hit a stringer you will know check the shavings from the drilling if they look rotted or are damp then there is a high possibility you will need some stringer work.

Also banging onthe floor it will sound a little different more hollow hope this helps some at least. One way to check is to use a No. 2 cross tip screw driver an ice pick and a hammer.

Hold the screw driver by the tip and bang the handle along the stringers and floor. You will be able to discern between damaged and undamaged material by feel and sound. When you find a suspect area try to poke the ice pick through the glass.

Wet readings on stringers mean the boat hull is junk. If that were the case then most every boat with wood stringers would be junked. The fact is most have moisture levels which are higher than when the stringers were installed.

Take care to prevent rot and the boat can live on. My Gimbal bearing and engine coupler went bad leading us to find rotted stringers in my boat. Drill a hole in the stringers to see if the wood is rotted.

If they are not simply fill the hole with resin. If they are have fun putting new ones in. That being said a boat that was well cared for and has had a diligent owner can beat the statistics very easily.

So no at 15 years old a boats stringers are not rotten by default. As far as alternatives to wood there are companies that make foam core stringers but they can absorb water swell freeze or deform. I know in IO if the transom is rotted you can actually pull your outdrive off the back or twist and crack the gel coat and fiberglass.

But since this is an inboardthe pressure is more on the bottom part of the boat. Also I know if the motor has soft stringers under itit can twist and screw a lot up. You should also inspect the core of your stringers.

Those with wooden cores are easy to check for damage and you look out for pretty much the same things as with wooden stringers. Once you find damaged stringers you should assess the extent of the damage. Under the floors we can determine the amount of rotting we will run into with our stringers.

Today we are pulling out the flooring in our boat from hell. If forward of the engine room then maybe not a rush item you have several options. The easiest way is to cut off the top glass roving to expose the wood and let the damp wood dry remove any crumbling wood then use CPES to treat the bad wood fill with epoxy and then cover with a new glass covering.

Boat stringers help to support heavy structures such as the engine but also supports things like the cockpit. A boat in most cases is placed under a lot of stress and therefore requires careful maintenance. Replacement of boat stringers might be needed if it has been irreparably damaged.

The stringers actually have a couple of glassed-in arches in the bottom so that all the water is released completely. Water spreads across the whole bottom of the boat evenly. I just went out to check and the hull is completely dry inside with only a couple of puddles on top of the foam to tell that the hull had been full of water.

Look at and around the bolts that go thu the transom they connect the stringers and braces from the bottom of the boat to the transom not talking about the motor bolts these are usually 12 or more 14 bolts with a Phillips head on the outside of boat a bad transom will freeze and swell up over the winter and bend the outer skin of the boat. If youre hearing a deep thup thup thup thats bad For a small boat a simple tack hammer will do just grind down the sharp corners to avoid chipping the gelcoat says Group. Larger boats might require a hammer with more heft to sound through a thicker outer laminate.

In power boats stringers provide the majority of the longitudinal hull resistance to bending in the vertical plane. Its the primary reason why in this day when all is known how to build a good boat bad boats are still being built. Give the customer what he wants even if the product is going to fall apart.

The principles of. It may need a deck but shouldnt need much more than that. I have seen some stuff from bad boat dealers that would make a patch to get the boat out of the dealer ship.

I bought a scooter a few years back that was gelcoated over a rotted deck. In fiberglass boats you will find that most often stringers are composed of a core material overlaid with a fiberglass skin. The skin usually extends a few inches on either side of the stringer.

This skin extension or tabbing ties the stringer to the hull or bulkheads and spreads the load of the stringer over a larger area. If you dont it properly you could find yourself responsible for your familyfriends deaths - would you want that on your conscience. In my opinion that particular boat should never see water again.

Sorry to be so blunt and it is only my opinion. I think the seller wheelchair bound or not saw you coming - he wouldnt have got 99p for it on eBay. Experienced sports boat owners will know that their boat stringers the strips attached to the boat bottom to stabilize the boat and keep the hull from twisting or cracking may eventually become broken or rotted and will need to be replaced or supported.

You as the boat owner can replace or add new support to these stringers.