1987 S23 Floor and Stringers

How big of an area? Small spaces the Dremel may work? Bigger areas will go faster with a grinder. If you get a chance it will be well worth your time to watch both Teal (Onboard Lifestyle) and or Mads(Sail life) Refitting Athena. Do a search on the channel and you will find them talking a lot about this subject. I have seen them mostly use grinders but also a couple of times a Dremel like tool for smaller areas'. Also for a lot better advice than I can give 1. Classic Mako 2. The Hull Truth (How to section). You will find people there that have done what you are doing many times over. Good luck, I am excited to see your progress. JC
 
Thanks JC I'm going to look at the Athena videos today and bookmark the hull truth section you mentioned. Got some pads for my grinder so ill start that this evening. I'll take some pictures and post them at some point tonight.
 
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Now's the perfect time to assess the condition of your Alpha transom mount for the condition of things like shift cable, cooling water lines, gimbal bearing, and steering shaft seal/bushings. Except for the gimbal bearing (it can be done anytime), those items are all a whole bunch easier to deal with while the engine's out.
 
Already have the bellows kit and new lines and the steering kit is also on the way. I figured I'm going through the trouble to take it out it'll be serviced as well. Doing the top end of the motor while I'm at it with new manifolds risers and fuel system. No point half assing.

Pictures will have to wait dropped a u joint on the way home and had to fix that instead.
 
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While a complete rebuild is possible, you really should think hard about taking a loss and moving on. When you are done the boat will not be worth very much at all. Most of your cost and Time and effort will not make the boat worth much more than you paid for it and that is if you do a really good job. So if you plan on upgrading in a couple years, don’t do this. You won’t be boating until you’re done and will be paying money that you won’t get back.

Friscoboaters project was an attempt to make a living as a YouTuber. He spent an enormous amount of time and money and hoped he would recoup it via YouTube. I wish he would post what he sold the boat for to really open eyes.
 
Check out products from the Boat Doctor in Seattle. They have some items that can replace the wood, but more wood requires less of their product which is spendy. BUT, if you use their product there won't be any wood to replace. I'm doing the same with an $800 ski boat. The outside looks brand new, runs like a top, but needs two new stringers. We are just now peeling the floor up.
 
It's not about the money for me or the time or taking a loss, I like the boat and consider it worth the effort to breathe some life back into it.

Side note truck has been kicking my ass so I haven't gotten back into the gutting for a few days but I'm about done with the truck and will be right back at it.
 
SSF, Pay no attention to the nay Sayers. If this is a passion of yours go for it. The lessons you will learn now will bode well for your future. I have a good friend that bought a 28' 1984 Class A RV. He paid very little for it. He very slowly restored it. It became a labor of love. He will never recoup the money and time but they just got back from doing a 5000 mile trip of the west etc... The memories they made are priceless.
 
“I'm sort of stuck but not stuck, is there a better method to get what seems like structural adhesive that the stringers were bedded in up? I guess when they were using it they just slopped it everywhere since there are piles all over the place and the chisel is a pain in the butt and slowwww because i don't want to damage the hull.”

Use one of those oscillating trim cutters, that is my plan. It should cut down on a lot of dust.
 
Jasun said:
Use one of those oscillating trim cutters, that is my plan. It should cut down on a lot of dust.
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Those things are the bees knees! Get the thin flat blade attachment for beautiful flush cuts.
 
SSFlook1985 said:
Thanks for the replies and other sources to find information. I used a carbide hole saw and hit the motor mounts, came out with black wood, so the motor will have to come out, i did call a few rental places locally to see about a hoist but none have one tall enough to get over the height of the stern. So that'll be something I have to think about, dad has a backhoe so that might be the route I go to pull the motor. Got into digging foam out and just about every inch is a sponge that just gushed water when I stuck it with a pry bar to get it out. I have a professional coming tomorrow afternoon to fully assess the transom so I reckon I will update again tomorrow after he comes.
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I went down to harbor freight and picked up a chain hoist then used a tree limb. Then lowered it down on a trailer. Worked perfectly and was cheap to do. I'm in the same boat with the stringers and all. I made up my mind I'm all in.
 
We drilled some holes in my sons 86 Marlin ski boat to check the stringers. They are rotted pretty bad, but you can drill bigger holes, poor some penetrating epoxy in (Expensive! But cheaper than labor to get the wood out and a whole lot easier!) layers and start building up the stringer. It's expensive stuff, but by the time we dig OUT all of the wood, this will be a whole lot easier. When we get it built up and cured, then we'll unbolt the prop shaft and align the motor. Once aligned, we'll drill new holes for the bolts holding the plates for the motor mounts and then start figuring how to get the floor back down. The nice part about the epoxy is it will NEVER rot and will be strong enough to replace the missing wood. We'll use the same stuff to coat the other stringer that looks brand new against one side and rebuild the other little string along the other side wall (not the mains) and there will be very little wood in this boat!
 
I replaced the rear 2/3 of the lower deck and stringer system in ours in the off season last winter. It also included the engine bed and a small section of the transom. We are quite a bit further north and temps were definitely a challenge. Closing in an area with all the fumes was not an option obviously. What really helped, was tarping off the hull from the rub rails to the ground and controlling the heat under it. The glassing was easy to compensate for but the 2 part floatation is very finicky with it's expansion rate and temps.
 
Thornton69 said:
I replaced the rear 2/3 of the lower deck and stringer system in ours in the off season last winter. It also included the engine bed and a small section of the transom. We are quite a bit further north and temps were definitely a challenge. Closing in an area with all the fumes was not an option obviously. What really helped, was tarping off the hull from the rub rails to the ground and controlling the heat under it. The glassing was easy to compensate for but the 2 part floatation is very finicky with it's expansion rate and temps.
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The previous repairs on this boat didn't have holes cut for the foam. It appears they mixed it and screw it down. Later on, the foam pushed the floor up! That caused water to get in the stringers and all kinds of wood rot issues. So we're handling the stringers, removing the foam and replacing it all I hope. It's not been to bad getting it all out, but we're now ready to start rebuilding the stringers and that will take some time to pour some epoxy and then wait for it to cure and add another layer. Maybe it's a mistake, but the stringers have been gone for the past 3 years, so ANYTHING is better than just the fiberglass holding it together!
 
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