Replacing or repairing rotten stringers?

B

BlueSimplicity

New Member
May 11, 2013
13
Lake Lanier
Boat Info
19' Sea Ray
Engines
4 cylinder Mercruiser
Hello, I just got my first boat a 1986 Sea ray 19'. It has some soft spots and today when i looked at it the pieces that the rotten plywood is nailed into is also horribly rotten. I am new to boats so I have no idea how bad this is or hard it is to fix. Or how to fix it. Does anyone have any good links/advice/instructions on how I can repair this? Thank you so much!
 
A rotten boat is an unsafe boat. Too bad you got a project. It's decision time. Scrap or fix. There are some folks on here that can help you. Check out Friscoboater as he is an expert.




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Get a hold of west systems fiberglass boat repair manual.

Shows stringers, coring and everything you (n)ever wanted to have to know :D
 
If the stringers are bad chances are that the transom is too - Will probably need a complete gut & re-build. Over at i-boats they have a TON of restoration stuff with a lot of guys that are in your shoes, Good luck & don't plan on being on the water this season but plan on a lot of $$$ to get it in good shape.

LK
 
check out bateau.com forum - they have a entire section on boat restoration and a how to section
 
If you're handy and don't mind taking on a pretty invasive project, and have a place to do it that is best case covered where you can leave the project without having to move the boat, you could have a real nice boat when the project is done. I don't know how much you spent for the boat, but re selling may not get you your money back. But if you don't want to take on a major project it may the best decision. Take it as a learning experience on your next boat purchase and be more thorough in your due diligence. Good Luck either way.
 
I don't mind taking on a new project at all. Only question is how unsafe is it to take out till winter? It won't randomly break in half and kill everyone in it right? And how long would it take to repair the boat if I put about 10 hours a day into it to fix it? I love working on things and new projects.
 
Depending on the level of finish I have heard people having over 100 hours on a rebuild. Yes, it could result in catastrophic failure. If I knew my boat was rotten I would leave it on the trailer until fixed or replaced. My family and loved ones are too important to take a chance.




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Okay thank you for the advice. I just don;t have any place where I can work on it. It is a 19' Sea Ray maybe I can find a boat shop that can do it for cheap?
 
"For cheap": No such thing. You could buy a similar boat in good repair for less than what it would cost to fix the stringers/etc. You are talking about MANY MANY hours of tear-out, refurb and refit. Lots of fiberglass, and resin, no small amount of marine plywood. You could probably almost buy a NEW boat for what someone would charge to fix the one you have.
 
BlueSimplicity said:
Okay thank you for the advice. I just don;t have any place where I can work on it. It is a 19' Sea Ray maybe I can find a boat shop that can do it for cheap?
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The boat is small enough that you may be able to park it at your home and build a temp. cover for it and work under that while you rebuild the hull. Do you have any idea as to how much decay is down there? That you may not truly know until you start the repair process. As noted above on a boat that age, if you want to restore it, you will better off finacially if you do the work yourself. It can get prohibitively expsnsive to have it done. You could buy all the tools and parts for the temp cover and parts and still be cheaper than having a shop do it. I wish you luck and hope you can get her restored.
 
BlueSimplicity said:
Okay thank you for the advice. I just don;t have any place where I can work on it. It is a 19' Sea Ray maybe I can find a boat shop that can do it for cheap?
Click to expand...

If it's cheap it will not be any better than what you have. If you want it done right, Do it yourself or pay a pro to do it for big $$$

LK
 
1990-270-da-lover said:
The boat is small enough that you may be able to park it at your home and build a temp. cover for it and work under that while you rebuild the hull. Do you have any idea as to how much decay is down there? That you may not truly know until you start the repair process. As noted above on a boat that age, if you want to restore it, you will better off finacially if you do the work yourself. It can get prohibitively expsnsive to have it done. You could buy all the tools and parts for the temp cover and parts and still be cheaper than having a shop do it. I wish you luck and hope you can get her restored.
Click to expand...


+1 on that.

I am currently in the middle of replacing cabin flooring that was rotted in our 270DA and working under a temporary cover next to the house.
Second go- around as transom was replaced back in 2009. I did a full story on that which may have some helpful information, especially when it come to gathering up supplies.
Here is a link to the post: http://clubsearay.com/showthread.php/23289-1985-SRV270DA-Restoration

The transom took me about 3 months from start to finish. That is with only being able to work on it after work a few days a week and part of the weekends.

If you choose to tackle the project, take your time and enjoy it. Best of Luck!
 
For those of you experiencing rotten stringers, the fix can be cost prohibitive. Frisco boater does a very good job of documenting all that is required. He even admits if he made a few wrong turns in his restoration of a 1995 Sea Ray 220 bowrider. The only areas I disagree with Frisco boater is on his selection of wood and fiberglass resin. If I encountered any dry rot in the floor or transom, I would gut the boat as shown on his website. However, he selected polyester resin instead of epoxy resin because of cost. He also selected plywood for his replacement stringer material, and it was not marine grade plywood- again based on cost. I have been a classic wood boat owner for 30 years, but will be transitioning into a Sea Ray as soon as my Chris Craft Capri sells- too much maintenance. Anyway, when doing any wood replacement in my Chris, we only use white oak- not red oak, too acidic. The white oak in 1 X 12 x 20 is non- acidic and will hold up much better than plywood. After all cutting and mock up work, the white oak must be steamed to kill bacteria. White oak planks are solid, and with proper exopy resin encapsulation, will last much longer than plywood- perhaps 2 to 3 times longer! If you are not handy working with wood or fiberglass cloth and resins, you will have to pay someone to do this building and replacement for you. Look at what Frisco Boater did, and the hours it took from start to finish. A good boat wright will get $80 to $120 an hour, plus the cost of resin, hardener, chop strand, cloth, and misc. supplies and protective gear. This is why inspections are so important. Imagine you spent "only" $10K on a 1996 SR230 bowrider. It is a 24 year old boat with lots of concealed below deck dry rot. Supplies including white oak planking will easily exceed $5,000 and 100 hours at $100 per hour is $10,000. Then there are the stern drive replacement bearings, seals, boots and gaskets. Hopefully no motor work is needed... hopefully. You are easily over $15,000 to $16,000 in repairs on top of your purchase price of say $10,000. You have totaled out the boat because I do not believe there is a 1996 SR 230 worth $25,000 to $26,000. Also remember like in real estate, in some states, you must declare all known defects to a potential buyer, and either way, you are in trouble with this boat. All good reasons to have a knowledgeable inspection before purchasing.
 
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