1990 Rinker 236 sport cuddy restore-Stringers and motor mounts

[GracieBell1]

I want to let everyone know I have started a new restore. It is a 1990 rinker 236 cuddy. The engine stringers and motor mounts have to be replaced. The problem is that I have never seen a design like this. The pics show that Rinker put down a 5/8" piece of plywood flat then put the stringer next to itvertically and glassed one side in. They glasse over the plywood and up the stringer. The stringer was only glassed in on one side. Then Rinker glasses in a motor mount by standing 3 pieces on plywood one the edge then 2 more pieces flat on top and glassed over it all. Over the stringer and a piece of plywood that is the deck for that section. The engine string in NOT continuos, it stops at the first bulkhead. Then a new stringer goes from the bulkhead to the front of the gas tank. When I redid my fourwinns it had a contiuos stringer from the transom to the cuddy. The wood in the stringer and motor mount were sitting about a 1/2 off of the hull and glassed in. THis Rinker design is crazy. It looked as if the sringer was sitting directly on the hull and the motor mout has a big oiece of ply for the motor mount base glued to the hull then glassed over and up the stringer on one side only. SHould I change this to the Fourwinns design or replace it exactly the way it is. The current Rinker design never failed and was fully wet and rotted. Any input or pics from other Rinkers woudl be great. Thanks in advance.

 

[alldodge]

Ah the 236, was Rinker's trial step into the cheap go-fast world, the point was cheap. Sure liked the looks of them, but as with all the low cost builders, quality was not the goal.

As for your issue, I would lean to making it better then original but still trying to keep it as light as possible. Without seeing everything, I would suggest making the stringers in similar to original. The stringers on my Formula just went from the transom to the fuel tank bulk head. Used 2 layers of 3/4 and several layers of glass and resin.

The stringers then ran from either side of the fuel tank up. Just lay your new ones in and do a better glass job. The rot happens when water makes it into unprotected wood. Water comes from a crack in the hull, transom seal, drilling holes no sealed correctly, or rain. So if it is sealed better no water should make it in.

 

[GracieBell1]

I have to post some additional pictures but they are over 2mb each. I will have to take some that are less in quality. The glass work onthis boat is terrible. it bubbles out from the wood, is resin starved and did not seal off any water from the wood core. It may be easier to dig out the wood and epoxy new wood in the existing fiberglass skins. Then go over them with a couple layers of 1708. I hate to cut everything out. I have also thought about the liquid that I can pore in if I dig out the wood. The stringer system is not one continuos run. It is three smaller stringers that go from transom to bulkhead. Then from bulkhead to bulkhead. On one side it is all rotted to the second bulkhead. On the other side it is only from the transom to the first bulkhead. Both motor mounts are also rotted.

 

[jbcurt00]

Pix posting tutorial http://forums.iboats.com/forum/forum-rules-and-guidelines/9938375-photo-upload-tutorial

I prefer option #3

 

[GracieBell1]

No Title

So I have included some pictures of the stringers in my Rinker 236.I have two questions I would like some feedback on. If you look at the motor mount pictures you will notice that when rinker build the string/motor mount they glued down a piece of plywood to the hull. Then they glassed over the plywood and up the stringer (not shown). They did this on the motor mount side of the stringer and had no glass at all on the other side. Also, the piece of plywood they glued to the hull was about 6 inches longer than the mount(see pic). It serves no purpose and only reduces the surface area that the glass would attach to on the hull. The fourwinns I have did not have this design they had a few pieces of ply glued together then suspended off the hull while it was glassed over. On this Rinker the wood touched the hull at all points. Even the stringers were layed directly on the hull then glassed over. Should I do it the same way Ringer did or change it? also, If I do it the way Rinker did, do I need that extra 6 inches of ply that extends past the motormount?
The next question is can I dig out the rotted wood and insert new plywwod and glue it to the existing glass. Then lay two layers of 1708 over that.
Or Can I just lay 2 or 3 layers of 1708 and leave the rotted wood. Basically compesating for the wood by adding more glass? I just hate to pull all of the wood and grind out all of the glass. I even though of cutting out one side of the glass, gluing in a new stringer then glassing over it on the one side.
The main concern is the motormount. It just seems like a very sloppy design. But it has worked since 1990 when the boat was build.

 

[GracieBell1]

If you look close on teh motormount pics you will notice the plywood glued to the hull. Then you can see the glass on to and where I cut it when I removed the stringer that was up against the mount. The glass went over the plywood on the hull, then up the stringer to the top. going over the plywood then up the stringer seems to reduce the surface area on the hull that the glass would attach to. The more logical way would seem to tab the stringer to the hull then glue down the plywood and start the motormount on top of that. I hope my explaination makes sense.

 

[GracieBell1]

No Title

Notice n the first and third pic the plywood on the hull then the glass over it. The strnger was up against the mount. In the second pic you will notice on the lft how Rinker extended the plywood past the mount about 6 inches. Both motormounts were done like this. I don't know what the benefit for doing this is.

 

[GracieBell1]

ONDARVR or Oops?

 

[alldodge]

It took me a bit to figure out which end was which, but think I have it so my pic is for others to maybe make it easier. My opinion of why and how is; Rinker has made a box beam to support the motor and transfer the thrust of the drive thru the hull. The reason for glassing down the first piece to the deck is to prove more to mount against. Reason for the six inch drop is the engine sits lower then the deck.

You need to forget everything about digging rotten wood out and gluing new wood back in to old glass, also do not leave any of the rotted in. If any rot is left behind it will continue to rot until there is nothing left but dust, and if it makes it's way into the new wood it will start rotting it.

You can make this better then Rinker did but I would suggest making it look original. The reason to make it look original is there were very few of these made, and from what your seeing they were not made very well. So in time a well restored 236 could be worth more.

I would suggest making a new box beam with maybe and additional layer, but at least with more glass.

 

[GracieBell1]

I thought about the box beam idea but discounted it because the bottom piece of plywood is below the layer of glass used to fasten the wood stringer to the hull. I would think that RInker should have tabbed the stringer in then glued down the plywood to the hull and build the mount off of that. Then it would be a box beam. Now its just a block of plywood. Basically if the mount is being pulled on by the force of the engine it will only be pulling on the fiberglass that is over the piece of plywood glued to the hull. At the very lease I plan on cutting the plywood to the same lenghth as the actual mount. Instead of having a 6 inch tail. That tail basically reduces the sureface of the hull that I would be glasing the stringer to.

 

[GracieBell1]

My fourwinns had the stringer tabbed to the hull about 3 inches then the mount was built up against the stringer.

 

[GracieBell1]

I plane on removing and replacing as I go. Last time I measure everything and then ripped it all out. It took a lot of time to get everything back in at the correct dimesions. This time I am taking the measurements but removing each section and replacing as I go forward. I think this will allow me to go much faster on the rebuild. Basically removing a stringer then tabbing in the new one. Then go to the next section. The motormount stringer had no glass or tabbing on the back side. totally exposed to the water that would seep in. Then they layed a piece of plywood over the stringer for the deck and glassed the hell out of it. I would say it had 1/4 of glass on it.

 

[GracieBell1]

Both engine stringers and mounts are bad. But the center stringer(long one) on the driver side is good but the glass work is terrible. I plan on leaving the stringer and glass, sanding and laying 2 layers of 1708 over it. The other stringers I was thinking about only removinng the inner half of the glass and gluing the new wood to the existing back side of the glass with epoxy then glassing in 1708 on the inside and over the old glass. This will save a huge amount of time and expense.

 

[alldodge]

How much of the transom are you going to replace?

 

[GracieBell1]

The transom is only a 2x3 section that has wood with glass over it. I drilled it in a couple of spots and the wood seemed dry. I will check it again when i take off the gimble housing. The two engine stringers do not go against the wood section of the transom. They extend to the stern but are to the rigjt and left of the transom.

 

[Woodonglass]

Both engine stringers and mounts are bad. But the center stringer(long one) on the driver side is good but the glass work is terrible. I plan on leaving the stringer and glass, sanding and laying 2 layers of 1708 over it. The other stringers I was thinking about only removinng the inner half of the glass and gluing the new wood to the existing back side of the glass with epoxy then glassing in 1708 on the inside and over the old glass. This will save a huge amount of time and expense.

This is NOT a good plan. You've come this far, you should replace the stringer!!! Just an Old Dumb Okies EXPERIENCED, opinion!!! Do with it as you see fit

 

[GracieBell1]

Now Wood, why must you point out the obvious? But your right it will really be minimal time to do so. The real thin I want to do is only take out half of the skin, excavate the wood and glue new wood in place. This helps me put everything back the way it was. Like a template. I would still measure everything for record.

 

[Woodonglass]

Uhmm that won't work either unless the Glass is really thick. It's really important that the wood and Glass are bonded well together since the wood IS part of the structural integrity of the stringer. If the Glass was 1/4" thick then the wood core wouldn't be quite as important. Again, you're free to do as you wish but what you're proposing just isn't a good method, IMHO.

 

[GracieBell1]

Actually the glass is 1/4" thick or more over the motor mount and stringer. On the outside stringer the glass is thinner probably 1/8". I am sure I will cut it all out as I go.

 

[GracieBell1]

Question...When removing the glass from my motor mounts and stringer. I noticed that the glass was almost 1/4" thick. To get this thickness in a roving weve/csm schedule it would be mat/roving/mat/roving/mat/mat. What woudl it be with 1708, as I am thinking of using this? Thanks