I'm still in the grinding phase but I'm trying to firm up my plans for rebuilding and I'm not sure about the best way to attach the new sole.
As far as I can tell the original sole in my boat was glassed outside of the boat (complete with side rails) then simply tabbed in at the bow and transom. It was not glassed to the hull on the sides. The middle of the sole was plywood then about 3 inches of glass with no wood. This strip was tabbed to a piece of plywood that formed the storage rail on each side (this plywood had no glass on the bottom). Then there was about 4 more inches of glass (to the edge of the hull) and then a very thin tab over the foam covering the sides. It was tabbed firmly at the bow and hull and was not attached to the stringer at all so it was kind of free floating.
I won't be able to reproduce this method (and I'm not sure I would if I could) so I need to come up with a different way. I have marked up areas in the pic below to show what I'm thinking.
The red line is where the plywood part of the original sole was. I have two ideas about how to attach the new sole. The first is to cut the new plywood to fit the dimensions of the red line and glass the edges to the bottom of the hull. The second is to cut the front triangle to fit the red line (and glass to the bottom), the middle section to fit the blue lines (and glass to the sides of the hull) and the stern section to fit the red lines (and glass to the bottom). There is a rise at the stern so I could not take the plywood all the way to the hull without raising the level.
Does anyone have any thoughts as to which method would be better or is there a third way that I haven't thought of???
Also, the original design did not have any bulkheads or braces to help support the sole, in my new design I am planning on adding some kind of additional structure (probably a bulkhead where the triangle meets the rectangle and a couple of braces further back).
Actually there is another idea that I have been toying with for added support. In the original design there is only one full height stringer above the keel (supports the sole) and 2 small stringers half way between the keel and chine (about 1 1/2" high that does not support the sole). I'm thinking I could replace the 2 small stringers with full size ones that are tall enough to help support the sole. I'm not sure how this change would affect the overall dynamics of the hull... Anyone have any thought???
As far as I can tell the original sole in my boat was glassed outside of the boat (complete with side rails) then simply tabbed in at the bow and transom. It was not glassed to the hull on the sides. The middle of the sole was plywood then about 3 inches of glass with no wood. This strip was tabbed to a piece of plywood that formed the storage rail on each side (this plywood had no glass on the bottom). Then there was about 4 more inches of glass (to the edge of the hull) and then a very thin tab over the foam covering the sides. It was tabbed firmly at the bow and hull and was not attached to the stringer at all so it was kind of free floating.
I won't be able to reproduce this method (and I'm not sure I would if I could) so I need to come up with a different way. I have marked up areas in the pic below to show what I'm thinking.
The red line is where the plywood part of the original sole was. I have two ideas about how to attach the new sole. The first is to cut the new plywood to fit the dimensions of the red line and glass the edges to the bottom of the hull. The second is to cut the front triangle to fit the red line (and glass to the bottom), the middle section to fit the blue lines (and glass to the sides of the hull) and the stern section to fit the red lines (and glass to the bottom). There is a rise at the stern so I could not take the plywood all the way to the hull without raising the level.
Does anyone have any thoughts as to which method would be better or is there a third way that I haven't thought of???
Also, the original design did not have any bulkheads or braces to help support the sole, in my new design I am planning on adding some kind of additional structure (probably a bulkhead where the triangle meets the rectangle and a couple of braces further back).
Actually there is another idea that I have been toying with for added support. In the original design there is only one full height stringer above the keel (supports the sole) and 2 small stringers half way between the keel and chine (about 1 1/2" high that does not support the sole). I'm thinking I could replace the 2 small stringers with full size ones that are tall enough to help support the sole. I'm not sure how this change would affect the overall dynamics of the hull... Anyone have any thought???
