No stringers in unknown 15ft speed boat

Ben73west

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Mar 30, 2020
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Hello, I have recently joined the community and come with questions about my newly purchased boat. The boat is a 15ft ski/speed boat which I have been told is a fibertron, similar to a checkmate, have seen them called a checkmate aswell. However there is almost no information on them. It's a 15ft boat with 90hp johnson on it (a bit overpowered, but should fun). First, if someone could help identify it that be great.

Second I have stripped the rotten deck out of the boat, and all of the saturated foam, and found NOTHING. No stringers, nothing. Is this normal? Should I glass in new stringers?

Very curious about this mystery boat, have attached a photo of the boat. Supposed to have been made in Canada, where I also live.

Cheers
 

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Chris1956

Supreme Mariner
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Mar 25, 2004
Messages
28,337
Maybe the hull is cored? See if you can measure from top of gunwale to hull on inside and outside. If you see a inch or more of thickness, the hull may have a core that makes it strong, eliminating the need for stringers.
 

Scott Danforth

Grumpy Vintage Moderator still playing with boats
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Jul 23, 2011
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50,996
most likely the hull is cored. however they used balsa as the core material for many of those types of boats in the late 60's and 70's

that looks similar to my Hydrostream project that I had for a few days about 20 years ago.... it had a cored hull that was rotten and I had to pass it along to someone more willing than me to fix that mess
 

archbuilder

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Sep 12, 2009
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Cool boat, reminds me a of my Sleekcraft. Very fun little boats! You might try looking in FiberGlassics Library, they have a lot of sales brochures and old literature on a variety of boats.
 

Ben73west

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Mar 30, 2020
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Thank you for the responses, I dont believe my boat Is cored. From what I understand, there is supposed to be stringers in the boat.
now the question is where? Where and what designe of stringer should I put in, also how many?
looking to keep the boat light, but rigid.
should I make a bulkhead to support the ski pylon mount?
do I need to put in foam again? Where?

The hull does have a pad that runs 8ft or so along the bottom of the boat if that helps.

I also think my boat is 14ft long if that helps someone identify it.

Thanks
 

racerone

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Dec 28, 2013
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38,802
Another 6 pictures might help some with the -----" I had one just like it "----It might jog a memory.--------
 

archbuilder

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Sep 12, 2009
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Your boat is almost identical in size and style as my sleekcraft. I have a link in the signature below. Be warned it is a long thread, but you can scroll through and pick up a lot from the pics. It has a single stringer down the middle and has performed flawlessly for about 10 years of abuse. As the others have mentioned, the more pictures we have the better we can understand your boat and what needs to be done to it. I used seacast composite for my stringer and transom, but plenty of people are successful with wood.
 

racerone

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Dec 28, 2013
Messages
38,802
I am using light weight composites / West System epoxy on my project.----Transom / stringers / ribs and floor.
 

Ben73west

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Mar 30, 2020
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I am trying to upload pictures, however it says I have a 2mb pixel limit. This limit makes it virtually impossible to see any kind of detail that would be useful. Is there a way around this?
 
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