Stringer rebuilt question

[nightvision]

Hi all,<br />I'm in the process of restoring the 17 foot trihull fiberglass boat and have a couple questions. The floor board and stringers are all rotted pretty good. The plan is take the top half off and rebuilt the entire stringer system and floor board (I have never done this before).<br /><br />There are three stringers in the middle of the the boat. The three stringer are about one foot apart and they are braced together. There were also some floation foam in these compartment. <br /><br />Here is my question. When I rebuilt the stringer and glass in the floor, should I expect the compartments below the floor board to be bone dry when the boat is in the water? Is it common to have water in these compartment, I believe it's call the bilge? How much floation foam should I put in there?<br /><br />Thanks.

 

[crab bait]

Re: Stringer rebuilt question

yes,, seal it up an water will still find a way.. mostly thru 'well sealed/caulked' floor penetrations.. <br /><br />just make sure to put 'mouse holes' in the cross<br />members so water gets out..<br /><br />put but the same ammount of foam..

 

[JasonJ]

Re: Stringer rebuilt question

The only time water ever gets in my boat is if it comes off of someone who was swimming and got back in the boat (my boat stays in the water from late May to mid September). Keep it covered when not in use, make sure all thru-hull hardware is sealed. make sure there is no damaged areas to the hull, and you should be fine. I put 16 cubic feet of foam in my 16.5 tri-hull, that is enough for that size of boat.

 

[mariahcrazy]

Re: Stringer rebuilt question

JasonJ, where can I get the fowm for the floor?

 

[CTD]

Re: Stringer rebuilt question

http://www.uscomposites.com/ has the best prices I have found.