Stringer/Transom area question

[JohnB]

I started the "pull apart" this morning on a 23 Sceptre, in preperation of a bracket and closed transom. This boat must of been built on New Years Day, ugggghh, it's ugly.

When I pulled the floor up, I noticed that one of the 2 pieces that are mounted just inside the stringers had broken loose. These are close to 3' long each, on each side, about 8" wide, and 5" high. The other side was barely hanging on, it took me about 2 min to pry it loose. From the looks of things, they have been loose for many years. The kicker is they weighed at least 75 pounds each, and were solid/hard. This piece sits just inside of the stringers, and at one time might of been foam???

Question, are these structural, and do I need to put something back in their place. I don't think they have been doing anything but adding weight to the back of the boat for many years. I like the idea of having the extra room for the new in floor fish box, and leaving them out, but I want to make sure they weren't there for any structural purpose. The only thing I could think of, was maybe the live well rest on top of them??? to give support?

This is the second time this month I have run into this. Saw it on a Savage earlier this month. These were put in after the hull and stringers were laid up, and after they shot the inside of the hull with gel-coat. They did not prep the glass before they shot gelcoat/paint on the inside, and the gelcoat gave way, and everything popped loose. The stringer is also loose on the port side, and I am going to have to pull the gas tank to fix it, and check the other side. They did a lousy job of glassing it to begin with, I will shoot some pictures. Also, all the wood underneath the gas tank, and the wood in the back of it is shot. The gas tank seems to be wider than the clearance through the cap. Has anyone run into this? do you tilt it up on it's side to get it out?

I can't wait to see what the transom looks like inside