I took a page out of Strick's Book

[warthog5]

I finally decided how I was going to finsih off the bildge. I needed more support for the floor and more support for the transom. I had some 6ft long 2X10's laying around, but I needed to make the mold 4in wide. I ripped up a 2X4 to use as a spacer. Then I made a little piece to seal the end. I ran the beam thru the jointer to even the top surface out and then ran the router down the thing to round over the top edge. Then I sealed it all up with Duct tape, because I'm going to vacuum bag the piece. I then wraped the beam with visqueen and taped the edges of that down. That will act as a release film. I cut 2 pieces of roven woven stich mat 22X50in and another piece 8X50in. I laid it out on the floor on visqueen and wetted the 1st piece out and laid the next big piece on top of that and wet it out. I picked that mess up and positioned it on the mold, then wet the small piece out and positioned it on the top edge of the mold. Layed the Peel Ply on top of all the glass and then a piece of bleader cloth. I stuck the port on the top of the beam and wraped the whole mess with another piece of visqueen and sealed it all down with Duct Tape. Then I cut a slot thru the visqueen in the middle of the port and hooked up the vacuum. these pieces that I make up will extend the existing stringers in height.

[pogden]

Warthog,

In the last pic the stringer farthest away(port side) is up to the deck, but the other two are shorter...so you are going to raise them all up to the same height?? and extend them to the transom??

[warthog5]

That is correct. Your looking at a '73 231 Mako in the last pix.
The same thing would apply to any boat that you wanted to build fiberglass stringers for.
I will run a piece of the roven woven stich mat down the sides of the existing stringers and up to the edge of the 3rd layer that is on the top and comes down the sides about 1 1/2 to 3in on each side.

[strick]

That looks more high tech then the way I did it.... but what else would I expect from someone as talented as you Bobby. Good work and keep those pics coming. [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Strick

[warthog5]

There is a lot of waste in vacuum bagging. The peel ply and bleader cloth [white] are saturated with resign. Now it get's thrown away.



The part off the mold.



I was able to make 2 of the parts yesterday. Before and after shot.



Fitted to the boat.

[warthog5]

A little more progress today. I got the last part off the mold and stripped the peel ply off of it and the other small one. Then I started fitting the small one. They are very close. just a little touchup with a grinder here and there. I have to cut the holes on the starboard one to allow the rigging tubes to come thru. It's to HOT to be grinding fiberglass. 92deg in the shop.

[strick]

That looks great. They fit perfect. Nice even cuts. 100 times better then glassing in wood stringers. How many layers of 1708? I did not drill enough escape holes for the foam to get thru on mine and one of them buckled a little on the bottom. Just make sure that you tab them in good and drill some escape holes for the foam and they should turn out great. Here is a pic of the buckle job.

Strick

[warthog5]

Yep that could have stood about 2 more holes in the top.
The glass I used on this was some 1808 roven woven stich mat.
I had plenty of it. It may be a little heavier. I haven't weighed it. [free]
I put 2 layers of that on the whole thing and a 3rd piece that caps the top and goes down on the sides about 2in.
I will use another piece on each side and butt to the edge of the 3rd piece and down onto the original stringer.
4lb denisity 2 part foam to fill them.