18SF rebuild

[adamcannon]

I got a question for you, I noticed in the back of your stringers you had some holes presumably for draining. Did you have any hoses or tubes running thru them, or wet foam?

There were holes going thru the stringers in the back and also in the front. They had tubes running thur the holes but they didnt really waterproof between the tubes and the foam. The only water that I found in the foam was right around the holes. It wasnt bad at all. I am going to cap off the ends of the stringers with glass and then extend one side of the stringer to tie into the stern. I dont see the need to take the whole box stringer all the way back to the stern like it was.

[makade]

Hey thanks for the info, I'm gonna do a little more investigating on mine. Mine where more like a long oval with no tubes, never made any sense to me.

[Greno]

The strings on mine don't go all the way to the stern and do not appear to have been cut off because the foam is puddled in the bottom of the hull at the end of the stringers.

[adamcannon]

I am going to run the stringers back to the stern. It will just be one side of the box stringer. Most boats have the stringers tied in with the stern to add strength at the bottom of the stern to help with motor torque(or thats what I thought anyway). I am going to beef up the stern. I have never mounted a motor bracket so I am going to make sure the stern wont be the weak point. Probably over kill, but I just want to make sure.

[adamcannon]

Well we got the stern caulked (corked if you are from down east NC) with putty to fill in any gaps around the edges and several layers of glass on the inside. Next will be faring and glassing the back side of the stern where the cutout was located. I have noticed that the outside of the stern is not completely flat. The center of the stern seems to be farther out than the sides and bottom, sort of like a convex mirror. Im not sure if this will pose a problem. We are going to hold the bracket up to the stern and see how tight it fits. If not the faring and glassing might be a little harder. I will get some more pics up soon. Keep the comments coming, I need all the input I can get. Thanks, Adam

[adamcannon]

Does anyone use the built in recessed tackle storage made out of starboard. I have found lots of them on ebay and at a local marine surplus store. I was just wondering if these boxes would be a good idea to put in my transom box. They look pretty good, and I could use them for plain storage also if I took out the plastic tackle trays. Thanks, Adam

[adamcannon]

Here are the pics of the stern with it glassed in.

Stern with putty.



Stern after being glassed.




Fresh Water Tank



Sorry it took so long to get the pics up. Busy week with the holiday and everything. I think this week I am going to test the gas tank and get it mounted back in the boat as well as the water storage tank. We are going to tab in the box in the stern and try to pop the whole liner(including the front dry box out and turn it over out of the boat so we can glass everything from the bottom. Hopefully we can do this so that the finish work on the inside of the liner won't be so bad. Does anyone know if the dry box in the bow is the only thing (besides the screws in the gunwales) holding the liner to the boat. I am sure there is a healthy heep of potter putty under that front box holding it to the hull.