http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...ril2007139.jpg
Still have a bunch of grinding to do, the stringer beds need prepping and the hull needs properly supported and checked with a straight edge before I can think about the new stringers. Now the question is this, what is the best way to bed the stringers in place. The Carlson is a full stringer boat with two 14' stringers. I have some West epoxy resin and 404 high density filler but I don't think I can afford to do the entire boat with it. Can you use the 404 filler with poly resin? I know if I start the boat with the epoxy I will need to stay with it for the entire job. Now I am thinking about just going with poly because it's not so expensive. How about vinylester resins? I'm told that they are a good go between that can be thickened with microbubbles like poly but is a much better resin than poly and not expensive like epoxy. :idea: Do I use a bedding compound like Dolphin lite or just use my thickened resin to hold the stringers in place before they are matted in? I have a plastic 454 mach up block that I am gonna use. I have my front motor plate, bell housung and oil pan bolted to it so that should really be a big help with the alignment of my stringers and keep me from installing them wrong. Thanks for looking!
Fred in VA.
The stringers should not contact the bottom of the boat. This could setup a stress fracture. Set the stringers up 1/4 of an inch on a strip of foam. Use an poly- isophalic resin to glass the stringers in. Epoxy is overkill on a boat that size. Just make sure you grind with 24 grit, you are setting up a mechanical bond. Glass the stringers in with 3 lapped layers of 1810 glass.
Now the scratching starts.