rot in J B wilds Caribbean

MBA Marine · December 18, 2013

thank you all for the advice. I had been trying to find the spiling techniche. I had seen it on youtube but failed to find it again.

of course with spiling 2 people would be required for measuements.

i also like the scraps and glue method. i suppose the cardboard template way would be the least accuate. but as the stringer would be laid on fillets i wouldnt have to be precise?

i thought i had to cover the stringers/beams completely but have realised, originally the fiberglass only went up to near top of wood. as somebody pointed out , if i completely covered wood in fiberglass, then when i came to screw floor in place, the fiberglass would lift.

I would glass over fully encapsulating your timber, routing a radius on the corners of your timber to allow the GRP to turn the corner without a large air bubble. if you get Stainless screws with a fluted drill tip then they will drill their own pilot hole as you drive it in, or just drill pilot holes first.

If you leave the top open your asking moisture to get in an rot out the wood, then your left with two flimsy vertical strips of GRP, glass over the hole thing then even is by chance the would manages to rot out (in about 40yrs!!) then the shape of the remaining GRP will still support your floor.

I cannot speak for how the modern hire boat are built but on the yachts I used to work on all sringers and ribs were close cell foam to form the shape and then bonded in, engine beds the same but with 3/4(ish) thick steel plate under the GRP to be drilled and tapped for bolting down the engine.