Saturday, July 11, 2009

Batboat Rebuild: Day 26 June 14, 2009

I think I spent this day cleaning up around the Batboat, did a little yard work and figured out the stringer situation.

Without structural supports like the deck, stringers and the splashwell I cut off the back, the flexible fiberglass hull had shifted its shape slightly over the past year.

The short ones were fine but the long stringers didn't fit in as well as they did when I cut them from the template drawn of the originals. It can be fixed, however. I just had to figure out how and also what steps are needed to laminate them to the hull.

The stringers are very important. If you think of how a shoe is made consider that a fiberglass boat's deck is its sole. The deck is attached to the stringers. Stringers keep the hull from flexing too much when hitting the waves at high speeds.

To get my head around the concept of Fiberglassing them I posted queries at the iboats.com forum. Many helpful tips came in which boosed my confidence. :)

I'm ready. :)


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