As of today I was fed up with the slow progress but I kept reminding myself it will be over soon.Nearly all the work on the stringers was completed. Before bonding them into the hull I took the Batboat to the river one last time and make sure there were no leaks.
The inside was as dry as a bone. Good.
A cleaned up hull with cross braces and stringers loosely positioned in place.Today I made the last big fiberglass dust clean up of the hull using the air compressor and acetone in a rag. Acetone dissolves fiberglass resin so the remaining dust wipes up easy.
A day or two ago I waterproofed the stainless steel screws by laminating 1708 biaxial cloth to the large braces. Today the small stringers got 1.5 oz chopped strand mat and 1708 biaxial.The grinder removed the excess and cleaned them them up nicely.
No water will get under those screw heads now.
The small stringers before I finished adding 1.5 oz and 1708 cloth.
The above photo shows a small stringer compared to the decades old original. The wood was fiberglassed in the the hull by the factory untreated. Bare wood with nothing added. The new one is waterproofed with polyester resin and 1.5 oz. chopped strand mat.
All of the original stringers I kept for reference seem to have broke and rotted in the cross brace area which is why I went the extra mile to add braces.New stringers are cut for six inch wide cross braces. The originals had two inch.
There was another cross brace at the end positioned at the center of the hull, however, I'm not adding this for two reasons. The six inch cross braces I designed are overkill for this boat (I already have the extra wood laying around anyway.) and it will be impossible to adequately lay fiberglass cloth around all the angles.I am completely happy with what I've done so far. :)
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