Cale's 1986 osprey 200 rebuild 140 suzuki with bracket

[RickK]

Yup, I'm confused....maybe if you use the terms port side and starboard side to describe the sides of the stringers?

[Crives92]

First picture is port stringer and second in starboard stringer. Do you see how they drop off. (In picture left to right is bow to stern)

[BradC]

Is the drop off on the stringer aligned with this drop?

[Crives92]

No its actually more towars the bow in that picture. That little drop was a part of the old wiring trough I believe.

[mshugg]

The only thing I can think is they put more material on the back half of the stringers to screw things down to? I will slope it down if that's what needs to be done. I may just be overthinking it, hell I dont know.

On my CCP, there were generous amounts of bonding putty on the stringer tops, and puddles of excess on the hull bottom.  Kind of makes sense.  The liner/deck molds and hull mold need to mate at the hull deck joint, but building molds to close tolerances would be expensive..  Using the putty to fill gaps is a practical solution.

As a one-off builder, you can do what you want.  You can level your stringer tops and add crown to the deck.

[Crives92]

Mshugg. That does make a lot of sense. I know you had said how much was used on yours earlier and mine was just as much. It was inches thick of putty. I appreciate the input. It's good to have the peace of mind.

[RickK]

No its actually more towars the bow in that picture. That little drop was a part of the old wiring trough I believe.

Are you saying that the entire starboard stringer in the pic is 1/2" lower than a section of the stringer toward the bow?
I see the drop in the port stringer - from the transom, how far forward is this drop. How far on the starboard side.
Just being a detective here. I'm still trying to figure out the 1/2" drop in the aft of the boat.
Did you grind out excessive bonding putty on those 1/2" lower section?

[Crives92]

Thanks Rick. I am stuck in Lauderdale for a few days for work so I wont be able to measure now. The starboard stringer drops lower where the cutout is (for the previous trough). The starboard drops down as in the picture pretty much even with the starboard side. They are about midboat where this happens. I did grind and chip out excessive putty on the parts of the stringers that were lower. (From the stern approx 7-10 feet forward towards the bow (to these sections where it drops down).

[Crives92]

It has been a drought week or so. I had the flu, worked a lot, and have just been busy. I did get some more stuff done though. I added and glassed in the stringer "toppers" to raise the floor a total of 3 inches. I added added the top half of the new transom piece. I still have to finish filling that to make it look good. I also put down a coat of primer on the inside so it looks good when you open the access. I cant stand it to not be finished.

[Crives92]

Slowly coming along. I am almost done glassing in wiring troughs. I will start on the floor next.

[Crives92]

Today I laid out the floor using sheets of this paper board stuff from lowes (I cant remember the name of it, it's like 8 dollars a sheet so it was the cheapest template I could come up with). It worked perfectly and I was able to get the entire floor layed out, fit, and cut by a little after lunch. I included my mad scientist paper. It's only stupid if it doesnt work right. Lol. Next I'll glass the floor in and keep on trucking. So far I have to say. I am a HUGE fan of nidacore. This stuff literally cuts like butter and you can even cut it with a box knife if needed for small areas. Is so easy to carry around and it's just a much more pleasurable experience than plywood!!

[Crives92]

I have a question for you guys. I am thinking about how I am going to glass the top side on my floor panels. Has anyone ever used melamine board waxed and lay the 1708 down on it then the floor piece, add weight to it, let it sit then pop it off, to make it a perfect finish? I would think this could save me some time standing and fairing later. Thanks.

[RickK]

There is no easy way to overcome the cloth weave of 1708. Are you using poly or epoxy? If poly, you can use the non-skid method I did, you cover the weave easily.  If you're going to paint, then you've got fairing in your future.

[mshugg]

I have a question for you guys. I am thinking about how I am going to glass the top side on my floor panels. Has anyone ever used melamine board waxed and lay the 1708 down on it then the floor piece, add weight to it, let it sit then pop it off, to make it a perfect finish? I would think this could save me some time standing and fairing later. Thanks.

Are you thinking about glassing individual panels?  Or glassing your entire floor at one time.  Either should work.  If you’re laminating individual panels and tabbing them in, lots of people fabricate panels and tab together.  If you’re making a floor mold and building the entire floor in one step, that’s basically what manufactures do.  As long as you have the space to do it, this second method would save quite a bit of time fairing.

In either case, you can save time by gel coating the mold, because  you’ll have fewer pin holes to deal with later.  One more thing: I now prefer using PVA over wax, for parts that I’ll be laminating to, because the PVA cleans up with water.

[Crives92]

I am using poly. I plan to prime, paint and non skid most of it. I want to do it all in the piece but I think individual piece will be more realistic considering I work alone most of the time. So I would have to glass, sand and fair where I tab them together and on the sides. Just thought using the melamine board as a mold may save me some time from having to sand the middle of the boards when completed. I may lay down some 3/4 on the melamine and then the 1708 then the panels? That may save me some shading as the 3/4 comes out pretty flat vs the 1708 having some grooves.