Minnesota Classic Glastron Forum
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: melinprov on February 12, 2018, 07:59:17 PM
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what is your preferred method and tools for stringer removal? I have let my V179 dry out and I'm ready to remove the stringers, I thought I would use a oscillating multi tool and cut below the wood in the fiberglass and just lift them out whole and then try to drop out the wood. My stringers are almost whole and are more dry than I thought they would be with some bad spots were I would expect it to break or crumble. I would like to use the old stringers as templates for cutting the new ones.
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a strange thing happened when I left it in the sun too-my dash cracked-I guess I'm going to have to make a flat one or find a replacement soon also.Also on the V179, it is well braced and the cap is still on-the gas tank and forward knee caps etc area are coming out this weekend before I remove the stringers
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Do not discard your Insturnment panel it can most likely be saved. Please post pictures of the crack. In most cases these old plastic Insturnment panels are brittle from being in the sun all these years. I recommend reinforcing them by fiberglassing the back side.
I actually had to find a Insturnment panel for my 179. I ended up purchasing a yellow one like yours it was missing a few pieces and had a hole drilled in it. I sanded the back side and reinforced it with fiberglass mat. Then I primed and painted it to match the color of my 179.
If yours is too severely damaged I do have an Insturnment panel stashed away in my shop that is from the 179 I parted out. It needs a little TLC but it is in one piece.
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Some folks leave most of the glass in place and simply cut the top off, pull the stringers out, then glass back in the new. Others cut out and remove down to the hull. The decision generally occurs based on the level of rot. If there are areas the stringers are solid, then the tabbing may still be well bonded, and cutting flush is the only option. Using the existing stringers for templates is valid, if you can get them out intact. As for tools, the vibration tool(cast cutter) will work, but a 4 or 4.5" angle grinder using cut off and standard grinding disks make the job go a bit faster, albeit dustier. Wear breathing protection, and clothing to keep the debris off your skin, as the fiberglass can really make some folks itch. As too the dash, old plastic can get brittle, possible to repair and re paint, depends on how bad the damage. There is plenty of info on this site in past threads for both issues, take a look around.
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I used a "oscillating multi tool" , but only did transom / bilge well on a small 16 footer.
As I said on other post, I did it over the winter in a cold garage and had months to do it ...
Slow going, but more control on cuts.
Used "Metal cutting bits" they would last longer.
Wood bits were toast after hitting a screw / nail / staple in wood.
There are "Plastic repair kits" ... Do a Google search. I've seen them for snow mobile hoods.
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Angle grinder with cut off wheel or saws all is by far the fastest.
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This worked the fastest by far on the intimidator, but not something I'd buy just to do this work.
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This worked the fastest by far on the intimidator, but not something I'd buy just to do this work.
Show off ;)
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
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" Show off "
LOL ...
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So once again thank you for all the tips and info, I ended up using many tools-a small dremel and dremel mini saw as well as a saws all ( really like that one! ) a grinder and a oscillating tool-seems like each one had its special area it was better at than the other, this is how far I got today but winters coming back so inside the garage I go again to wait for good days. I found more water up front and I found the gas leak, it was in the filler hose and a small leak in the tank, I may replace the tank with a same size plastic tank if I can not patch it. The dash cracked even more today but so far it is contained to the sides but it seems very brittle. I do like the idea of re-enforcing it but I also would like to add some carbon fiber in the outside front depression around the gauges for cosmetics. I am torn though because I plan to add some yellow gold metal flake to the swoops and was hoping to do the same on the dash. Using these tools to take out the front really gave me some good experience and confidence to take on the stringers and get them out in one piece
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That dash damage is normal and is very repairable. I recommend removing the dash and storing in a warm place.
If you want an original fuel tank I may have one laying around that is solid, but needs to be lined. I I'll have to look to see if I still have it.
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Just a suggestion, but from what I see from the pictures, you may want to try cutting just the top cap over the stringers and pull the stringers out whole. This saves a tremendous amount of materials, which saves time and money. It looks like you have enough cut out to grab onto the stringers and with some prying, they should release from the original tabbing. Your new stringers will get two coats of resin with acetone to protect them. I use 100%, then 50%. So 12 oz resin with 12 oz acetone first coat. Then 12 oz resin with 6 oz acetone. The acetone allows the resin to penetrate the wood fibers deeper.
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Plugcheck... please tell me more, I think I have room to grab the stringers whole right now even though it is crowded- but can you tell me the steps to the procedure you are talking about? I can lift the cap anytime now- and I will need to in order to get to my flotation boxes. Everything is off except the back end and I do have a pulley system in place in my garage to lift it to the rafters right now. I finished my bracing on the trailer and hull so that I can lift it and I also plan on adding a back brace once I lift it. In any case I wont be working on this for at least a week, we got 12 inches of snow and its 18 degrees today and -5 at night---it was 51 degrees on the day I did this last round of work. One good thing is that I thought I would have to replace the front caps plywood ( on the bottom) but it is solid and looks new-so I wont have to flip the cap like I thought I would have to. This is too much fun, its like being in High School and coming home to work on my cars back in the day.
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Use a cut off wheel, vibra tool, sawzall, or equivalent machinery to cut through the fiber glass holding the stringer in place about half way down. Some cut off just the top, its just a matter of preference. You can cut a bit into the wood, but try to cut through the fiberglass only. At some point the entire top of the stringer will be exposed. Use a chisel or pry bar to break the seal of the glass away from the stringer. If its black/rotten it will separate easily. Once removed, you have a channel to insert the new stringer into. Hard part with this method is fitting the bottom curve of the stringer to the hull, but does save material cost in resin and fiberglass. Hope this explains it, let me know if you need clarification.
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Wow -weather was rough the last few weeks .Three and a half feet of snow and cold....but now its getting warmer and may hit 50 this weekend so I'm back on it. I will be lifting the cap this weekend if all is well and maybe start grinding soon. And-- on the dash I couldn't remove it because it was pop riveted in below the top cap, so I hope to get at that after I get the cap off. After studying it and looking at the resources available I'm sure I can save it.I still have not got back to the gas tank yet-it is laying on my garage floor. I'm pretty sure someone has lifted this cap before because in some places I have close holes next to each other out of pattern and the windshield also had pop rivets where I thought there would be screws ( or maybe its a factory thing, I have found some weird stuff doing this including a old putty knife below decks )
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Glastron and G/C used a lot of rivets back in the early 70's, even riveting decks to hulls on some models.
My 1976 has rivets on windshield, dash, all stern trim pieces.
Glastron was the worlds largest boat mfg. back then and was building them as fast as possible.
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Thanks for that info Hyperacme,I did get the cap separated today-I'm working on bracing the back end so I can lift it completely off tomorrow. I have it lifted only about a inch or two all the way around right now. Is it a problem if I have about a 1/2 inch spread on one side of the boat about in the middle of the length?---sorry if the pix is too big, I cant edit it for some reason.
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got to love that back end flexibility!
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The hull will bow out when the top is pulled, not an issue. I used some straps to pull the sides in before I glasses in the floor. Makes it a bit easier to put top back on. Less of a problem if the wood strip remains intact.
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so.... I did get the support on the back end and did try to lift it today but found out that my garage rafters are not strong enough to hold the weight of the cap. I will have to wait for the snow to melt outside and then place the cap outside and cover it. I did buy some straps for the inside and I still have more room now to work in than before. The cap is lifted about a foot or so. I also noticed that some of the wood strips around the top of the hull have seen better days
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You could use other 2x4's laid across the rafters to spread the load. Refresh my memory, your in Canada? Building structures are overbuilt to support projected snow loading. Point is, I'd really doubt that boat cap weighs enough to be of issue to the truss rafters. You could always place temporary verticals from floor to truss?
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I have a steel beam crossing 5 trusses in my garage. I’ve had over 1000lbs hanging from it. Didn’t even budge. As long as you can hang from 3 or 4 points you’ll be fine.
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and I got on to the stringer removal today using what I have learned here and from other places, I formulated a plan cutting half way down and trying to pry it out-- and then found that I ran into a combination of dry wood-wet wood-dry rot and some kind of boring creatures holes----so the first one didn't come out so good but knowing all that I changed my game plan and got the second one out in one piece and made a template for tracing for later- just in case something happens to the intact stringer. I left the center stringer in for support and cut most of the fiberglass down to the bottom leaving a small channel as a guide-I can not seem to post pictures just now. I am in Northern Utah by Idaho and Wyoming in a mile high valley. I did consider modifying my beams in the garage and I did use a few different points to help lift it and it was fine but I have some water damage so I think I will just wait for spring-thanks for all the tips
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here is some thing I ran across today, I thought this was supposed to make contact to the bottom up front-not so?
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and here is the picture of the 2 stringers I removed that I could not post before
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Never pulled a stringer before that was notched like those.
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The ones I pulled from my V174 were contoured to the shape of the hull at the front ends but they didn't make contact either.
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From those pictures Rich, it appears to transition to the curved part of the hull. On my CVZ and CVX, the hull where they rest against is straight up to where the stringers are about 1" tall. The curve then to the bow occurs after that, but its narrow enough the floor is supported by the sides and center stringer. Picture is from the CVZ rebuild, the center stringer hasn't been added yet.
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Nice pictures! All right, I didn't want to do it but more snow cold and rain made me buy bigger pulleys and shore up the parts of my rafters where I had some damage. I will be trying again this weekend to lift the cap up and off so I can get in to other things. I will clean and grind the fiberglass from the old stringer areas also if time allows this weekend
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Well that was a no go on the bigger pulleys to lift the cap,I'm still having trouble supporting this smallish weight....but...I did get some good weather and started grinding and cutting away some more of the fiberglass under the left and right stringer area. I also removed the dash and glove box.I'm afraid once I started drilling out the pop rivets holding the dash it just cracked the plastic and I just removed it without taking off the steering wheel because it cracked across the bottom and the top---still save-able I think. Rain is coming for the rest of the weekend so I'm glad I got some work done. I was also glad I wore my suit and mask for this one! I was amazed by all the fiberglass dust, especially when I blew it out of the boat with a garden blower after vacuuming.
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Bummer on the dash panel. If you can't get it repaired I do have a yellow one sitting in my shop that is in decent shape.
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Thank you, I may hit you up for that one if this doesn't go as planned 75 Starflight. Did your boat have a bow cap on it on the trim molding front? I noticed mine needed some help up front when I was removing the molding- it had about a 1/4 inch gap or so up front. I guess it could just be from sitting too long with such a rotten set of stringers and all the water and gas and oil it had in the bottom, it does have a lot of spider cracks. I'm getting excited to get some of this work done and start re building it.
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Thank you, I may hit you up for that one if this doesn't go as planned 75 Starflight. Did your boat have a bow cap on it on the trim molding front? I noticed mine needed some help up front when I was removing the molding- it had about a 1/4 inch gap or so up front. I guess it could just be from sitting too long with such a rotten set of stringers and all the water and gas and oil it had in the bottom, it does have a lot of spider cracks. I'm getting excited to get some of this work done and start re building it.
Your welcome.
You can call me Brandon.
My 179 had lost its bow cap when I purchased it. I managed to find an original to install. (See attached photo). I can see how it can easily fall off since only one #10 screw and nut hold it in place. I check my bow cap and have to tighten the screw and nut every couple of years.
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hoping to do more work on this weekend on the boat and took Friday off to grind some more on the boat but its snowing again. Thinking it may clear up Sat or Sunday!
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weather got better and I got started on the grinding! It was overcast and about 60 degrees at midday. Snows gone and it was a perfect day.Not complete but at least I got started, I still need to lift the cap to get at some areas. I spent 6 hours on it today and may burn some of my outer clothing now. I spent at least 1/2 that time cleaning up dust
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weather is nice so I finished grinding the other side and took the cap off and covered it in the driveway---now on to the stringer build and other things--we may still get some snow but it was 68 today