Perimeter fiberglass stringer build.

My boat is busted! So I needed a little foam therapy to help me "deal".

I liked the e.basswood stringers, but was remembering my fiberglass recurve bow as a kid, as well as, the TW1 twinzer fins from Futures that are layered 'glass.

This is 2 pound foam and I've cut the outline for the stringers.

I have cut 8 gazillion strips of 6 oz Ok, maybe only 8 bazillion, but still it's alot! I really have no idea what would be an adequate number of layers, so this is a total guess. I did feel that the rear of the stringer needed to have more layers, so I cut several of the strips in half and laid those up from the rear of the stringer build up.

I know that to the uninitiated this looks like a simple plywood table covered by a sheet of polyethelene, but in fact it is a sophisticated wet out table (trust me ).

Damn, you never stop, you're a mad man.

This is just a prototype, so I opted to go with polyester resin. Epoxy would have been a better choice, but between wanting to do it quick and the strange weather here (last week it was 100 degrees, this weekend it's raining on and off)

Wetting out all the layers is tough - I wet out the bottom, the middle and then worked from the top. I would have preferred to work from some type of mold, wetting out each layer separately and "stuffing" it into a mold. Cheap brown laminating PE resin.

I've heard this, Ed...normally it's Judy's voice, though.

This is a sophisticated press. I know that many newb's will look at this and only see a tool box, a gallon of PE resin and some plywood...it's a carefully calibrated press with exacting weight.

The 2 pound foam can be ridden with no stringer, I am hoping that I can develop a bit of "spring" return using this fiberglass stringer arrangment that is more responsive than the e.basswood. As I mentioned, I have absolutely no idea how many layers of glass are adequate, NOR if there should be a balanced layering or tapering.

This board needs to be named shot-in-the-dark.

I do love these next pictures. The taper in the layers going towards the nose does make the stringer less...ummm stiff, towards the nose.

The tail section has 6 extra layers and stands out in comparison. Do these remind anyone of anything? Anyting at all?

i dont know , i may be to young to know??

You must ave a Job Mark - the first picture is my employees attitude on Monday morning at 8:01am, the second picture is their attitude at 4:59pm that same day! OR

The second picture is MY attitude when I learn that we've won an all expenses paid trip to Orlando and the first picture is when I learn that my Mother-in-law (most of you probably know her, her name is Godzilla. She was a famous actress back in the 60's ) will be going with us.

Jeff I need an email addy for Judy so I can send her this link

Trust me Ed, it's not a secret!