It Begins..... Seafarer Ventura Stringers and floor.

[gford001]

Some may have seen my other thread getting my head around the impending rebuild of my old Seafarer.
Well, its started and i thought i would catalogue it on here for everyone's amusement, I mean benefit.
Today was my first big day of demolition, I did do a couple hours on the weekend, but this was my first chance to sink my teeth right into it.
And as luck would have it, a lot of the gear i ordered rocked up today too.
Anyway photos attached.
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The front section flooring cut away.
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And again.
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Getting into the main cabin.
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One stringer out already, quicker then i thought.

As you can see I managed to get half the floor out, and a stringer.
I had heard about the old boats like this using Masonite in the floor, but i was still amazed to find a floor made entirely of about 4mm Masonite.
A credit to Seafarer though, after 35 or so years it was still dry as under the floor.
The stringer didn't seem to be rotten, but it was fairly brittle, coming out in several pieces. Down where it joins the transom was soggy as hell though.
The floor did have a couple of soft spots, i thought this would've been rot, but it was where the Masonite had failed and cracked.
Some of the fibreglassing on the stringer was pretty ordinary, lucky it was really dry, because i don't think it was very watertight.
I have changed my original plan, and i think that i will do the stringers one at a time, instead of removing the lot and replacing them all, i think this might minimize the chance of the boat warping with no support in it. I will at least get them glued in and glassed along the bottom, then finish the lot at the end.
Gonna go get some Marine ply, i think 18mm for stringers, 12mm for the floor and 6mm in the areas where there is no weight on it (bulkheads into the cabin etc...)

[brett62]

Go for it. Looks like a great project. Just spent the last 7 days cutting glueing and glassing around the stern of my boat. My is a little more of a refurbish/modify project and not a scratch on what you about to engage in. Have you any photos of before ? I have found one thing glassing and that is you haven't lived life until your glassed upside down. I cant now cross that off the bucket list. Look forward to the progress pictures. Have you given yourself a time limit?

[Chimo]

Watching with interest how a 1983 vintage Seafarer hull is reborn.

It seems Masonite was still in use in the Seafarer Mermaid Beach shed in the late 90s as mine had the same material.

Get the best ply you can afford as a minimum seems to be the way to go. I had a repair done 5 yrs ago and it seemed they used some fairly ordinary ply that developed some soft spots after 5 yrs
.
The repairer replaced the sus ply recently and to his credit he did not want $s for the job so I guess there was a story that ie "he didn't want to talk about it"


How much extra would thermolite instead of ply actually cost for a boat such as yours? Did you cost it out?

There is a good article in a month or so ago (June 2018) Aust Boating that Peter Webster puts out about a Haines Hunter 445F If you were doing the work it may not be too bad considering some of the labour saving aspects that the new stuff seems to offer..

Good luck with as you go..

Cheers
Chimo

[gford001]

I work 4 weeks on 4 off. Got about 3 left so hoping I get it mostly done by then......
I did cost out thermalite. It's about 420ish a sheet, I can get marine ply for $75 a sheet.....
The money I save using ply I plan on using to get the outside re gelcoated.....

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[gford001]

I'll have a look for before pics. Might have some somewhere.

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[gazza2006au]

good start gford i wish i had stringers to work with makes it easier to measure old ones for proper height, when the stringers fall to bits in chunks it means u have timber stringers however ply stringers are easier to get as that old timber thickness today needs to be planed down by a shop

[gford001]

Yeah theres a lot of splinterey old hardwood in it.

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[Chimo]

Might have been some left over spars that were used to make the Masonite.

Did you check out the 445F pics and story. ?

[gazza2006au]

That 445 was a good read Chimo from what i remember

[gford001]

That 445 was a good read Chimo from what i remember

Yeah was a good read. Been reading everything I can...

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[gford001]

Bit more progress.
Had trouble organising myself today, but got a bit done.
I played around with my anchor well hatch which was falling apart. So I separated the rotting timber off the top. Cut some 6mm ply and stuck it in place with thickened resin. Was more a proof of concept/ experimenting with resin exercise. In hindsight it should have been thickened more, but next time.
Once it's set I will finish off with a couple of layers of glass on the underside. Then fairing and sanding etc....
I ground out all the extra glass and timber scraps from the stringer.
Got a bit over keen and went through the hull at one point, another learning point I guess. Patched that. I'll revisit from the outside when the time comes.
Cut a stringer, seems like a decent fit.
I am going to cut the closest side of the next stringer out while this ones still out so that it's easier to reach, then I'll glass this one in.....
Photos attached.20180809_122656.jpg20180809_122632.jpg20180809_122629.jpg20180809_122636.jpg

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[gford001]

Oh. The stringers going in in 2 pieces, not ideal I guess, but the timber isn't long enough....

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[Noelm]

Just glass it in, and put a piece either side of the join and glass them to the stringer, and cover the lot.

[gford001]

Yeah good idea. Wasnt sure how to join. Maybe a piece of 6mm either side?

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[BigE]

woohooo ....love a good rebuild thread , did one myself a fair while back have a search for a thread "itchy and scratchy" some good pic's and learning from my first go at a rebuild.

turned out well , i would recommend looking for some maple to make the stringers it was easy to work with and it came in a 6m length (6mx30cmx6cm) and made a very strong structure tied together with cross supports.

BigE