McKee Craft sole replacement/rebuild

[sam03v]

I've got a 14' , 1975 McKee craft skiff. These boats are similar to Whalers, foam filled no stringers, not supposed to have stringers anyway. The sole was questionable and the bare hull weighed about 300lbs. more than it should have. (I took it to a truck stop and used their scale to get the weight.) So I thought the foam and plywood was probably waterlogged. I tried drying it out by drilling holes and air drying, but gave up and cut the floor out. Sure enough the plywood was rotten/soaked and the foam was delaminated from the fiberglass. The foam wasn't as wet as I thought it would be though, some of it was okay some was like a sponge.

So now I want to put in stringers and a new sole, but I'm not sure if I need to put a bunch of bulkheads to replace the foam or if stringers and a couple bulk heads will suffice.With these boats(like Whalers) the foam provides structural support, so I'm wondering if I have to go a little overkill with stringers or if I shot myself in the foot by cutting out the floor! . Speaking of stringers I thought this boat was not supposed to have any, but it had what looked like a stringer down the inside of the keel, it wasn't supporting the floor, it was only about a 1/2" high.I also have the problem of a smooth transition at the stern of the boat where the manufacturer put these large gussets. You can see these in the pictures.

My basic questions are how many bulkheads and stringers should I put in, and what weight fiber glass should I use for the stringers and the sole? I was planning on using epoxy resin for the repair. I've already made a bunch of cardboard templates for bulkheads. The tops of these templates are level with the bottom of the old floor/sole, so if I don't need them all I can still use them to get the stringer(s) height right.

I'd really appreciate comments and a list of materials if any one out there is interested.

Details: Floor is about 10 feet long, width 50" roughly,boat will be powered with a 35hp, but originally spec'd for 50-70hp.

[peter-curacao]

Maybe a stupid question but why not pour in some new foam?

[TomW]

Peter he would need a high density foam not the 2lb foam like we use. The use of the bulkheads is okay. I can't tell from your pictures what the shape of your bottom is. Do the humps on the inside follow the hull on the outside, i.e. a tri-hull shape. If they do they go ahead and replace the center stringer with a 3" - 3/4" stringer as long as it was before, notching the bulkheads.

As far as how many bulkheads, how thick is the hull, you probably don't need as many as you are showing but the thinner the hull the more you need.

Finally we will have you fill the hull with the 2lb foam sold here to replace the CG requirement for buoyancy in boats under 20'.

Tom

[peter-curacao]

Peter he would need a high density foam

Doesn't that come in a pour able version than?

[sam03v]

Do the humps on the inside follow the hull on the outside, i.e. a tri-hull shape.

Yes the humps follow the outside, it is a tri-hull type shape. I don't have any pictures of the outer hull on my computer now.

As far as how many bulkheads, how thick is the hull, you probably don't need as many as you are showing but the thinner the hull the more you need.

I'd guess the hull is about a 1/2" - 3/4" thick. I can stand on the humps(carefully...and I weigh about 190) without anything bad happening. I usually stand on the stringer though.

I was thinking I'd make the bulkheads of two piece plywood, coat with resin/epoxy then epoxy to the hull and cover with glass/epoxy. If this sounds reasonable what type and weight fiberglass should I use for the bulkheads and stringer? Also , what should I use for the sole?

Thanks for the replies.

[TomW]

Couple of questions before any more guidance on the bulkheads how tall are they and what is the length of the longest one from one port to starboard. Second the gussets are there to support the transom and we should some how try to tie them into the boat a little better would you be adverse to running a bulkhead the height of them all the way across the boat. Third we need to calculate how much foam to put in. This foam is not like your old foam as it does not absorb water. I'll have the height and length from the 1st question, now I need the length from the storage locker bulkhead to the gussets.

That should do it for now.

Tom

[sam03v]

I don't have the cardboard bulkheads with me now, but I can tell you they were all roughly 50" long and their height decreased from bow to stern. Starting at the bow bulkhead, measuring from the trough of the humps to the bottom of the sole is about 7-8" max. The last bulkhead at the stern was only about 4 inches heigh measuring the same way.

I'm definitely game for tying in those gussets. I was planning on doing that, just wasn't sure on how to go about it without it getting ugly.I can get more accurate measurements on those bulkheads to you tomorrow if the above is too rough.

[sam03v]

Here is a link to more photos in no particular order

http://picasaweb.google.com/maierscott/ ... directlink

[TomW]

Pictures were great. Okay I still need the lengths and I forgot to ask do we need to replace or strengthen the board showing at the storage locker. I also assume we need to replace the stringer as per my last post as it is probably rotten or soft.

Tom

[sam03v]

That board at the storage locker is just a my attempt at making a bulkhead out of old plywood. It wasn't part of the original boat.

The center stringer is not rotten or soft and I don't want to try and dig it out. Once it dried it was solid except for a very thin layer on the top. It's only about 3/4" high off the bottom of the hull(I don't know how deep it goes into the keel) and made of about 4 pieces of wood. That thing is strange because these boats were not supposed to have any wood in that area and I really don't think someone put it in there later. It goes up under that storage locker and I don't want to cut that out either so I thought I could epoxy a stringer on top of the old one ...somehow.

See my previous post about the lengths. I'm guessing you missed it.

Thanks for your interest!