Formula 233 rebuild

Ok so I tested a few things today...

First I cut back 6 inches of additional stringer on the starboard side and tride to pry the tabbing up with a pry bar and a hammer, very tough to get it up but it did come up. I measured the thickness directly beneath the layers that came off and make up the entire thickness of the stringer encapsulation; it was roughly 7/16 thick. I drilled a few holes in different places and if I just lightly sand down through the old paint and the top layer of very thin mesh and expose the layer of CSM underneath I get to roughly 5/8 thick. Thoughts?

So I guess what I need to decide now is whether to continue sanding the whole hull this way and add glass back on top of the new prepared surface or just lightly sand and stick the new stringers and tabbing on top.

Picknasty wrote:Ok so I tested a few things today...

First I cut back 6 inches of additional stringer on the starboard side and tride to pry the tabbing up with a pry bar and a hammer, very tough to get it up but it did come up. I measured the thickness directly beneath the layers that came off and make up the entire thickness of the stringer encapsulation; it was roughly 7/16 thick. I drilled a few holes in different places and if I just lightly sand down through the old paint and the top layer of very thin mesh and expose the layer of CSM underneath I get to roughly 5/8 thick. Thoughts?

So I guess what I need to decide now is whether to continue sanding the whole hull this way and add glass back on top of the new prepared surface or just lightly sand and stick the new stringers and tabbing on top.

Thats a good amount of glass!, part of the reason these hulls are in great shape after many decades.

If it were mine, I would remove the stringers and the small amount of tabbing directly at their base, then put new stringers on top. That was my plan on the formula I started. The original plan was to remove all the old tabbing, down to base hull laminate, but after seeing how well it was all bonded I was very comfortable leaving it there.

If you decide to remove the tabbing an air chisel work perfect for me, but my stringers had to be replaced.

Shine,

Well I'm sitting in a funny spot. Although I have my Whitewater inboard 25 now, and let me say that I seriously dig that boat, I cannot stop looking at the 233 sitting in my yard. A few have recently been posted for sale on THT website and one in particular has really caught my eye. someone has a 233 cuddy with a hardtop and a 300 zuke. fuel econ is close to 4mpg on one posting and the setup looks perfect to get into shallower areas not allowed by my inboard for trout and other guys.

SO...I'm seriously thinking about getting back at this 233 project. BUT there are some questions that need the right answers before I can move forward with this daydream.

1.) flotation bracket or hull extension. I know both have very different consequences of the running attitude. Would the hull extension improve the ride of the hull? Looking for your expertise on this subject.

2.) stringer grid layout. the boat originally had 4 full length stringers, I've seen some builds with two centerline stringers much like what you've done on your 25 build. The idea is to have appropriate strength and support. I'd like to put 100 gal. of gas somewhere to keep her with weight up front. a lot of questions surround this one topic.

3.) would like to make a self bailing deck with two sizable outflow tracts. I'm thinking this is slightly related to the first question?

There are others but this is a start.