Classic bottom ribs/ strakes and wet core questions

[barrelroll]

I've been slowly plugging away at the C-disaster and need to update my build thread. I have a question that's probably better asked not buried in a build thread. There's 2 questions at the end.

My '82 had wooden strakes/ ribs on the bottom. They were in rough shape and the port side outer was missing about 3/4 of it and possibly the cause of weird handling and not hitting max rpm when I sea trialed. I pulled them off and drilled the screw holes from the bottom up through the floor using a screw sized drill bit to mark the location. On the top side I drilled 1/2" holes down through the core stopping when I hit the bottom fiberglass. About half the holes were moist though not soaking wet with firm non mushy shavings, the other half were dry. Drilling out 2" from the wet holes the shavings were still moist and solid. The wet and dry spots are random and not isolated to 1 area. I didn't hit anywhere that appeared to be rotten. I've drilled a 2 1/2" hole saw into the core at 2 of the holes and it doesn't appear either have delaminated. I believe the strakes are why these areas are wet.

So far I've pulled the transom core and all of the aft 4' of bottom core, I had about 2 square feet of delamination and rot from some non beded holes in the rear deck though the majority was still solid, dry and probably didn't need to be pulled. I feel like a I did a lot of unnecessary work though didn't realize I was doing it till I was too far in and committed.

The boat was a California boat it's whole life till roughly 2 years ago. Judging by the bottom it wasn't stored in the water in California. I'm not sure if it spent 1 or 2 winters in Alaska though it spent last summer in the water. I believe it hasn't gone through many freeze thaw cycles since it's come up here and didn't see winter for it's first 38 or so years. It's been in my dry heated shop for a month drying out.

2 questions.

Bottom stakes/ ribs: Do i need to put them back on? Will not putting them back on effect handling? If I do need to reinstall them what type of wood were they from the factory? I have uhmw strakes on my tolman so that's an option as well.

Bottom core: What would you do with it? Leave it and fill the exploration holes with thickened epoxy? Pull the inside layer of glass/ resin exposing the core, let it dry for 2 weeks and reglass? Completely redo it from bow to stern? Right now there's no interior or bulkhead so access is great.

We aren't keeping this boat long term and I don't want to screw the next owner. I plan on listing it as water ready for a lot more than project boat pricing when I get my tolman finished and we go to sell it.

What would you do if this fine C-disaster was yours?

[thataway]

Definitely in your favor is the lack of freeze thaw cycles. If the most of the core is intact, then just repair what you have done, and move on. The next owner can read about what you found. I am not sure that there will be a lot of drying in the several. weeks, but it is worth while. I would not pull all of the interior glass. I would just fill those areas--maybe even cut circles of core material-the boat bottom was ply--put ply back in--saturated with epoxy. Then leave the holes (Filled with thickened epoxy) for the new screws if you decide to put the strakes back on later.

I would leave the strakes off. I suspect that they were there to protect the bottom when beaching.. If added now, I would. use HDPE instead of wood. But see how the boat performs without the strakes.

Get out there and enjoy the boat--finish the Tolman next fall and winter--go have fun.

[barrelroll]

I went and looked at my buddy's '82 he had the same strakes I do and the other '82 owner in town who's on Facebook confirmed he had them leading me to believe they are factory. Searching on here the little I could find most if not all the early classics have them and some of the later classics might not.

Beachability is a concern up here.

They are 1 3/4" x 7/8", the outer are 10', mid are 14', center is 15'. Hdpe comes in 10' sheets. A 10'x 14" piece of 3/4" would do the whole boat. I used 5' pieces from McMaster Carr on my tolman and won't do the short pieces again, 8 would be ok though 10' would be better with a scarf joint in the middle of a screw hole.

If I install them or not my plan is to drill a 1/2" hole from the top down, fill completely with thickened epoxy and if I don't put them back on dimple the slugs from the bottom with a small drill bit so you can find them later.

[thataway]