Hi all. I just wanted to post some photos in case someone needs them one day. I have stripped, oil soaked mushy stringers for my motor mounts. The oil prevents me from gluing anything in them for the repair, so I'm going to remove a large 1" cylinder and fill it with a nice hardwood. I'm pretty sure that'll work. Here is what they look like on the inside.
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David
Mobile, AL
S/V Beach Belle
1983 Catalina 36 Mk I #154
Std. Rig, Fin Keel, M25
I'm curious-
Does a length of wood run the full length of the stringer on each side of the engine, or is there just a block of wood beneath each motor mount? Also, it appears that the wood is not fully encapsulated by fiberglass and there is a void along the sides of the wood separating it from the fiberglass? I would think this should be filled in epoxy.
Paul & Wendy Keyser
"First Light"
Rye NH
2005 C36 MKII #2257
Wing, M35B
I'm pretty sure it runs the full length and it certainly is not encapsulated.
David
Mobile, AL
S/V Beach Belle
1983 Catalina 36 Mk I #154
Std. Rig, Fin Keel, M25
3.375" wide. Tapered from 2.5" in the front to 0.375 at the back motor mount bolt.
I have included a few pics. I punched through the fiberglass in the back hole. The lag already made a pretty big hole for my paddle but to punch through. The other pics show the broken off lags in the hole and after I got it out. I center drilled it with a small bit then extracted it with a left handed drill big that was larger diameter. It worked. I'm going to make some dowels from some African teak I have and fill the holes with that and thickened epoxy. I'll then try to seal them up with about 0.250 of glass and epoxy to match the original FG thickness. I might gel coat them too, but probably not. It'll be covered by the new motor mounts. This is a small piece of my engine rebuild project. So far so good though.
David
Mobile, AL
S/V Beach Belle
1983 Catalina 36 Mk I #154
Std. Rig, Fin Keel, M25