Installment 31 of Mako Rebuild
Our foam core stringers are in and look great. We'll add some finishing touches to complete the job. For water to drain into the bilge and out the garboard drain, we cut limber holes. The steps are very easy. TJ grabbed the cordless drill with a 2 inch hole saw. We cut 2 inch PVC pipe the width of each stringer and dry fit them in place.
Once we were happy with the fit, we thickened some epoxy with 407 low density filler and coloidal silica to a thick peanut butter consistency and spread it with a gloved hand over the inside of the hole to seal it. We also added some to the cut PVC and inserted into the stringer.
This gets messy, so have some rags on hand.
We let this cure then returned with a Rotex sander and sanded the tube flush for aesthetics.
With some more of the same epoxy mix, we dressed out the remainder of the area to a smooth finish, trying to keep a smooth transition through the limber hole. This will pass debris up to 2 inch diameter, so it is less likely clog. The PVC lends some structural strength while protecting the integrity of our stringers down the road. Overall, it's a huge improvement over this failed stuff...
While TJ worked on the limber holes, I did some spot repair on stringer butt joints. There were a few unavoidable buckles in our laminate installation caused by the curve of the hull. I ground out the large voids with the RAS sander and 36 grit disc. Once the voids were cleared, I cut some tabs of Quadraxial cloth. Where needed, I filled in with some thickened then laid the wet out tabs over top.
All said it looks pretty darn good. We'll add one last finishing touch on the next post, reinforcing stringer to transom
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