Engine Stringer Repairs

Well, it has been many months without an update!  Finally got Blogger working on the computer again, so its time to catch up.

Now that all of the intermediate frames have been removed and rough cut, there is room to remove the engine stringers for some additional cleaning and repairs.  The top edge of the 2”x6” Douglas Fir stringers have some splits, separating grain, and missing sections.  Here you can see where sections have been broken off and the grain is continuing to split beyond the damaged area.

So, the splitting and broken area is marked out, and the laminate trim router is used to remove the damaged area.  A small piece of wood is clamped on as a fence to control the depth along the vertical face of the stringer.

Using a small wood chisel, the ends of the routed area are squared off for the graving piece to be glued in place.

A piece of Douglas Fir with a similar grain pattern was used to make the graving pieces.  Trimmed for length and a tight fit in the routed area, the piece is glued with waterproof glue and clamped in place.

A couple of days later, after the glue has set, the graving piece is ready to be trimmed.  Using a small disc sander and then a hand plane, the excess material is removed and faired to the stringer.  A final light sanding and this area is complete.

A few other areas on the stringer edge were also repaired.  The steering box carriage bolts had been tightened a few times over the last 60 plus years and the head of two had crushed the stringer.  So this area was routed and graving pieces added.

Along the top of the stringer, the screw holes for the floorboards were filled with ¼” dowel and trimmed flush.

Finally, the stringers are thoroughly degreased, sanded to remove flaking bilge paint and then 2 coats of Clear Penetrating Epoxy Sealer is applied in preparation for painting.