Question regarding Structural Strength - Fibreglass
Submitted by Italsistem on Mon, 2013-11-25 11:00
Gents, i have myself a little 14ft glass runabout, shes old but sturdy and does the job. However I am sick and tired of sitting on flipping wodden plank seats! I want to remove them and either not run any seating or replace with a more arse friendly seating arrangement.
The only quesiton i have before ripping these abominations out is, would they contribute at all the the structural rigidity of the craft itself? There are only 2 of these 'seats' which span the width of the boat and they appear to have been fixed and glassed in.
Could I simply attack them with the circular saw to remove and clean up where they attached to the sides or is there more to it?
Thanks in advance
Jarryd
dodgy
Posts: 4578
Date Joined: 01/02/10
Depends. Some are fine
Depends. Some are fine without the extra bracing like the little Haines 14r but you probably won't know until you bite the bullet.
Bracing can be added a few different ways but I suppose the last thing you are looking for is to have a major project due to removing a bench.
What hull is it?
Does anyone know where the love of god goes, when the waves turn the minutes to hours?
Italsistem
Posts: 43
Date Joined: 07/07/12
No ID on the Hull, all I can
No ID on the Hull, all I can tell is it was manufactured in '81. No distinct markings or manufacturers names on it at all! I tried to chase down what it was but found no answers.
Ill have a closer look this weekend and see what the go is. I only ever use it for punting about the river so if i do fuck it, which is highly likely i have more than enough time to steadily chip away.
Thanks mate.
Paul H
Posts: 2104
Date Joined: 18/01/07
Does the boat have a floor or
Does the boat have a floor or apart from the seats are you looking at the bottom of the hull (which would be rare for a fibre glass boat but not impossible), if you can through up a pic or two should help.
If you have a floor this would give structural support lower down and I'd guess you'd have stringers under that as well. The fact the seat are wood (not glassed over) would suggest they are more "to sit on" seats.
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Swompa
Posts: 3885
Date Joined: 14/10/12
Any pic you can post? If they
Any pic you can post? If they are flimsey, i would assime that they would not form a rib of sorts, but cant be sure without a photo.
Italsistem
Posts: 43
Date Joined: 07/07/12
I will get some of the
I will get some of the actual section i want to remove tonight, all i have at the moment are ones of the hull itself. Will report back.
Thanks again!
Italsistem
Posts: 43
Date Joined: 07/07/12
Picture
Attached is a picture of what I am talking about - you can see where the wooden plankk sits in relation to the side. The plank is secured from the bottom of the pedestal via a couple of screws.
I want to remove the plank entirely, based on this photo i cant see why removing it would effect the overall structural strength? However I am not the cleverest when it comes to this stuff, building roads yes - boats, not so much!
brenno
Posts: 60
Date Joined: 17/04/12
If the plank is only secured
If the plank is only secured by a couple of screws then there's a high chance it's no structural and plus u have a flat deck in it an they provide a lot of strength I would only be worried if it was completely glassed in and not removable by a couple of screws but y not just get some cusion fold down seats tht you can secure to it instead
Swompa
Posts: 3885
Date Joined: 14/10/12
Yeah I doubt it's
Yeah I doubt it's structural, just don't come in too hard to the jetty of your gunnell may flex a little now.
Think of the amount of structure most centre consoles have. It is mainly a thin strip of deck, and the floor.
iana
Posts: 652
Date Joined: 21/09/09
Are the seats structural?
If you have a good look at the photo, of what is left of the old original seats, if that is what they were, you can see the age rings of the original wood, i.e. the ends are not fiber-glassed over. If these were seats since removed, the seat and the support look very well attached. Which makes me think that these as complete seats x2 were very strong.
They were cut out, then one seat was refitted with bolts, why?
If you are willing to risk it, take it off, but we cannot say yay or nay on such a thing.
Has your boat got added buoyancy, may come in handy.
Italsistem
Posts: 43
Date Joined: 07/07/12
thanks for the help guys,
thanks for the help guys, much appreciated.