by GreenLake » Tue Jul 26, 2022 7:37 pm
I've seen one of these older boats, but never owned one. Yours looks pretty much like what I remember seeing.
I don't see any reason not to add some additional support, even if it's just for peace or mind. You don't write what you have planned, so I could picture two solutions. One would be to glass in a small pedestal, and use that to attach a single "leg" to the floor which is held against the seat by a triangular bracket.
Alternatively, you could make one or more "ring shaped" supports, where the bottom and back part help the forward part act as a leg by holding it in place. In that scenario, no need to glue anything to the floor.
Why a ring and not a solid board? Weight would be one, the other is the observation that the builders changed the flotation by later added seat tanks. That points to the original flotation being possibly a bit marginal. If you have 2-3 ring shaped supports under each seat, those could securely hold one of those tubular flotation chambers, used for Optimists and other boats. That would seem like a win-win from my perspective.
Some people would tab in the bottom member of each support for extra stiffness. Just as long as the whole member is epoxy sealed, little speaks against gluing (part of) the bottom member to the floor. It prevents any movement, so no potential for rubbing etc.
The crack in the coaming. what were your thoughts about that?
I would probably attempt to glue it back - at the minimum so it doesn't extend further. For a fresh crack that can be clamped together with no gaps, I would try waterproof wood glue like TiteBond III. If there's a gap, or clamping isn't an option, I would use an epoxy glue. For a wide crack you might benefit from a filler (wood dust), for something narrower I'd simply use a non-sagging glue like GelMagic. It comes in a cartridge with a self-mixing tip that makes applying pretty straight forward. If a bit of clamping (or a weight) can reduce the gap a bit, I would use that, but for epoxy glue you don't want to squeeze out too much of the glue.
In one of the photos it looks like the coaming that sits on the transom is missing. that would give the back edge of the others some necessary support. If it was missing when you got the boat, perhaps try to replace it, or at least mount short pieces at the end to help support the port and starboard coamings.
Even with the crack your starboard coaming is adding strength to your boat.
~ green ~ lake ~ ~