TOPIC: 1966 Dorsett San Juan Transom & Stringers (Help)

Hello All,

After staring at my land locked San Juan for long enough it's finally time to start the demo & rebuild. After removing some of the floor its clear this girl needs a full make-over. This will be a total overhaul as the stringers are completely rotted out & there's even termite damage on the interior wood. My biggest question is whether or not I should cut the splash well off before rebuilding the transom. I am looking for advice on if this is needed and if so where should I cut? I am trying to avoid splitting the cap from the hull as much as possible so any advice on a cut line is greatly appreciated.

I guess my first question is why do you not want to split the cap from the hull? It makes it much easier to get at the stringers front to back and any other issues you may find while in there. You will also be able to rebuild the transom much easier with the cap off.

Bob

Ditto Bob's comment. I've done this job at least a dozen times. Remove the cap, cut nothing.

My biggest reason to not pull the cap is work space, my boats parked on the street and I have limited equipment to assist pulling the cap. I am leaning towards cutting just the back of the cap/splashwell off. The splashwell area needs enough fiberglass work that repairing the cut line is the least of my concerns. In a perfect world I'd split the whole cap off but lack of space and equipment will make that difficult.

Thanks for the insight so far, I think I'm leaning towards cutting the red line and removing the back of the cap to give me better access without removing the entire cap. Cabin is 90% torn out with the unpleasant surprise of termites in the bulkhead. Looks like all the wood is coming out after all.

Does anyone have diagram of the original stringer placement for a 1966 San Juan? It definitely looks like the existing rotten stringers are not original. I don't believe the originals had the "bilge well?" (Sorry, not sure of the proper word for the area with the water pickup). I'm a big fisherman and will not be doing a period correct restoration so I'll definitely be keeping the water pickup.

Also that area has the drain plug sealed over and came with a bildge pump in that well. I'm thinking I'll be putting a drain hole in the new transom & a new bildge pump back in the well. Thoughts?

Final question. What's everyone's opinion on cutting or leaving in place the original inwales (under the gun gunwales in the cockpit) during the restoration? To me the glass is in great shape and the wood core is solid so I'm not seeing much of a reason to mess with them.

Thank you,
Jake

Since you have asked for opinions...Don't take this the wrong way but I don't believe you know what you're doing. Cutting along that red line will be tampering with the structural integrity of the hull. If you can't seperate the top from the bottom, take the boat to someone who can. If you can't do that, park it under a tree limb and lift it off with a come-along. Bottom line: Seperate the top from the bottom and do the job the right way.

You say you're a big fisherman. A San Juan is a poor choice for a fishing boat. Maybe the best idea would be to sell it and put the money toward a center console. I just hate to see such a collectable boat butchered and patched.

Thank you for your input. You are right about me not knowing what I am doing as this is my first boat. If I knew what I was doing I wouldn't be asking for help. Now we that we got that out of the way, I don't understand how cutting the back portion of the cap/splash-well will compromise the Hull. I have no intentions of cutting the hull on that red line. the plan is to cut only to the hull & then remove the staples & split it from the cut back. I've been reading over as many Dorsett transom rebuilds as I could find over the past 2 years & have only seen one where the entire cap was removed. I am not arguing that removing the cap may be the best way but I find it hard to believe that its the only way.

Yes a center console would be much better suited for fishing but I know this San Juan will make a great bay & lobster boat for me in San Diego. I also have an emotional attachment to this boat & plan on seeing this project through. It will also double as a suitable camper boat for my wife & I as it was originally intended for. This boat has already been butchered & patched by the previous only so no need to worry there. I plan on building this boat to be structurally sound & most importantly to suite my needs.

Another day, another surprise. I put in some hours today to cut out the old stringers only to find the keel is completely rotten at both ends. It almost looks like the center stringer (which was one piece from bow to stern) is also the wood inside the keel. For whatever reason I expected the keel to be encapsulated from the stringers/bilge. I'm thinking best course of action is grind down the glass to the width of the keel, removing all old wood, cleaning the interior glass of the keel, maybe lay 1 or 2 layers of tape & epoxy to reinforce the inside of the keel, add new wood (I'm thinking lumber not ply), and glass over the keel. Any suggestions on wood or thoughts on this process?

I also found out that the bottom of the boat is cored wood but luckily I only found one small crack with minimal rot. That being said it think the entire bottom inside hull would benefit from a sanding & layer of glass to ensure all existing core stays good.

-Jake

Did a bit more sanding and found some more surprises. It does seem that over 75% of the keel wood is in good shape. Also the bottom of my hull has some rotten wood core. Luckily the wood, not sure what kind it is, is laid in small rectangular sections so replacement shouldn't be too hard. It appears to be roughly 1/4" thick. Current plan is looking like;
1. Completely separating the cap from the hull.
2. Removing bulkhead & inwale glass in one piece
3. Sand down all delaminated old fiberglass mat & removing any rotten wood core from the bottom of the hull.
4. Fix keel by joining existing wood to 3"4 ply at either end (open for suggestions), fill all remaining voids in the keel with a thickened epoxy then lay at least 1 layer of glass (biax) over the entire length of the keel. The original, or last repair, was a single piece of wood from stern to bow & went all the way up to the deck as a stringer. It was poorly encapsulated and tabbed so it's no wonder it rotted.

4. Bed new piece of core (most likely 1/4" ply) in a thickened epoxy (not sure if this is necessary) & then lay at least 1 layer of glass on the entire inside of the hull. The areas with no remaining glass from core replacement may get 2 layers so everything is nice and even.

I feel that this is what's necessary before I can move to the transom rebuild.

That kind of wood core in the bottom of a boat is usually balsa I believe.

Hey dude. I disagree with other people here that you have to split the whole boat apart, of course it is the BEST way but some of us have to work with less. Myself I am doing the same thing, also outdoors. Luckily I'm not in the street tho, I pity your neighbors for all the noise and dust you're about to make. You should check out my build (link below). This is actually pretty far out of date now and I need to make and update. But it's relevant to your project and should show you the scope of what you're getting into. Do not remove the outside of the transom like on my boat though. BTW I would cut along line 2, avoiding the seam between deck and hull.

Dorsett

2 cents......Don't say it Jan.
I've popped the top on more of these old scows than I can remember. A word of caution.
You should (must) totally run cross bracing in the hull. 2x4's in an "X" pattern from port to starboard - right to left for some of you guys. If you do not brace the hull on a boat that size you will never get the top back on correctly because while you work on the open hull you will be spreading the sides (gunnels) apart and never the two shall meet again.
That being said if you do pull the top off and brace the hull you will be attempting to work around all those braces. My suggestion is to leave humpty dumpty together, crawl on your hands and knees and lay on your back to reach those hard to get to places. You can get the old transom out by just cutting off the width of the top area and working the rotted stuff out with metal bars, saw blades or whatever is handy and a good shop vac. Make a pattern of the transom to use as a template for your new transom and then you can slide the new sandwhiched/glassed transom replacement in from the top.
If you can wiggle a new transom in place from inside all the better.
Now....get to work!
OK, more than 2 cents. call it a nickle's worth of ssssssssssss

It's important to remember that free advice is worth twice what you pay for it.