Stringers

There's a lot be said for building a design with no stringers! Over about a day or so this past week I ripped around 1000 feet of stringer material from 2 by 8 stock. Then I had to cut 8:1 scarfs in each piece as the wood was just 16' long, but the longest stringers need to be around 36' The downside to not having stringers is a lot more complex materials are needed (foam, cold molding, cedar strip) or you have to use really heavy ply. I've seen interior pics of the Aussie Easy Catamarans (ply hulls) with no stringers in sight, must use heavy ply or have weak topsides.

On the plus side it it helps hold all the bulkheads together when adding the Okoume plywood planking. I think it represents the best way for a limited production multi-hull to be built strong but light and for a reasonable cost and time expenditure.

Again from the Searunner Manual, I made up this jig for an 8:1 scarf on my table saw. I got this industrial size DeWalt saw second-hand a few months ago, the table is cast iron so rusts a bit in our location. I try to oil it every few weeks and it's been an excellent tool so far.



Here is a scarf joint being glued. They didn't all look quite this good, but I was very happy with the results. In 25 years of repairing and building boats, these were the first scarf joints of this type I had ever made.


This last picture is 11 finished full length stringers hanging form the patio ceiling. This ceiling/ roof is metal slats which I plan to take apart to build the cabins and bridgedeck. I may end up doing this in the driveway instead, depends on what time of year it ends of being and how much I can do without removing the roof.