replace wood stringers with solid plastic deck molding?

[sitdownsteve]

My buddy has a pallet of 1x6in solid plastic deck molding laying around he got for free, I just seen this stuff and its solid as a 2x4 if not a little more.... Would I be able to bond that to the hull and would it be to stiff... Input please, if I can use this I'm ripping the cap off this weekend

[Salty87]

too lazy to google...what's it made of? i don't think i would. i've read of plastic deck boards rotting.

maybe it's better to say it's a real gamble. you tell us how it turns out, lol.

[sitdownsteve]

yeah i googled deck molding to replace wood stringers not much out there on that, it is made of recycled materials and their website says it won’t rot, warp, or splinter ever... im not worried about it rotting im more intersested in can new stringers be to stiff i geuss

[sitdownsteve]

also if i do use it what do you think would be the best way to bond it to the hull, same method as wood stringers resign or epoxy

[bens250ex]

Prob will not bond. I tried some for floor support and it wouldn't bond

[Okie Boarder]

I'm thinking that you will have trouble getting it to bond. The key would be to find out exactly what it is made of then check to see if particular resins will bond to it. Otherwise it's just a WAG.

[sitdownsteve]

Lol what is wag? Yes getting it to bond seems to be my main concern, last night I took some fiberglass cloth and resin and let it set up, today I took the composite board drilled a 13/16 hole near the bottom, put resin on the fiberglass and bottom of the plastic then pulled a peice of fiberglass cloth through the hole and covered everything with resin and now I am waiting for it to cure then I will see how easy it will be to break apart, then I geuss I will make my decision to move forward or not

[sitdownsteve]

Well the bond held, I couldn't break it with my hands, it took standing on the fiberglass with one foot and kicking the 2x6 with my other foot and even then the bond didn't break just the 4 layers of raw fiberglass I was standing on cracked... So looks like I'm doing away with 90% of the wood on this boat and replacing it with composite lumber, hope to have the cap off by the end of the week

[lively]

another way i would test it is in the strength of the source itself .... does it flex ? bend easy? fiberglass boats that have wood stringers rely on the wood itself for the
strength
not the glass .. so if the composite material you are using will bend or flex , i would deff double up on layers of wood and use at least 5 layers of glass ( 1708 ) 2 layers of tabbing and 3 layers to rap over the stringer to bond to the hull ... what is the material called ?

[sitdownsteve]

Trex decking is the material and it is by no means weak, like I said before it seems as strong or stronger than same size peice of wood