Rhodes 19 fiberglass and ribs

[rbaevergreen]

A neighbor gave me their Rhodes 19 but it needs some work. Among the issues, some of the ribs are rotten. The Stuart Marine parts salesperson said that the part that is visible is removed and then you screw the new rib kit into the original fiberglassed-in rib? One of them came off while using the pressure washer (unless I stepped on it). You can also see some fiberglass coming loose in the first picture. The second issue I noticed immediately is a large amount of cracks on the top. How do I fix this?

 

[shemandr]

Sales guy might have been describing "Sistering" as a technique of repair. I can't see the sense of screwing a new rib into a failing one. Why not sand the area smooth being careful to mark where the rib goes and use the old one as template for a new one. Then fiberglass it to the hull using epoxy. Make a fillet.
Better yet, if you have to replace several you don't really need that big a rib. You could fiberglass a stringer using wood, metal or even some synthetic material. Completely encase it with fiberglass tape, or cloth and epoxy. It wouldn't need to be that big and since it would be rounded, you could step on it instead of around it.
The deck could be sanded smooth and painted. You'd have to sand off all the gelcoat. Not really that hard but a chunk of work. It is a cosmetic job. Those cracks don't have much structural significance if the deck core is sound.
Why doesn't your neighbor like you?

 

[rbaevergreen]

It looks like the top half of the rib split from the bottom half - unless I don't understand how these are constructed. I assumed that the bottom half of the rib is encased in fiberglass to provide structure and the top half holds up the floor. What about using wood hardener?

Sounds like I can ignore the cracking on the top deck if I wanted to instead? Do I need to put new gelcoat back if I sand it all off?

 

[shemandr]

"It looks like the top half of the rib split from the bottom half - unless I don't understand how these are constructed. I assumed that the bottom half of the rib is encased in fiberglass to provide structure and the top half holds up the floor. What about using wood hardener?"

The floor in the picture is the hull right? That wood can't go that far into a fibergIass since the hull would be 1/4" or 3/8". I think the stringer was placed after the hull was made and added after the hull was removed from the mold. Wood hardener depends on how sound the wood left in the fiberglass is. It would be difficult to remove the remaining wood, I would think. The penetrating epoxy wouldn't do much harm - maybe not much good either. I wasn't aware that you have floors to go over that stringer. So make a template from the existing (Broken) frame and fillet it to the floor/remaining wood. Just sand it flat. I think those stringers are to stiffen the hull athwartships for the centerboard. A filleted stringer will be strong enough. Use a good hardwood with grain going across the boat.

Sounds like I can ignore the cracking on the top deck if I wanted to instead? Do I need to put new gelcoat back if I sand it all off?

No. Just paint it with good paint like Interlux's Brightside after priming. Follow the instructions especially the prep, thinners, and cleaning solvents. Just confirm that the deck isn't spongy first. If it is spongy the paint will fail.

 

[rbaevergreen]

Why not sand the area smooth being careful to mark where the rib goes and use the old one as template for a new one. Then fiberglass it to the hull using epoxy. Make a fillet.

I finally figured out what you meant by fillet:

. I just saw my neighbor tonight by chance. They had brought it to have the ribs replaced a number of years ago. Maybe they used some sort of glue and then caulked the edges as it doesn't look like the guy has it in that video (I'm assuming I wouldn't need to fully encase like he does).

I saw something about pressure-treated pine being used instead of oak?? I also read that the Stuart kit might need some adjustment/tweaks.