Stringer covering Material/38 Luhrs

[Douglas Fairchild]

Hi all. I have been looking at 38 Luhrs convertibles. I recently looked at a 2004 and saw the interior hull has very thick gell coat covering whereas previous years had Rough woven FRP. Does anyone know if the 2004 has FRP covering the stringers under the gell coat or did Luhrs abandon using FRP. I am concerned because gell coat can be penetrated by water which could resulting in rotted stringers.

[pdavejr]

there should be no wood stringers in that boat( shouldnt be?)

[Douglas Fairchild]

Stringers are made from three materials. Plywood, Foam, or solid FRP. It can't be foam as the stringer would be very wide. Solid FRP is very expensive so I doubt it is that material. That leaves plywood. Curious as to where your information comes from.

[pdavejr]

I have the 41 cvt its an 2006 my surveyor was very familiar with these boats(there good points as well as there issues) the later hulls are reinforced with glass stringers. most boat buiders try to avoid wood stringers because of there softning issues with a water enviroment. all later luhrs should be solid glass below the water line. I will try to pick up some more information and message you back. Dave

[Douglas Fairchild]

I emailed Luhrs directly. They state stringers are wood and are covered in FRP then gell coat is sprayed on top. Thanks all for replys.

[pdavejr]

Im not suprised of wood stringers in these boats. They say in there tecnical specs there solid glass below the water line. But i guess to save money they would emplore these methods?

[dave01]

Do you think wood stringers are bad? Or less expensive to fabricate? Arent some more popilar names built with wooden stringers? Hatteras to name one.

[Esquire]

Many major sportfisher manufacturers use "glass encapsulated" wood for their stringers. The only problem comes from the quality of the fiberglass encapsulation and how the drain holes and other penatrations are sealed, a well done job will protect the wood inside for the life of the boat, a crappy job will allow water to get in and rot the stringer.

[pdavejr]

I talked to luhrs today. They were using wood until some time in 2006 and at some point they switched to foam stringers. Hope this helps Dave