The glass work on the inside of the hull is done and I need to build a new floor. Before I do that, I have to decide what to do where I took out the vermiculite that was in the "second sump" area. The verm supported the floor there.
I ran numbers through Gerr's "Elements of Boat Strength" formulas. The solid glass strip that runs from stem to stern, the "keel", is about 3 times thicker than the "minimum" required. The "mimimums" look a lot like a Soverel 33. Our hull is at least 4 times stiffer than a Soverel everywhere by the numbers. Says our "keel" is more than 50 times stiffer. Seems amazing but that's what it comes to. All of our structure is as thick or thicker than the 40 foot 25,000 pound example Gerr uses throughout the book.
I have to conclude that the vermiculite isn't necessary for the structure.
I just need something to rest my new floor on. I'm thinking about putting genuine fore and aft stringers in. One on each side of the solid glass "keel" leveled to the height of the "floors" in the keel sump. Run them from the motor mounts to the aft floor in the sump. Put down a new floor and be done with it.
Asking for a sanity check here.
