1990 C-Hawk 18’ rebuild

[Jeffrey.bean]

Hello all, new here,

I picked up a 1990 Chawk 18 this past spring. I knew that the core material was water logged, the the original 25 gal aluminum fuel tank was full of pin holes, but I’m not one to shy away from a project.
I’ve never rebuilt a boat from the stringers up. I found this site, and followed another Chawk rebuild, lots of great knowledge and help.
So, what started as a new fuel tank install, turned into a gutted hull. I pulled about 200ibs of water logged foam out of the boat, not to mention the saturated core for the deck.
I’m waiting on help to pull the top cap, then it’s off to the races.
One question I have at this point, my boat sits on a roller trailer. I understand that I shouldn’t redo the stringers while on the trailer due to deforming the hull. How should I block it up and assure the hull is in proper shape before installing new stringers?
Thanks Jeff

[goingbogueoutdoors]

Welcome! I’d say your best bet is to do wood cribbing and remove it from under the trailer. Are you separating the cap from the hull? That will drastically effect how much flex the bare hull will have.

The nice thing about a roller trailer is getting it back on afterwards!

[fallguy1000]

Gonna have to build wood bunks under it. The only way. Should have been there already before you pulled foam and core..

[Jeffrey.bean]

No foam core in this boat, had foam holding the fuel tank in place. The rest of the hull had loose foam “logs” stuffed under the deck

Cap is off, stringers, transom and knees are still in place.

I’m in MD, starting to get cold here, I was hoping to do all the demo and grinding outside, then put her in the garage to start rebuilding. It’s looking like I might have to block her up in the garage, and build a tent around the boat to contain the dust

[Fuzz]

Are you planning on rebuilding the transom? If so I would block the boat up good and do that first. Make a map of hull to floor measurements in a bunch of places while the hull is still all together. After all the stringers are out the hull will be floppy,really floppy. When you are installing the new stringers you can use the map to make sure things are still in place.

[Jeffrey.bean]

Yes, transom is coming out.
Gonna try and get it blocked up in the garage this weekend.
Thanks for the info, I did make a map of the beam in many locations, didn’t think to do vertical.

[Fuzz]

Last year I installed new engine bed stringers in a glass boat. The hull was 1/2 thick and the unsupported area was 8 foot by 30 inch. It was pretty easy to feel the glass flexing under foot while working in that area. Glass is about as stiff as the same thickness of plywood. Think of it that way when you go to block up the hull. It might work out better to replace the stringers one at a time. You will just have to see when you get to that point.

[Jeffrey.bean]

I was thinking the same thing, may take a bit longer, but nothing else going on this winter
Thanks again