unrivited and crooked stringers in SYLVAN 1600 need input.

Guys I have a 1999 sylvan explorer 1600. I'm redoing the carpet this winter and happened to look in the bilge of the boat and noticed that the stringers are not straight and also the base of them is not attached on one side. The boat has been great and handles like a dream. is this normal or did the rivets pop because of freeze and thaw? The boat seems to be dry and does not appear to be water logged. the foam on the bottom is dry in the areas it has come out. Ill take pics tonight when I get home. Also where the stringers are crooked they are riveted crooked up top into the plywood. Should I even worry about this? I might keep the boat long term or maybe sell it and upgrade. give me your thoughts and opinions please. Here is the boat in question, picked it up for $2700.00 50hp Johnson with a evinrude electric trolling motor

Just my opinion....but...if it is dry and has been successfully running since 1999...I wouldn't touch a thing.

For all that we know, some naval architect designed the stringers to be slanted. He may have designed them to not be attached at those points, too.

Let sleeping dogs lie.

richg99

I've definitely thought of that. Here's some pics I took.

More pics

I wouldn't worry about it b/c the ribs and hull are not flat.
The missing rivets might be an issue. The stringer is riveted to the ribs so if they do pull out there won't be any leaks.

So I decided to cut a hole in the floor and make a hatch to access the bilge and the good news is that the rivets are holding in place the semi bad news is when I stuck my hand under them it seemed like is was touchingfrozen foam. If I held my fingers long enough they would get a bit wet. Now the woof floor is in nice shape so I'm wondering is the Is just rain water that crept through the seams and got it went or what. Also at what point do you realize it needs to be gutted. And advice? Also I might at that in this design the lowest spot of the foam empties into the bilge. It's not enclosed in any particular compartment. Could it just drain out when in gets worm out?

Not exactly the same... But...years ago, I ran a Carolina Skiff site. Some of them got water in the foam. Mostly due to poor installation of consoles and other deck fittings.

The solution was to drill some large holes way down on the transom. Tilt the bow up. Leave it for a week or two...and then take it out Fishing. Gravity removed most of the water. I'd do the same here but no holes need be drilled.
richg99

Any foam I thought was wet would leave me worried. I would have to dig further and replace if necessary. I tend to lead on the side of caution. No need for extra weight when you don't need it.