My First Boat 1984 Chris-craft 260 Stinger ??? Help !!

[Stinger390X]

Annalizing the cracks would be a good idea first. How deep are they?
To know this you must take a die grinder with a small bit and make a "V" in the cracks and see how deep they are. If they are relatively shallow you can just "V" out the cracks painstakingly and then featheredge the edges with a DA and some rough paper about 80-180 grit outwards to a couple of inches beyond the repair area.
Mix gel and apply to areas and load it up layer after layer. You might want to use cellophane over it after and smooth it out with a squeegee?

Once it cures block sand it and then polish it with a buffer and progressive stages of compound.

If you have never done this before try to watch a pro first as this sounds easy, but it take a bit of finess, especially matching the colour of the gel!

If the cracks are structural then sorry to say buddy but a big grinder, lots of dust and massive amounts of work are required, as well as complete paint sometimes. Could turn out to be a big job? Replacement of wood and stringers, glassing and inside coating again?

Lets hope it's just cosmetic.................

[MartyMar]

yea Im just going to treat this boat as I would any of the old cars i've restored..just expect everything to be bad..lol I have posted alot of the cracks on my myspace so check them out and let me know what u think.

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/inde...lbumId=1489373

Also if anyone would like to add me to there yahoo messenger feel free my name on there is marcummotorspt.

[Stinger390X]

Yes many of those are just cosmetic. You do have your work cut out for you as you might need to re-spray the colours again. If I were you I would take some time this winter and go to town on it and do it over completely.
That is a nice boat but I see you also have work to do inside as well?
Should be real nice when you finish.

One thing I would change is those throttles to a newer style (unless they work fine presently?) If it aint brike don't fix it... I find those typoe always get stiff for some reason after a few years????

By the way, what props are you running and have you had it in the water yet?

[MartyMar]

No water action yet! but this coming weekend. And the throttles seem to work good. And on those cracks just because im curious I broke out a little 4" sander on some of those cracks on the front topside of the boat, seems past the paint and what not those cracks are into the darker material " not sure if thats fiber glass or not..but I also found a crappy patch job that was causing a leak in the hatch, I got lucky and discovered a hole in the Fiberglass mat and have put a pic of it on my myspace link. Im also buidling a website about my work on the boat.

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/inde...ageID=22945521

[Stinger390X]

That is definitely glass work for sure. You will have to taper it out properly until there is no flaking fibreglass or air bubbles. Then you have to start laying progressively larger sheets on the hole starting with a small one to larger sizes.

I would just put the boat in the water and have fun with it for a few weeks as summer is almost over. Take it out in October and go to town on it then.
Try it out and see what you need to fix it properly, including tuning and trimming , props etc.

Have fun! I had mine out all day today........................

[MartyMar]

Yea I've been doing alot of research on gelcoat and glass work actually im looking forward in learning everything. I went to a Mercrusier dealer today and ordered manuals on the engines and outdrives. And ordered a few books on glass repair from Tap Plastics, and information on roll on boat paints and undercoatings from yachtpaint.com they seem like a cool option...Im really thinking about going custom on this boat this winter..but only time will tell ..lol Im also really digin that show ship shape I found on youtube it really helps me get ideas on how to fix things. But today I tore into my first surge brake system..mines all shot to hell and that component should be here zinc coated and everything thursday..lol Do you know of any cool links for parts or anything i could check out??

[Eddito]

here are some more pictures

[Stinger390X]

Hey I was checking out the pics again and noticed you inherited an adjustable wrench from the bilge???

One thing I would suggest...Get rid of the bottom coat. Sand it off with a DA or by hand and then wetsand the bottom with #600 wet silicon carbide paper. Your boat will slip through the water much better than with that lousy bottom coat.
That is only for people who leave thier boats in all season and are too lazy to clean the critters and grass off the bottom! (you should see some of the hairy outdrives in our marina!!! Looks worse than "Chewbacka" from star Wars!)





(sorry no disespect to those of you that use that material)

[MartyMar]

Yea that anti fouling crap is retarded, and it looks horrible my outdrives look like they were raped by a crack head octopuss..lol thanks to all that stuff flaking off. Question, how the hell do u change the oil with out making a mess ... ?? havent started it yet, but id like to before saturday

[Ghostrider]

I made up a funnel with a hose that runs out the bilge plug at the back to an oil catch pan, I then drop the nose of the boat so the sump plug is down, pop the plug out and let gravity do the rest! Tests show you need more than a garden hose to get the old oil out of the funnel faster than it fills and overflows but heck, I needed an excuse to clean the bilge again anyway!
I also put a small bucket under the remote filter mount when I drop the filter too. Just to catch the oil from there. I take a line off the cooler and blow the old oil out of that too. It tastes terrible but it gets it out!
(Actually I add that to the drain funnel...)

I'm not sure if it's a good idea or not, but I pre-fill the cooler before the engine and always let some clean oil run through the engine from the fill straight out the sump hole (about 1/2 quart) before I plug it back up to fill.

Hope that helps!
John