any body have any advice on chris craft 260 stingers. a friend has one i can pick up for a song (the price is defenitly right) . its a mid 80's twin small block/alpha boat. it has good power (stock) but has been sitting for about 6 or 7 years. a family of racoons moved into it and wasted the interior, he lost intrest and just let the boat sit. i'm not looking to keep the boat but rather a transition from my current 24' mirage onward to a 30'+ somthing someday hopefully (you guys know what i mean ) any coments would be cool. also i know these are not real fast but what speeds can i expect ? thanks all.

A guy we used to boat with had a mid 80's '26 Stinger with 350s and alphas. If I remember right top speed was 58 on GPS. Boat rode pretty good in rough water.

Dave,
I had a 89 27 fountain with 350's and alphas. the boat ran about 62 MPH. The boat was/is very dependable and has been running every weekend on Lake Murray in SC since 92 when I bought the boat. I think the engine now have over 750 hours.

My buddy has an 86. It rides well for its length in rough water. Expect 58-60 on GPS. There was a post a couple of months ago in the tech section asking about props for the 260. Only big problem with the boat is it loves to porpose on flat water. You need to run with the tabs down to keep it from doing this. To get the 58-60 mph the tabs will be up and you will be porposing. It seems to be inherent to the hull design.
Dan

you might want to pressure test the fuel tank.I have seen 3 mid 80's crack the tanks up here and its a bugger to change em.

Im sure there are a bunch of ways ..Anyone have a simple way to pressure test the tanks ..IE: with fill/vent lines on or off ..schrader valve or ???

ditto what airpacker said---my buddy's got an 87' and when he bought it the tank had already been changed because of this. He runs at 62mph wot. , and does handle the rough stuff great, we don't notice much porposing though. The stringers are prone to infection though--be careful there.

Del sol,
What power is in your buddy's boat and what props is he running?
Thanks,
Dan

I believe he's running 14*21 props, with mildly worked over 350's, stock exhaust. Most of the time he's at the 58 mark but if everything is just right he'll get to 60-62. I'm not sure of cams, motors were built when he bought the boat. He had to do some major floorboard reglassing and stringer replacement after he bought it, but it's rock solid now. For the money he's got into it, it's a cheap ride

Del sol,
Thanks for the info.
Dan