Thread: Back to the Sprint

Started on the stringers with some fiberglass.

Thanks for the shout out. Watched y'all fishing too, casual & cool, I need those fishing days sometime soon. Using Divinity Cell you may want 2 layers of 1708 encapsulating as there won't be enough spine in your stringers otherwise. You won't know it till several rough water rides. Spider cracking will surface in the cap from the bow stretching upwards. Focus more over the stringer from the hull over the top and back to the hull. You can cut a tabbing strips to tab the stringer back into the hull. Also I would consider sanding a radius on the upper edges of your stringer core to help the 1708 conform. I use a heat gun often to help mold the 1708 around stringers. I have a write up in BBC Restoration 171SC Champion thread about doing that.

Yep, I'll definitely do two layers of the 1708, you're right, that foam is not very strong. I'll reinforce areas I think will need it as well. It be "strong link bull" when I be done for sure. And yep, I'll round the tops as well. Good advise for sure, tanks.

Latest update video....



Starting to be fun, just takes a while, and the learning process too, epoxy resin does what it does...

This is very inspirational. I have a 93' Sprint 286 I bought back in 2018 I need to go through and do the same. Wasn't planning to buy the boat just the motor, showed up and made an offer. Seller accepted but didn't have a way to take motor off the transom. So he threw in the boat and trailer in for free. It's a salvage title due to gash in the hull, which isn't bad can be repaired easily. Just cheaper for insurance to pay the claim. Not sure what I can do with a salvage titled boat yet, but luckily I live in MS enforcement on anything is pretty much next to nil boat wise as long as it's got stickers and tags should be OK. Do like the 100% composite hull though so I think I can save it once it cools off some. Good winter project. I will have to go through an watch more of your videos on it.

Originally Posted by Snubby

This is very inspirational. I have a 93' Sprint 286 I bought back in 2018 I need to go through and do the same. Wasn't planning to buy the boat just the motor, showed up and made an offer. Seller accepted but didn't have a way to take motor off the transom. So he threw in the boat and trailer in for free. It's a salvage title due to gash in the hull, which isn't bad can be repaired easily. Just cheaper for insurance to pay the claim. Not sure what I can do with a salvage titled boat yet, but luckily I live in MS enforcement on anything is pretty much next to nil boat wise as long as it's got stickers and tags should be OK. Do like the 100% composite hull though so I think I can save it once it cools off some. Good winter project. I will have to go through an watch more of your videos on it.

IMHO they are worth saving. They tried to make a really good boat, but just failed in a couple ways, like using metal staples to attach the deck to the stringers. What they did by doing that is they allowed water to enter the stringers once that metal rusted. Look at my videos, you'll see how bad the stringers were. And also the foam used between all the stringers just soaked up the water, really bad. On top that, where they made holes to spray in that foam was not sealed, so there was a natural entry point for the water. A couple easy changes woulda made it an absolutely fantastic boat. But the good news is, the fiberglass is thick, and it seems like a really tough boat overall. I'll see how it pushes over water later once I git'r done! lol

Best of luck to ya.

Here's the playlist of all the videos for what it's worth.
1996 Sprint 277 - YouTube

I have enjoyed redoing the ones I have done

Bud you can seal your stringers when you set the deck. Mix a thickened epoxy or buy the thickened caulk tubes like I did and when you set the deck just epoxy it to the stringers at the same time sealing your stringer work in the process. I did it to my boats both the Blazer & Champion.

Six10 Thickened Epoxy Adhesive | WEST SYSTEM Epoxy