1959 Skagit Sportster Floor and stinger repair Questions?

[Squirrel42]

Ran across a Skagit Sporster and just could not pass on it. I had the I don't care what I have to do, I'm getting this boat back on the water.

I have never owned or worked on a fiberglass boat, so i got a lot of rookie questions with pictures, so that should help.

I'm really just curious if i should just stop here and re sell it, I need to motivation and someone to say it's worth the time.

The floor was rotted and the fiberglass stingers under the wood floor have cracked and compressed from neglect exposing the under hull fiberglass through the cracked stingers. Can I just glass over the cracked stingers to seal them and make them usable again? Do i need to add any wood?

The skagit stingers seem strange and are just hollow fiberglass, hints I'm hoping I can just repair them by re-glassing over them and not completely removing them.

Any recommendations on how to tackle this first step to the classic boat world would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Can I just glass over the cracked stingers to seal them and make them usable again? Do i need to add any wood?

The skagit stingers seem strange and are just hollow fiberglass, hints I'm hoping I can just repair them by re-glassing over them and not completely removing them.

in short - NO

most likely the wood long long long ago rotted away. you cant just re-glass over compromised stringers. if they were designed without wood, they would not have crushed/cracked great looking little boat. do it right, remove the floor, remove the stringers, do a full gut-n-restore

 

[Scott Danforth]

ondarvr and Woodonglass should be along shortly to chime in.

 

[Squirrel42]

They are hollow air void stingers.. no wood anywhere. The weight of people on the rotted floor has crushed parts of the hollow stingers. But not enough the loose form. I don't see why I couldn't use the stingers and glass over the cracks.
But I don't really know, and don't want to replace the hollow stingers.

 

[Woodonglass]

My Oh My Oh My!!! She's a Beaut!!!!

Welcome to iBoats!!! You are 100% correct. Those stringers were designed at the factory to be hollow cored. That's why they are so wide and slightly Pyramid shaped. You Most certainly can cutout the bad spots and repair them. You can use cardboard to make a "Form" to mimic the original pyramid slanted side shape and then lay the glass right over the cardboard.3 layers of 1708 biax will do the trick. You must ensure that the remaining stringers are all attached to the hull securely. It might not be a bad idea to go ahead and lay a layer of 1708 over all of them to reinforce them.

Is there any other damage to the hull? Have you core sampled the transom?

 

[sphelps]

My Oh My Oh My!!! She's a Beaut!!!

I agree ! Love the lines on her ! The hollow stringers are probably a blessing .. Just re-glass as Woody stated and check your transom ... New deck and good to go !

 

[Squirrel42]

No Title

My Oh My Oh My!!! She's a Beaut!!!!

Welcome to iBoats!!! You are 100% correct. Those stringers were designed at the factory to be hollow cored. That's why they are so wide and slightly Pyramid shaped. You Most certainly can cutout the bad spots and repair them.

Is there any other damage to the hull? Have you core sampled the transom?

Thank you Woodonglass for the great information. I was pretty sure that was the way to go about it, I just needed a second opinion from someone who has done or seen it before. She was just to beautiful to pass up and at $300 with a good trailer, the original electric start box in great condition and a 1959 35hp Lark Jubilee in pieces and missing parts. If all failed I was just going to stripe the boat for parts and sell the trailer and part the engine. that electric box alone was a great score.
I just rebuilt a 1957 35hp Evinrude lark with the help of the great I-boat community that will go on the boat, for now I use it on my 1956 Alumacraft FD.

The Transom appears to be in great condition, I'm pretty positive I can get some more years out of it. I'll look into getting a core sample.
The Hull is going to need some work, lots of keel damage not deep but needs attention.
There is a pretty damn long crack or gouge about 2 feet long under the hull. It appears the owner before me used some clear sealer for a quick fix.
It's dripping water from this crack. Is this something I will have to tackle from the top and bottom? Can i just dry it out and attack it from the bottom.
There is a good amount of spider cracking, how concerned do i need to be about this? I included some pictures

 

[Woodonglass]

If it were me. I'd remove the windshield and make a flat cradle like I did...http://forums.iboats.com/forum/boat...lamingo-splashed-w-pics?p=4705915#post4705915
and flip her onto it. Looks to me like you've got lot of work to do on the underside of the hull and it's SOOOOOO much easier to do when she's bottoms up!!! 2 friends is all you need to get her on the grass and rolled over. She won't weigh much!!! I'd recommend using a dremel to v-groove out all those spider cracks and fill em with some home made structural filler. (Resin, Cabosil and really small chopped strand fibers. 1/8 - 1/16") Mix your resin @ 1% MEKP and you'll have about 30 mins working time. You want to make this stuff about the consistency of Mayonaise. For the Big Gouges use 1/2" - 3/4" fibers and make"Tiger Hair" Mix this like creamy Peanut Butter. The more cabosil you add the thicker it gets. Still use 1% MEKP. For the Final Fairing material Use Glass Bubbles instead of Cabosil and add 5% surfacing wax. Again you want 1% MEKP and e consistency of Mayonaise it'll sand like a dream.

 

[maydayfive]

Squirrel42,
​ I think I just found a sister boat to yours. Its a Guy Lombardo and that from what I can tell was built in Newark NJ for three or four years using the Skagit hulls. Its a mess but I love it. Plus its under $200. Floor needs to come out, it has the same glass stringer setup but this one appears to have foam also. Questions are...Did yours have foam? How is your project today? Did the ends justify the means? She has a great original hardware, wheel and glass windshield. Anything will help guys. Thanks!

 

[Drb007]

Gorgeous boat! I'm a big Skagit fan. I got my Skimaster 17 last year (for $20) and will e redoing it this winter.
From what I have learned, Skagit had two versions of the hollow fiberglass stringers, a very thin and fragile version, and a very thick and durable one. You know which one you got. Mine has the thick ones. You can smash them with a hammer...they are like steel!
But, yes, I agree with WOG, repair and add a layer of new glass over everything, foam, and floor, of course after you redo the transom...
Such great lines...keep us posted!

 

[Squirrel42]

Mine did not have any foam maydayfive Your stringers appaer to be in way better condition than mine. It's finally getting cooler here in Texas and time to start working on the old skagit.

Yes Drb007 I see i got the **** end of the stick, or stringer you could say. Love the extra info, thanks for the post.

 

[kcassells]

Nice score!!!! That is one sweet boat. I'm on board for the ride.

 

[Drb007]

I agree with WOG that flipping her over will make the hull work SOOO much easier. However, check the sides of your hull before your roll it over in the grass. The sides of my Skagit are very thin and flexible. I would not want any extra pressure on them. In fact, I will reinforce my sides when I add the new floor to make it more rigid.
What I like to do is use tow cherry pickers (engine hoists) to flip the boat. Really works great, very stable and controllable. I have a rolling work bench/box that seems to fit inside most of my boats. So when the boat flips over it is actually sitting on top of the workbench, resting on the floor of the boat. This makes it very stable while working on it, and there is no pressure on the deck of the boat to worry about cracking anything. Just a thought. Keep us supplied with lot of pictures please!

 

[Fix it now]

I have recently purchased an identical Skagit Sportster, with the same hollow stringer issue. Squirrel42 can you tell me how your repairs worked out? What material did you use for the new deck?

 

[jbcurt00]

Fix it now Squirrel hasnt been here in over 2.5yrs, not likely to get or reply to your post, hence the 90day inactivity rule

Closed