Old Town Tripper
- Thread starter Waldwest
- Start date
Welcome, that sounds like a reasonable price depending on the condition. A serial number or hull identification number will be required to provide more information.
Benson
Benson
Todd Bradshaw
Sailmaker
The most vulnerable and frequent spots to find serious damage on a Tripper are at the bottoms of the stems. If you turn the boat over on sawhorses you can see that there is kind of a bulge at both ends in those spots. It's not unusual to find one where the stem bottoms have been abraded from beaching, etc. through the outer vinyl skin, through the ABS structural layers, and down into the foam core. This needs to be fixed before it is too late. The fix is to install Kevlar felt "skid plates" using flexible epoxy resin (WEST G-Flex resin or equivalent) over the damage to permanently stop abrasion there. Unless you plan to do a lot of rock-bashing, you won't need the entire stem covered. If there is only a small area of damage, you may be able to fill the spot just with the G-Flex and repeat as needed, but the Kevlar approach is far more permanent and not a particularly difficult fix. General wear and tear on old Trippers - creases, small dents, gouges etc. are to be expected, but are usually not concentrated to specific areas. Leaving the boat out in the sun on a hot day can often lessen them somewhat by heating up and re-expanding the foam core. The vinyl outer skin is subject to UV deterioration, so it isn't a bad idea to wipe an old one down with 303 or other automotive products made for treating vinyl.
