Wooden Boat People
By McKenzieDriftBoat.com
16' MRD bottom repair
I have a 16' MDB that has a slow leak on the bottom ..the leak is on both sides from the bottom I can see where it is splitting at the seam at the chime..Need advice on have it repaired...I'll say thank you first to Mike Baker for taking the time and pointing me in the right direction...The last time it was repaied was 2009 by Tatman...Any help and advice would greatly be appriciated..
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Phillip Westendorf on
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David,
Can you please post a couple of pics. That will certainly help along with some info; like wood type, finish, etc.
Dorf
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Permalink Reply by Randy Dersham on
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Hello David,
It sounds like it is time to re-bed the outside chine. If the leak is at the chine joint where the sides meet the bottom then there is about 90% chance that is what needs to happen. Unscrew each screw from the outside chine using an impact drill to help prevent stripping out the stainless steel screws. Then use a chisel or draw knife to work the chine batten and the bedding away from the boat.
Depending on how torn your outside chine batten is, or if it comes off without an issue, you will decide if it is in good enough shape to re-bed.
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Permalink Reply by David on
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Thank You Randy. I notices on the bottom of the boat there was a a crack in the fiberglass or a separation....The gentleman I bought the boat from had some repairs done in 2009 by Tatman boats. There is a inner liner that was sprayed on the inside and the bottom has a what appears to be a black fiberglass coating..if that helps
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Here is a few pictures of my drift boat . Any help would greatly be appreciated... There are no screws to back out...?
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Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on
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Your chine cap is fastened with silicon bronze nails. They can't be easily removed as they are ring-shanked, that is there are a series of rings along the shank of each nail that resists movement of the nails. You put them in, they stay in. You can however cut them or pry off the chine cap enough at one end so that you can insert a hack saw blade between the chine cap and the boat and saw them off. They are less than a 1/16th of an inch in diameter.
Depending on the overall condition of you chine cap you may choose to replace it and then not have to worry about the nail heads you left in.
Good luck on your adventure. It also looks like the Douglas Fir is checked from uneven drying as is common. Depending on how much you plan to use your boat and how much additional time it will spend outside you might chose to add a layer of 6 oz or so fiberglass cloth to prevent further checking. If you do that you will have to remove the paint to provide a clean surface for the fiberglass and epoxy. Next you will have to either paint the boat again or varnish it to protect the epoxy from UV ray exposure. If it's not one thing then it's another! but when you are done you will have a well protected boat.
Rick N
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Thank you Rick.. It's a bit more then what I had hoped to do...How would I get ahold of a new chine log to replace the one I'm going to have to replace..??? I am a newby at drift boats and repair...
Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated .....
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I helped a friend in Spokane make new chine logs for his boat. We bought air dried White Ash and using his table saw ripped them to the shape of his previous ones. Took us about 25 minutes. I made inner chine logs to replace the White Oak one that snapped when I was assembling my boat. We first cut them to the basic width, then thickness, then set the angle of the blade to each of the side angles prior to cutting them. You could do the work with a circular saw but you would have to find a good way to clamp the work piece securely down. Do you have any friends or relatives with a table saw?
We chose air dried white Ash for several reasons; it bends easily, kiln drying can cause some issues when bending ash and oak, I didn't want to repeat the previous issues, it is relatively less expensive than White Oak, it cuts well and is easy to work with.
Since chine caps are a replaceable item that will take the brunt of the damage that most drift boats suffer from a screwed on ash chine cap can easily be changed out. If your budget allows, buy enough White Ash to make two sets. We have had good luck Daly's Seafin Teak Oil to provide protection, easy to apply, not too expensive and simple to do. You can get a smoother finish with 400 grit wet or dry sandpaper and a sanding block or you can provide the same protection with wiping it on multiple times and then wiping it down with a dry rag when it appears to be dry.
You can use stainless steel phillips head screws spaced at the same distance as the nails were previously to remount chine caps. Using an appropriate drill bit with a countersink collar you can drill holes just deep enough to keep the head below the surface of the chine cap. Don't put anything over the screws when you install them. I believe that 1 1/2" #10 screws were what was provided with my Tatman kit. I am not at home so I can't run out to the garage and check. It is important to seal any intrusion into the plywood that makes up the side of your boat. I prefer and so do may onther to use Boatlife Boat Caulk. I kept a tube in the squeeze gun and just applied a bit to each screw as I fastened down the cap. You can leave the chine cap long until after you install it and then cut it to length. If you mark the bottom of your boat in such a manner to show where the previous nails were you should be able to avoid drilling into the screws that enter the chine log from the bottom of the boat. You may not want to drill through the silicon bronze nail shafts but I would want to be close to each of the previous holes to avoid issues. You will so find out if you have hit one of the screws holding the bottom on. Perhaps since the builder used silicon bronze nails on the chine caps he used them elsewhere.
You may find that you have rot or big gaps behind the chine cap after you remove it. My boat did not have rot but it had a couple of gaps where I couldn't screw it down tight enough. I had laminated 18 ounce triaxial fiberglass to the inside of my floor and it will not only resist damage it resisted being bent to shape. My solution was to cut an 1 1/2" strip of 6 oz fiberglass cloth and then laminate it to the side of the boat, from the edge of the bottom up the width of the glass. It will not work out well if you try to laminate it "around" the edge of the bottom. Glass doesn't like to bend at a 90 degree angle.
If you find rot or weak wood behind the chine cap you may have another opportunity to add to your boat repair skills.
The steel nails that were used to apply the out side strips to your boat have caused a condition called "iron sick". You will probably find that there is some potential rot or damage where each of those have been nailed on. Once again another opportunity to improve your skills!
The issue with building a boat from plywood is that water must not be allowed to enter the plywood. The possibility of rot forming withing the wood is high and greatly depends upon the quality of the initial plywood construction, i.e. glues used, wood used for inner plies, presence of voids, etc. While everything may be fine the blackened wood indicates something bad has gone on.
Have you completed a survey of the wood throughout the boat. By survey I am referring to a sharp object like a scratch awl or ice pick being stabbed into any wood that might have suffered from moisture collecting there. Dependent upon how the boat was stored sometime you find the entire stern of the boat has become rotten because rainwater or such collected there. For boats stored more flat the inner chine logs can suffer from rot if the water collected in the bottom of the boat. Sometimes frames can also suffer from rot.
Don't despair, all of these things can be fixed. It is more, do you want to spend the time, energy and money to do them. In many cases I think it is worth it.
Enjoy the journey,
Rick Newman
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The simple answer is the chine log is inside the boat where the sides meet the bottom. It is fitted into the frames. It is a structural member of the framing.
The chine Cap is the piece fastened to the outside, mounted on the side and covering the edge of the bottom planking. It's primary function is to protect the hull from damage when you hit rocks, stumps and such. The screws Rick was referring to fasten the Chine Cap to the hull and into the Chine Log
I think if your going to venture down this road you'd best help yourself by purchasing Roger Fletcher's book, Drift Boats and River Dories. It's a great reference for Drift Boats and and will help you along the journey to restore your boat to it's former glory. It was $39.95 in 2007 at Barnes & Noble.
G'Luck
Dorf
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Permalink Reply by Gopher Dan on
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Looking at your pics, it is hard to say where the leak is coming from.
If you could isolate the leak, you could attempt to remove a section of the chine cap (this is the outside "molding piece" on the outside of the boat at the bottom) , sand the area clean, apply several coats of of epoxy over the problem area and allow to dry, and replace the chine cap with a newly fabricated piece of chine cap bedded in 3M 4200 which is an adhesive and sealant. The chine caps aren't very complicated to replicate if you have a table saw. White oak is another good wood for this. The hardest part will be getting yours off with little damage.
You have some checking in the plywood. While unlikely, what could be happening is water is getting in slowly through the cracks and seeping in, so you may want to sand off the paint in those sections that show cracking that are typically below water level, put several coats of epoxy over them to seal the cracks, sand the epoxy flat and repaint. In the big gaps add some fine sanding dust to the epoxy to thicken it a little to fill the gaps better.
To accomplish this project you will need to learn about scarfing, which is how you create a length of wood long enough to cover your entire boat. Just type scarfing in the search function.
Good luck!
New chine caps (on left)
Prepping to join the wood together using scarfing to get to length of boat - this joint mates with an identical one and they are epoxied together.
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I'll chime in here with what I often try to get people who're not real boat builders to keep in mind....
Every fastener in your wooden boat needs some kind of sealant applied during it's installation...Perhaps not boat nails, but the two surfaces between the parts being nailed...that should have some sort of sealant or glue...Even the through bolts on the gunwales, stick some silicone or Dolphinite on the bolts before you run them through the holes and put a dab of goo inside the acorn nut, too....
And if you want your boat to last, don't use regular steel or even Zinc plated...You are only asking for rust and rot...it WILL happen very quickly even if you only stay in fresh water always.
Another mistake I see being made, over and over, is to try to "fix" a wooden boat by fiberglassing over problems...Causes me no end of anguish, seeing a nice old boat with crappy glass on it.... When someone comes to me to work on a glassed over boat....I usually have to tell them it's not going to be worth paying me to try save it.
If you decide to fix a leaky seam or a rotten joint by glassing it over...well...you'll just be adding problems or killing the poor thing for good. Glassing over a problem area isn't something to be lightly done...
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Don, I don't disagree with you at all. The best repair would be to remove any bad wood and scarf or half lap a new piece of plywood in. AJ covered this topic a long time ago. Yes the fiberglass may be only a bandaid on this boat. A lot depends on the overall condition of it and what the owner wants to do.
Rick N
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