Wooden Boat People
By McKenzieDriftBoat.com
Dorf's Wooden Drift Boat
I just found this Forum the past week and was pleased to see all the interesting discussions. I have previously (2006) built and launched a 16 ft. Peterborough Stripper from Tom Moore's original Canoecraft. The Bear Mountain Boats Forum was a wealth of information, as I had not built anything from wood that was expected to float, in water. The stripper was a lot of fun to build.
About a year later I discovered/purchased Roger Fletcher's book and decided to make a go of it and build a drift boat. Last April I laid out all the framing on poster board full scale. I am a retired Mfg. Engineer with 41 yrs in the Machine tool and Automotive Industry with lots of hrs. Hanging over a drafting table. After making the decision to build I spent many hours deciding materials, features etc.
I have 210 BF of White Ash from a couple of trees infected with the Emerald Ash Bore (big issue in Mid-Mich). So the framing is Ash (3/4" x 3.00"). I finished the last one in December. I just need to coat them with epoxy (been waiting for 60 degree temps). The frames are constructed using Half-lap joints. I discussed this in 2011 with Jim Watson of Gougeon Brothers and he offered their services in testing the joint strength (they have a MTS Tensile Test Machine w/ 100K Load Cell). I just received the results and test pieces a couple of weeks ago and will post them soon in this discussion. (I need to figure out how to post pictures here.)
The Stem blank is solid Ash. I just finished the transom a couple of weeks ago. It was made from African mahogany. The sides are going to be 1/4 x 7/8" WRC w/bead & cove. I have a couple of planks left over from the canoe. The sides will be encapsulated in 6 oz. glass and West System 105-207 Epoxy prior to being fastened to the frame. The bottom of the boat will be "cold molded" ash at 1/4 x 2 1/4" in two layers one oriented Fore Aft and the other 90 degrees to the first. Planning to add graphite to epoxy on the bottom.
Next work is to build a strong back and begin assembling the framing. Am looking foreword to your comments and assistance.
Thanks for being here.
phil w. (Dorf)
Views: 36077
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Guy Fredrickson on
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Nice progress Phil. Please post another round of pictures! Guy
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Permalink Reply by Phillip Westendorf on
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Will do ASAP. Took the week off to go on my annual Golf Outing with the guys. I am anxious to get back to the boat after seeing your progress. It looks Awsome, nice crisp corner joints and flat surfaces. You pick out a color scheme yet for you drift boat?
More to come,
phil w.
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Hi Phil,
I am still undecided about the colors. Right now I am leaning toward white for the outside. The seats are grey and I plan to paint the walking surface grey. I figured that grey was a good color for the inside because grey has less glare that white in bright sunlight (and I like white and grey). But there are a lot of good colors for the outside: dark green, dark blue, and burgundy all look pretty good too.
I hope to finish the outside by next weekend, which includes attaching the chine caps, and finally get the boat rolled over to start working on the inside. I've also started working on the sheer rails again.
Guy
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Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on
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Guy, from time to time comments appear on the net regarding problems with dark paint on boats with epoxy and fiberglass and problems with delamination. I have no first hand information but have often wondered if there is any truth to the stories. It would be a shame to see your wonderful work develop problems. You are doing a great job and your documentation of the process is informative and well done.
Rick Newman
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Rick,
I have read that, all things being equal, white paints are the longest lasting because they provide the best UV protection (seeing how white reflects the entire light spectrum). Colored paints absorb at least part of the spectrum and, therefore, don't last as long.
And I like the look of white boats.
Guy
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Permalink Reply by Lee E Washburn on
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Boat color If its in the water full time white is the only way to go. BUT that said my drift boat is Green/ black and gray and spends more time in the storage shed than on the water. So uv is not any thing i worry about. Having painted boats for the last 50 years.I have to say I love the true lpu,s and you can brush the stuff. How I ever lived through all the lead paint days or spray painting with out a mask for GODS sake be safe with paint. toxic sickness ant good. ask me how i know.lee
Some day I will venture out in the blog and put some pictures on /Hell 10 years a go a could not spell now I got spell check & a computer. & a drift boat. LIFE IS GOOD
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I finally had some time to work on the boat. I had to plane a couple of new boards to make the inside sheer rails (1/2” x 1 15/16”). They aren't necessary to add the Cedar strips to the frames. I want to have them in place to stabilize the frames, and then I can remove some of the bracing. I dry fit one short piece to see what kind of effort it requires. Not all you can do, but using different size c-clamps I was able to make it work. This will give me additional access to the inside of the boat. I had to scarf two pieces to get the length required, as the boards were 10’ long.
Here are a couple of pics from today’s efforts.
Still a little fitting of the frames to match the bend of the shear rails. With the c-clamps I am planning on just good ole epoxy to hold them in position. I think there'll be enough surface area to make this work.
Once they are in place we’ll start the “stripping” of the sides. Hopefully, next week I’ll have more time to make the Cedar strips. That’s going to be two man job handling 1” x 8” x 16 ft. boards to rip them into ¼” strips, and adding the bead and cove to them.
More to come,
phil w.
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Hay Phil have you given though to plastic nails. some of this new stuff is kool . I see a build comeing soon. light weight & strong.would be a good way to fasten the bottom & easy to replace - gig saw and a power plane just dreaming love your boat building project. see ye on the water.?
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Lee,
I haven't heard about Plastic Nails...... Might be something I'd consider. But, unless I move out there the stumps, gravel and sand are the toughest things we encounter on Western Michigan Rivers. so replacing anything more than the Chine Caps is a long way off, I think.
I'd like to take it to Oregon, Montana and other Western Rivers and do some fishing there soon, time will tell. 2013 or 2014 is kinda in the Plans, but we'll see where were at come Fall.
My goal still stands, no metal, screws, bolts, etc. Not sure I'll make it but I'm gonna keep the faith for now. Thanks for the advice and support.
phil w.
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I understand what your about. I enjoy my 18' Tolman plywood -epoxy & glass boat.
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Finally found some time to work on the boat this week. Also the mid-90 degree temps here the last week and a half made it difficult to work outdoors. Managed to mount the Starboard Inner Sheer Rail (1/2" x 1 15/16" . It was fitted fitted through Station 6. The blank was, I thought long enough, but was about 3-4 inches short. There was a portion of wood with funny looking grain so I cut it off too short just prior to scarfing the two pcs. together to make the length I need. So I had to pull it and scarf another piece on it to make up the length. Duh, another mental breakdown, forgot the measure twice cut once thing. Here's how it looked. Also ordered some West Six-10 Epoxy to "glue" them in-place. More than likely I'll will add a Trunnel to each frame member too, after epoxy is curred.
Also found a few hours to cut the Cedar Strips I'll be using to "Strip" the sides of the boat. I used a similar set-up I used a few years ago to make the strips for my 16 ft. stripper (canoe), which was a two man operation then. The set-up used two 7 1/4" dia saw blades and with a spacer between the two I was able to cut two at-a-time. It saved a bunch of time. A Zero Clearance Insert helps too!
The smaller blades are nice for ripping long boards for a couple of reasons: They have 24 teeth (my 10" blade has 40, the smallest I can find locally at a reasonable cost), they don't load up, lots of room for the chips and dust to exit the cut. They are cheap and their kerf is narrower, about a third less than the 10" blades. They work great on hardwoods too; Oak, Ash, etc. and can rip up to 8/4 stock. I had a 10" dia. 18 tooth blade but a hard knot in Ash removed most of the carbides. I couldn't find a decent replacement so i tried the 7 1/4 blades and it works pretty good. Who says i am cheap!
The Cedar boards were 1" x 8" x 16 Ft. It wasn't too hard to handle with the set-up I used. Two horiz. and one vertical featherboard. I set the fence to cut the strips at 9/32" and the spacer between the blades was calculated for the same dim (9/32" [0.281"] plus the kerf thickness of one blade [0.065"] ). With two rollers set to catch the pieces off the saw and one on the infeed side I was able to handle them without any problems. It was tiring, however, to push them through the saw for an hour and a half straight.
So now the next step is to finish fitting the Inner Sheer rails and then add the bead and cove to the strips. I'll need to fabricate a set-up on a homeade router table that is not existing. Supporting the 16' pieces will require some thinking. I just purchased a bead and cove router bit set from WoodCraft, so that's behind me.
That's all for now folks!
phil w.
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Matsushita or Freud blades?
Rick N
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