Wooden Boat People

By McKenzieDriftBoat.com

First Boat! Many Questions

I’ve read many posts here and am trying to absorb as much as I can regarding boat building. My son and I are building a ply on frame 16’ drift boat. It is designed for our Midwestern streams which are tame compared to what you all have out west. So, less rocker. Less free board. The bottom and sides will be ½” ply with one layer of 6oz fiberglass.

The plans call for sealing the inside with epoxy. I’ve read here where this is discouraged as water will find a way in and is then trapped. With our milder Midwestern Rivers, I am wondering if we will be O.K. with epoxying the inside? Would we gain anything?

Also, being novices we were a little sloppy with some of our cut outs and had to fill gaps with thickened epoxy. Epoxy also got on places we did not want it. It’s not as easy to sand off as I thought. Everything seems to be very strong but just looks like it was built by someone who does not know what they’re doing. We were thinking about covering our sins with paint but why build a wood boat if you’re going to paint it? What to do?

Third dilemma. Everything has been fastened so far with epoxy and screws. All scarf joints we’re done with epoxy. We are wondering if the ply can be attached to the frames with something other than epoxy since it’s screwed. The epoxy is awesome stuff but it’s starting to cause my wife to ask how much this project is really going to cost? We we’re hoping there might be a good adhesive we could get at our big box home improvement store that will work and not break the bank.

Any advice would be appreciated.

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Permalink Reply by Ron Bakken on July 29, 2011 at 9:32am

Thanks Larry. You bring up a good point on the 1/2" ply sides and carefull storage. This is our first boat build and we are following the designers instructions as much as possible. I think there will be a lot we do different on the 2nd. There I go, already thinking about the 2nd boat.

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Permalink Reply by larry Hambley on July 29, 2011 at 11:15am

Ron: You will enjoy and gain a lot of valuable knowledge if you get a copy of: DRIFT BOATS AND RIVER DORIES by Rodger Fletcher. It is reasonably priced and worth 10 times what it costs. It covers about any question you might have as well as having complete plans for several popular drift boats. Even though you are well into your build, the information in the book can save you time and money and help you avoid costly mistakes. Best of luck!