Wooden Boat People

By McKenzieDriftBoat.com

My Restore

I have been working on restore my 16' Tatman this winter. I have put up some photos of how things are going so far. I guess restoring is not quite accurate, I am only refinishing the inside and adding a fresh copy of Spar varnish to the outside. Anyway, if any of you that have restored a boat before and any good tips, let me know.

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Permalink Reply by Doug R. Bridges on February 21, 2009 at 7:16pm

Hey AJ, Is this the same boat that you are working on now? If so it is looking good! You are doing a good thing bringing it back to life.
Doug

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Permalink Reply by AJ DeRosa on February 20, 2009 at 7:12am

Dave,

The boat was built in 1953 for Edsel Chase. We got it from his grandson who thought it was built by Woodie Hindman. There are several Woodie like details such as the tenth frame under the line deck, removeable knee braces and the metal piece on the stem. But there is no sign of a brass name plate and the original rub rails are very different. The transom had been reworked to accomodate a small out board. It was cut down and the shear dropped as in the Bob Pritchett boat. LeRoy Pruitt recognized the boat immediately when we brought it to the McKenzie show last year. "That's Ed Chase's boat, I've fished out of it many times." He did not think it was Woodie's work. We are still searching for clues as to who the original builder was. The boat shows signs of hard use but also very good care, aside from having the transom popped out by backing into a tree. The wood is in remarkable shape and the 1/2" fir bottom is original. The exterior was stripped, oiled and painted with three coats of Kirby's vintage Irish Green. The interior was stripped to expose the original work, and will be oiled. The 55 year old marine fir is quite nice but still has a few footballs. It will be back on it's home waters this spring and will float to Randy's show.

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Permalink Reply by Dave Z on February 20, 2009 at 5:22pm

AJ.

How cool is it to know the history. That is really awesome. Please post pics here or on your site of the finished boat. Ho big is the boat? It looks larger than a 16' boat. Regardless, really cool. and even cooler to get it back into original shape.
Dave