Need help identifying my wooden drift boat

Can anyone help me identify the origins of my wooden drift boat? I bought it about 5 years ago in Southern Oregon off Boat Trader. It was in pretty sad shape cosmetically but very solid. Over the years I have done quite a bit of restoration work to the boat. There is a data plate as pictured but there was no paint left on the plate. I have always assumed that the '900' is a weight capacity, the '4' is either number of passengers or outboard horsepower, the '15' is the length of the boat, and '61971' I always thought might be a date code.

I have already sent these pictures to Steve Steele who was kind enough to examine them. In his opinion this is not a Steele boat. The craftsmanship appears to be very nice. The way the ribs and the gunwale angles are cut tells me this may have been a factory built boat of some kind. The plywood is clear on both sides and the distance from the scarf joint to the bow (stern?) is over 9'.

There are a number of details that I have added to the boat that should not be considered in trying to identify it. I put in the stern seat, the rear knee brace, the slats across the bow compartment, the anchor system, and the aluminum chine strips, but otherwise it is as I found it.

The boat measures 15' 4" on center. There is a removable transom cap as pictured. If anyone has a clue as to who built this boat I would be happy to get that information.

 

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Kay on December 31, 2012 at 8:02am

Hi Jim, would love to see pictures of the boat and data plate.  Thanks for chiming in!

Permalink Reply by Kevin Kay on December 31, 2012 at 8:02am

Hi Mark thanks for the info, would love to see pictures.  I have since sold this boat to one of the guys here at work and gone over to the Dark Side of modern driftboats.  I built a Boulder Boat Works kit, but at least it has lots of wood on it.  We are still very interested in learning more of the history on the woodie as it is still in the "family".

Permalink Reply by Tom Anderson on January 2, 2013 at 4:37pm

Mark . . .


I'd really like to see pictures of your fly deck setup.  I just picked up an older, restored drift boat this fall and noticed that it used to have a second short 'rib' aft of the rib where the knee brace crosses.  This original post was the only one I could find on this entire site that had a photo or reference to a similar feature.

Below is a  photo of the right side of the knee brace.  You can see the extra hole in the gunwhales.  Any photos you could show me of your setup, and/or explanation of how it works would be much appreciated.

Thanks

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