Wooden Boat People
By McKenzieDriftBoat.com
New Project
Found this one in a field in central Oregon in the little "town" of Mt. Vernon.
She's a standard 16x48. Who knows how old it is but we're sure its a Keith Steele. No plaque but everything in the boat says Steele. Bow stem, seats, weep holes, fasteners, fly deck, knee locks, ect.
Yes. As you all just noticed she is in very rough visual shape. But. The boat is very sound and i haven't found any structural damage or rot.
Also for all you guys out in Oregon. Notice the name plate on the bow. Could have been an outfitter mark. May tell us more about this boat. Its on both sides and symmetric. The previous owner had absolutely no information on the boat. Other then it's old......
Can't wait to see whats under all that crap!!!!
Roger. Here we go again.
Dutch
Views: 2198
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by JAY STRUGNELL on
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I'm pretty sure I saw that one on craigslist;it looks a lot better in your photos.Are You saying those diamond shaped plates of plywood on the lower sides near the stem are nameplates and not repairs?
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Permalink Reply by Adam "Dutch" Gottschling on
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Yep, logo plates. With no logo.
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Permalink Reply by chris towles on
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Looks nice. Glassed over the chine? I bet if you took a grinder, dremel, or router jig and cut along 1/8 to 1/4 from the actual chine joint on the bottom of the batten the whole works would come off real easy with some heat. . What's the bottom look like? Glass, uhmw, wood skid shoe? That boat looks like it was around long before all that stuff, but it looks like there is maybe some glass from some point in its life. I bet when your done its gonna look mighty impressive. If your painted rapid Robert is any indication, you may have a beauty of old growth fir underneath.
I just got a bunch of materials in last week to start on my next build. Trying to get the epoxy and glass here soon so I can start building once it gets a little warmer. Lemme know if you wanna trade labor some time...I'd love to come check out your shop and boat and would gladly help scrape, sand, or oil, etc in exchange for an extra hand on layup day when I do my boat this spring. I'm goona lay my boat up in pieces and vac bag the parts. I'm gonna do the whole hull layup in one go, gonna be a long day and lots of glassing and ill need a few hands I think
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Permalink Reply by Dave Z on
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No rot? solid? Hell, I say use it as is! lots of character. Find out the history on her and you'll have a big story to tell passers by. Nice find.
Dave
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Permalink Reply by Mark Heskett on
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Looks a lot like my Rogue River Boat shop. Mine was built in 1971 and very similar. Take a look at the pictures I posted, Same fly deck.
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Permalink Reply by Terry E Walsh on
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That boat is awesome! Forty hours of sanding, and a gallon of varnish would make that thing a usable sweet drifty with some great character!
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No sanding, No varnish. You never know what kind of paint is on the boats of yester year. lots of lead paint. gonna go with stripper. I'm partial to paint extierior,and oil interior for my boats. much easier.
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Permalink Reply by Tom Anderson on
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Looks like fun actually. Do you know much about the details on the setup at the sides of the cross base at the back of the fly-deck? Apologies if I'm not using the right terminology there. Anyhow, I picked up my first wooden drift boat this fall and it had been refinished. Looks like it had the same setup with a short rib and metal strap behind the cross-brace. Is/was your removable easily? I'd like to take mine back to original.
Do you know if that style was particular to one builder?
Thanks,
Tom
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Permalink Reply by Roger Fletcher on
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Go git 'er, Dutch! Another diamond to polish.
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Yep, Can't just let these boats go to waste in the fields of eastern Oregon. Should be a pretty standard restore Roger, Can't wait to see the fir under all the "fixes" the boat has had over the last who knows how long. Keep you posted.
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Okay everyone, since it's only been 3 months since i've said anything on the site, I figured this would be the first post. I finally have some time since our season is over here in the mountains, most of the boats are stacked and stored in various locations throughout the valley. Except one or two for when the weather breaks. Winter is here, internet will be visited more.........
It's done. Finished it about a month ago. Sorry it took so long to post anything, but i was out using the crap out of it........ lightest boat i have for sure.....
Bottom was a mess..... Another prime example of poor epoxy work and extremely poor storage.
The glass was wrapped over the chine cap (and the aluminum!). For all of you guys that have asked that question in the past i have lots of shots of the why it's not a good idea to do that.
The boat looked much worse than it actually was. The poor storage from the previous owner actually benefited me for the fact it took a total of an hour to strip the bottom, take chine caps off and all the trim.
The supposed ''Logo Plate" ended up being a rather large rock hit after all. They matched the patch with the other side of the boat. I did a lap patch on the inside of the boat. Two ply was removed from the boat and one from the patch.
From there it was pretty standard. I added a 1/4 inch permanent shoe to the bottom. 17 oz. of glass on top of that with a heavy graphite coat on that. was probably 8 coats of epoxy total. New chine caps were needed. My intention to paint the boat was once again tarnished to how cool it looked when about the 8th coat of epoxy went on the outside. With all the nicks and scratches the boat collected after being in service for 40 years. So for now im going to leave it clear finished to show it off. If i decide to paint it i can, but the finish is beautiful right now.
Now unfortunately i just realized that this is the only picture of the finished boat i have on my computer. Sorry. I have a few on my phone that i will try and transfer when i get a chance. This project took about 170 hours. Looks were very deceiving with this one. The boat was in very good shape once i got all the crap it was covered with off.
More to come
Dutch...
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Permalink Reply by John Weston on
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Dutch, wow, great job. hope to see more of what you did. thanks for sharing. would ya just give it to me. lol.
JW
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