New to This where do I start?

As many of you will see, I have added some pictures of the boat I just purchased. It needs work, mainly bottom, chines and a few structural members. Oh Yeah and a bunch of stripping and sanding, etc. It would have probably been easier to start from scratch or buy a completed boat, but what fun is that, right!

So where do I start? I would like to avoid replacing every wood piece and part on the boat, but I am willing to do what is required. As you will see the middle section of the boat is very rotted. Where all the water has been sitting since 2007. One intersting thing about this boat, near the back there is a outboard access hole. Meaning the motor does not hang off the back of the boat. See pictures... Have you seen this before and does it pose any potential issues? If not should I remove it or keep it?

 So...... Please send your knowledge from similar projects. I would really appreciate it..... The oarlocks alone are worth what I paid, so I'm all in......

Thanks for looking. Hope to here from you all.

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Permalink Reply by Greg Hatten on March 6, 2010 at 8:32pm
Hi Josh,
Great find there... love the boat. You will get lots of helpful tips on this site from the community of wood boat builders. You should bring your boat up to the Wooden Boat Festival next month - in whatever state of repair you're at... and bring a "note pad"... lots and lots of experience will be there and "everyone" loves a project. You'll have more notes than you know what to do with. Your boat is unique and it will be a great addition up there... you're going to have fun with this!!
GH
Permalink Reply by Brad Dimock on March 7, 2010 at 11:58am
Great advice from Greg. It looks like a bit more than one can analyze online. And yes, a VERY interesting looking boat.

And it also depends on how far down the rabbit hole you want to go--make it floatable, "good enough", fully restored, cherried out, etc. Just to get it river-worthy, it looks like it might want a new floor and chine logs, but perhaps the rotted base of the ribs could be salvaged with GitRot or some other stabilizer. Like Greg says, bring it up to the show and get the committee involved! For added input, bring a case of beer.

Those motor wells are pretty common on ocean dories, not so common inland. If you plan on doing a lot of motoring, it may well work better than hanging one off the transom. Putting the power where you have a big, flat bottom that will plane upward, works way better than pushing from the high narrow end of a drift boat, which commonly just pushes the tail of the boat deep in the water and moves a lot more river than boat.
Permalink Reply by Josh Sharp on March 7, 2010 at 3:09pm
Thanks Guys,

I don't think I am interested in getting this baby Cherry! However, somewhere between fully and River worthy (if there is such a thing) is what I will attempt to do..... I have been planning on attending the boat show for the first time. I will try and have the boat there.

I would like to move on this thing ASAP! No sense in wasting time. The sides have one 10x10" hole (maybe from a rock or something) that could be cut out and repaired and a few other small concerning areas. I am planning on replacing the bottom and inner and outer chines. Many of the ribs are also rotted (near chines) and need replacement. I will try and save what I can. I would like to save at least the sides and front an rear structural members. The boat is still very wet, so I am assuming I need to let it dry out and then remove all wet wood and rotten components...... And then go from there?
Permalink Reply by Brad Dimock on March 7, 2010 at 3:23pm
My advice would be get it dry ASAP and sand or grind the paint off the wet and rotted areas so it can fully dry. Start pulling off the wood you think is irreparable and then sit back for a few weeks with the boat is a warm dry place. You can't fix wet wood.

10" holes are easy to fix. It's that rot that's going to be the monster.Knowing where to stop is the other trick! "Keep picking at that thing it'll never heal!"

Sure is a cool looking boat.

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