Repairing 16' Don Hill Drift Boat

Hi...new person to this website.  First off, I certainly like what I see here and am glad I found the site, great information for wood boat owners.

I am in the process of repairing a few soft spots on the bottom of a 16' Don Hill drift boat.  Once that is comlete, I will need to replace one of the outside battens (chines?) where the side and bottom meet.  From reading past posts, white oak is one of the wood species that is recomended and I beleive that is what the previous batten was made out of.  Any suggestions for other wood species?  

I live in the Eugene/Springfield (OR) area and I'm hoping there's someone on this forum that could suggest where I might find a 14' x 1-3/4"x 1/2" of white oak or other suitable species?

I'm new to boat repair with average wood working skills and limited tools (though I have access to friends with better skills and more tools!), so, any suggestions on what to expect or how to go about procurring, preparing, or installing this piece of wood is appreciated.   

Thanks,

Mike

 

  

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Permalink Reply by Rojo on June 6, 2013 at 2:28pm

You might check out this discussion string: http://www.woodenboatpeople.com/forum/topics/chine-material-questio...

 

I know here in Boise that there is a hardwood specialty store called High Desert Hardwoods. He is willing to mill pretty much whatever you want to whatever dimensions you want for a price. I think he added $.45/linear foot for s4s and would mill down to whatever thickness you wanted. He didn't have white oak in that length, but you can scarf shorter lengths together. He did have some mahogany in long lengths that was only a little more than the oak (well maybe more than a little more...) 

There has to be a hardwood dealer over there in the wood-boat-motherland that would do the same thing. 

Have fun. I'm in the middle of my first plywood patch on my project. It's kind of scary when you don't have any idea what you're doing, but this site helps a lot.

Permalink Reply by Mike D on June 7, 2013 at 10:56am

Thanks Rojo for the link to that discussion...good information.

Permalink Reply by Ben A. Hayes on June 7, 2013 at 8:51am

Sounds like a good project. Give Ben Deumling at Zena Forest Products a call- http://zenaforestproducts.com/

He can custom mill and has lots of Oregon White Oak- plus it's FSC certified. You'll probably still need to scrarf, but I'm guessing he could plane it right to your dimensions.

If he can't, you could try Hyla Woods (shameless plug for our family business)- also does custom milling but has less oak. You'll find a couple of other folks on here who have done the exact same replacement. 

Permalink Reply by Mike D on June 7, 2013 at 11:00am

Thanks for the suggestion and link Ben.  Looks like Zena isnt too far up the road from me.  I will get in touch with them.  Appreciate the help.  

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