Hi everyone,

I've had a chance to read through some of the incredible play-by-play I've seen in this forum, in addition to Fletcher. What a cool community you have. (Is this the 2000th post?)

I am now reaching out for some help assessing a 40-something-year-old homemade boat I've inherited.

Seems to be a standard Rogue-style, 14'10" up top, 68" beam, 46-8" at the bottom.

Overall, my goals are to end up with a relatively river-worthy craft I can use for:


• steelheading close to home base in Portland 

• mid-valley and Deschutes trout day trips
• the occasional family day float

I'm not looking for a showboat, but rather a utilitarian angling vehicle that won't blow apart on first contact with a rock. And, as an inexperienced rower (but experienced passenger) I'll probably stay below Class III for the foreseeable future.

So, on first, beginner's assessment here, it looks like I have a few problems:

• Overall, there's checking throughout both interior and exterior (I think this boat spent a lot of years outside).
• The epoxy (West System applied about ~2 years ago) appears to be have peeled, and is peeling in stress areas along the chines and at the stem cap, and at the bottom where it rubbed on the trailer or ran over rocks, exposing the soft outer chine wood (see awl pokes in some of the photos) and bottom. Near the stem cap it seems like a chine has even been replaced with some sort of filler substance, which is new degrading to an off-white, powdery on contact something.
• There are a few places where the sides are weak, likely from crashes. Where contact with rocks and whatnot has bent the boat and caused cracking. Like, one of the sides in front of the oarlock between rib 5 & 6 looks like it's a result of a flex of the craft. Is this fixable, like, with sanding, and filler epoxy? Or will the sides ultimately need to come off and be replaced?
• And, the inner chine log and frame braces (are these common? I haven't seen them in many plans I've seen) are pretty thrashed, either from checking or overfastening.

As they say, "other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the theater?"

So, major questions:

• What's the clear-eyed take on how gnarly this will be?
• How should I prioritize repairs and ongoing maintenance on this Ship of Thesus?
• Can I take this out in the meantime?
  • If only to do gentle training floats?
  • Or will it make things worse? She lives in a garage now, so can dry out fully between trips. What are the chances that my first mistake at the oars will result in a bunch of turquoise driftwood completing the float, instead of an intact craft?

Thanks so much for your input. There are additional photos available at this link. Or maybe I can upload them at my profile page? Not entirely sure.