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Permalink Reply by David Witton on November 4, 2017 at 7:38am

You may want to rethink fiberglassing the interior floor - water has a way of migrating into wood, even when sealed like this. It's prudent to allow a way for the structure to dry out - oil finishes allow this - that's why this approach is so popular. 

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Reiten on November 4, 2017 at 4:36pm

I did not realize that. Thanks for the heads up! I need to get all the old garbage off the floor first.

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Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on November 6, 2017 at 6:59am

Kevin, there is a search function located at the upper right-hand side of the main page. I just looked up rebuilding a boat and found that there were four pages of posts that corresponded to the query "rebuilding a boat". I know that over the years I have personally provided a response to a similar question as yours. Take a look there. Try asking a question rather than just a word or two.

The basic thing that you need to determine is the condition of the wood. Old paint covers a multitude of sins and rot. A sharp pointed object will tell you a lot when you try to push it into the wood. If you can't easily push it into the wood your good! Old drift boats often have had water sitting in them and the frames suffer. If water gets into the plywood it can travel and provide an excellent atmosphere for rot. 

Let us know what you find. Anything can be fixed, you have to decide how much money, time or effort you want to invest!

Rick Newman

Site Administrator

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Reiten on November 6, 2017 at 12:38pm

I have not found any real bad spots. A couple of small areas on the floor need help and the inner gunnel on one side was bad.

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