Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Troy Nicolls on April 3, 2010 at 5:02pm

Dave
Thanks for posting those pics on your blog. Your shoe looks like it handled the season pretty well. I'm in the process of refinishing an old 16 footer and replaced the bottom for which I will only cover with fiberglass. However, I am planning om building a trapper from the book using a 3/8" bottom and a 1/4" shoe like yours. Do you think 1/4 over 3/8 is adequate? I'm trying to keep the weight down.

Also, will you sand and reoil your shoe this year, or just oil it?

Troy

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Permalink Reply by Kelly Neu on April 3, 2010 at 9:48pm

Dave, love your blog. Your photos are really nice!

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Permalink Reply by Greg Hatten on April 4, 2010 at 8:45am

Nice pics Dave. Your skid shoe shows a little wear but looks like it's holding up well. Are you taking that boat all the way to Montana??
GH

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Permalink Reply by mitchell on April 4, 2010 at 9:42am

Dave,

Is the shoe full sized, Bow to transom? My shoe is not full length and coated with coat-it. Have you considered using that product as a protective coat for your shoe? Seems like it provides more slip in skinny water/rocks and will give you a few years of service before it needs sanding and reapplication.

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Permalink Reply by Tom Martin on April 4, 2010 at 7:01pm

Hi Dave, Two Thumbs Up for your blog!

Just posted some photos of redoing some shoe strips on a replica 1950's boat. Am trying HDPE strips this time.

Funny story...yesterday we turned the boat back right side up. I was using a floor jack to get the boat up high enough to get it on two wheeled dollies. The boat slipped off the 2X4 between the jack and boat. The boat did a hop-hop-hop down the floor jack, gouging the HDPE as it went, maybe an 1/8th inch deep. It was actually very funny. Jacked it back up and all's well, except the floor has it's first new dings. Ah well...

Yours, tom

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Permalink Reply by Dave Z on April 4, 2010 at 7:07pm

Thanks guys.

Troy, I wrote an epic post on the other discussion. You'll see it.

Ukulady, Love your blog and recent build too. I build and play ukes too...I'll send some pics.

Greg- Not this year. we are staying out at Bighorn anglers and doing the driftboat rental package. we'll be rowing fiberglass rentals (ewww) but that's fine.

Mitch- Yes, full length. As you can see I did the shoe, then put the chine battens on. I didn't want a "ridge" or a bump with a short shoe. So I went full length in three sections. I left slight gaps between the shoe pieces to let water out (and in!). It is just screwed on, beeswax in the screw holes, no caulk. I won't sand it this year, and as a matter of fact, I'm not even going to oil it this season. It is a little beat up, but no deep gouges. I wish I had the other boat present, cause I would have flipped it too and compared to the glass/graphite bottom that floated all the same waters.

Thanks, gang,

dave

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Permalink Reply by Kelly Neu on April 4, 2010 at 7:57pm

...Play and build ukuleles? I can't wait to see the pics!! Your my hero.

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Permalink Reply by Herb Jacobsen on April 5, 2010 at 6:20am

Dave,

The shoe looks great. In the past our shoes would look like mini-forests from all the broken fibers sticking up. It was easy to replace the shoe though.

Probably the best material we used for a wooden shoe was called "fin-ply". It was layers of birch with an epoxy binder. Held up pretty well. I don't know if you can get it anymore. It was pricey but held up better than the 1/4" fir.

As an aside, saw a wood boat yesterday being towed by a white van. The boat was clear coated. Did not have the time to go say "Hello" as I was on the way for Easter dinner. It was good to see a wood drift boat here in Big Rapids, MI. I know there are a couple of people here in Michigan that are part of this forum.

Herb

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Jennings on May 3, 2010 at 8:02am

I thought I would post some pictures of my boat which used to have a wood shoe on the bottom for those that are wondering how they hold up over time. I'm in the process of a bottom replacement so some of the pictures show sections of the bottom missing. The 1/2" ply underneath the shoe actually looked pretty good in most spots; however, there were two areas of concern where there had been a fracture. Combine that with years of neglect and you get to put a new bottom on!

The shoe is red and runs from the first frame to the last:

It was nailed to all hell with ring shank nails and was still very secure in place. The interesting thing is that it seemed to be bedded down with some type of compound (silver in color, see pic below). Also, the edges between the chine batten, bottom and shoe had another compound in place to fill the void. Does anybody else that uses a wood shoe do this? I'm planning on replacing with a new shoe and wonder if this is a necessary thing?

Cheers,
Jeff

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