josh
Im starting to think very seriously about buying a kit. There is alot of time that you can spend in these wd boats and I am finding that I just dont have the time. Thinking my boat will be on the back burner for a while. I tend to frequent a stretch of the sandy river that is a short walk from my home out here in welches. Steelies are getting more and more agressive but the only drawback is that we always get the natives up this high on the sandy, but man do they fight! If you get a chance, get out on the sandy wherever you can, its stocked full. Good times for flys and for gear, steelies out here tend to be very happy to nail a sandshrimp and corkie or any streemer or bright colored fly.

Josh
sorry, have not had much time to post any pics of my boat. Got it in my shop and dry and then though what have I gotten myself into? I had alot of rot that had been covered up and was really bad. I salvaged the stem and the ribs for paterns. So now im starting from scratch! I have been out on the river too much to really think about the wb right now.
Hope all is going well on your wb project!

Josh
Looking again at your pics, replacing the inner chins seems a difficult task. Way I see it, you could possibly remove the bottom, cut or pull the tails thru the sides into the chine, then remove the chine and replicate it for replacement. Before instyalling the new chine you could replace any ribs that need attention. This is all assuming the sides are ok. OR...just to get the boat afloat you could sand the outside sides and bottom to clean wood, epoxy and glass the whole thing, sand and paint or oil the inside (paint would be easier) and be fishing in 2 weeks. My plan was to do something like that, but I cought up in obsessing about driftboats, so I'm leaning toward a semi restoration and replacing existing seats with something more tradidtional.

Assuming you go the easy route of glassing and painting, you might als be able to grind out all the interior framing rot and fill the chine joint with some kind of filler.

Mind you, I'm not suggesting you do this or that it would actually work. It's just an option one must consider when a project is economically and time constrained and you really just want to fish!

In either case, it will be a learing process that will enable to easily build your own boat as I plan to do some time.

troy

Josh
Your boat does look like it has more rot than mine. If the inner chine is significantly rotten, then I am probably the wrong person to consult with as I have not dealt with that problem. Removing the bottom on my boat was a bit of work and time consuming, but not that difficult. I assumed I could simply pull the bronze nails and save the bottom for a skid...not. The ring shank nails are very dificult to remove without gouging the ply to get a tool under the tail to remove it. The bottom was also epoxied to the framing making it more difficult. I found the easiest way was to cut the ply out in sections between each framing member leaving an inch or so overhanging the members...gives you something to pry on. I would highly suggest a cats pawl nail pulling tool to remove the nails first, then pry, pull, scrape off the bottom.

After I screw down my new 1/2" marine ply bottom, I'm thinking I will cover it with 20 oz glass and epoxy, epoxy and paint the sides and then oil the entire interior.

Your boat is finished much more traditional...I'm jealous. Mine had a funky seat arrangement made of aluminum and plywood painted purple. Way too much purple for me!

I was looking at your pics and before looking at the profile I as thinking "man that looks like the Big Man or The Mo... ha. We lost another Michigander to the west?!?