Wooden Boat People

By McKenzieDriftBoat.com

Another Newbie needs help crossing the river!

SO here is my new (new to me) 400.00 wooden drift boat. Very excited to start the resto processes.

I have removed the rear floorboards and the rowers seat.

having so difficulty getting some of the old screws out. the extractors working well until a head breaks off. I guess I will just epoxy those screws in and move a new screw just off the old broken one?

I also bought a gallon of Jasco adhesive stripper that seems to work well and have a couple of pieces to sand in the AM.

Any advice about this process would be greatly apreciated. this is my first go around and I hope to have a pretty/solid boat next summer. I am especially in need of bottom resto advice. it looks like it has black gunk on the botttom now (coat it?)

at any rate here are some pics.

Comment

You need to be a member of Wooden Boat People to add comments!

Join Wooden Boat People

Comment by Scot Miller on June 29, 2013 at 5:36pm: Thanks Mark! i will be checking in along the way before I make any big moves on fiberglassing

so what are chine caps, and yes i'll get that tool.

Comment by Scot Miller on June 29, 2013 at 5:32pm: Thanks Richard, I will be posting mre pics soon. lots of sanding happening right now.

I put a small patch of Jasco adhesive remover on the outside and scraped it off and it was pretty wood, so I am hopefull. once I get all the old off I inten to flip it upside down and epoxy and cloth the bottom and then re coat-it. hopefully that will seal the bottom good and give it enough stength to run it up on sandy beaches or gravel bars?

Comment by Mark Stuberr on June 29, 2013 at 5:30pm: Scot,

She looks great! I agree with Richard, get the outside of the hull down to bear wood and put on some fiberglass. 4 or 6 oz on the sides, for the bottom... That's just a mater of weight to durability. It looks like your going to be pealing off chine caps, i highly recomend one of these. http://www.woodcraft.com/PRODUCT/2020127/19653/SHARKGRIP-8-PRY-BARN... Sharpen the flat side to a keen edge and it really helps get through whatever schmooey was used to seal them on. Also a good cabinet scraper will be use full for cleaning out the interior.

Remember THIS IS IMPORTANT!!! if you want to use her next summer prioritize how much you dive in now, you can always do more after the end of the season.

Have fun,

Stuber

Comment by Richard Elder on June 29, 2013 at 3:31pm: Congratulations on a great deal!

Just finishing up a bottom job on a 25 year old Tatman. While it didn't have a whole lot of rot, the plywood was definitely tired, with a lot of microfractures in the skins. 30 oz of glass and epoxy did wonders for its strength, and it soon will be coated with graphite/epoxy to make it pretty.

If you can get the old paint off the topsides and back to bare wood, a light cloth in epoxy might be enough to bring the strength of yours back to original. Then trowel on a fairing coat of epoxy with microlight or equivalent and you can end up with a boat that is like new on the outside.

Inside--- well it is a traditional frame boat so you'll definitely have some sanding to do!

Richard

Comment by Scot Miller on June 28, 2013 at 11:09pm: so theres some pics. i'll be logging and blogging here if anyone can bring me along that would be great.

cheers!

Scot