Wooden Boat People
By McKenzieDriftBoat.com
My wooden boat gets a make over.
Hello, my name is Steve. I live in Spokane Wash. I have owned what was represented when I bought it as a Don Hill 16 foot dryfly classic for over 20 years .This boat saw steady use and abuse for a good part of 15 years .For last 5 years or so the lack of care and proper storage caught up and here starts the work and brain damage. With the blessing of a wife of 30 plus years and a full blown wood shop cabinet shop it was time for a make over. After a lot of research and some phone calls I realized a professional restore wasn't cost effective to my budget. That's about when I found Wooden Boat Peoples site. What I didn't know was with the site came a blessing and what has turned out to be a good friend and boat mentor aka Rick Newman about 3 miles as the crow flies from my home and shop. This boat is a work in progress that is over due to start posting as its been going on now for about 3 plus months. With Ricks help, I hope to over the next couple of weeks to get caught up with text and pics. I have been so thankful for Rick and the posts on this site. The site is a wealth of not only knowledge but some truly friendly and gifted craftsman. I thank you ahead of time for any responses and suggestions as this is part of the learning curve.
The party starts and yes that's the plastic shoe hanging there.
Views: 3121
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kathys pics 10 30 2013 356.JPG, 2.1 MB
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John Weston on
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that will be a great restore. always cool when a old classic is saved and restored. have fun rebuilding. will be watching this.
JW
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Permalink Reply by steve putnam on
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My boat condition when I started was rough. The outdoor storage finally caught up. The varnish was damaged with peeling and douglas fir plywood was checking. The gunnels were beat up and varnish gone. In looking at the floor I thought it was ok. I removed hanging shoe and realized how much damage was there.
Ok time to start repair. Got started on sanding ,thinking a new plastic shoe would bolt back in little did I know methods of repair available to me. I did a google search and found wooden boat people.I got lucky and ran into Rick Newman who lives about 3 miles up the road. Rick was gracious enough to come over and help me survey my boat bow to stern and that cleared up what this restoration would entail.
Because of expansion and contraction of Uhmw I was left with about 130 holes in the bottom. I started filling all holes with epoxy and tooth picks and dowels. Refer to birthday cake below.
After drying all were trimmed flush and sealed with marine putty. Notice chine caps removed and boat was rough sanded in preparation for glassing the sides. There was enough checking, caused by uneven drying of doug fir over the years. Time to decide on repair option. I knew glass was in order to prevent further checking stopping the movement of the wood. At this time it was decided the exterior would be finished in paint.
My free time was consumed with reading as many posts on WBP and ordering Roger's book, Drift Boats and River Dories. It allowed me to understand what options Rick gave me and to help make educated decisions.
Enough for now more to follow, Thankyou Steve P.
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You don't mention how far along you are in the restoration. If the side panels are not glassed yet you may want to consider fairing the sides before glassing. Fiberglass does not conform to gaps/cracks in plywood and can leave a void under the glass where the gaps are. To fair, apply a coat of epoxy, let it cure, then use a mixture of epoxy and microballons (sanding filler, or System 3 Quick Fair), trowel it very thin over the panel, sand, and then start with the glassing.
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Eric thank you for looking. In my next postings I will continue to get this restore caught up. I spent a lot of time with Quick Fare product. I hope to document this journey to where the boat is now. Bottom is glassed with multiple coats epoxy graphite mix. Sides are glassed with multiple layers epoxy then fairing compound lots of sanding and 3 coats Kirby paint applied. Interior stripped of all varnish and 5 coats tongue oil applied. Floor reinforced with glass epoxy and Duriliner. New chine caps, nose piece and transom trim are done. My restoration is way ahead of my postings. I'm trying to get caught up. Thank you for looking. I'm hoping this restore will help some else who is where I was 6 months ago and may not have a guy like Rick Newman 3 miles away. Thank you to WBP site for the education and support it offers.
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Hi Steve,
Very nice condition for having had a bang board bottom all these years. Did you use 18 oz triax or 24oz roving for the bottom glass? I'm tending to prefer the open weave roving over the denser triax because it is much easier to wet out with epoxy, and the major goal is to build mass as abrasion protection. If you want to build in panel rigidity you need to have close to the same amount of glass on the inside of the panel as the outside-- another reason I like frameless designs.
You mention multiple coats of epoxy/graphite. I've found that using a epoxy/graphite/silica mix gives a much tougher bottom while still preserving the black look. Rather than rolling it on with multiple thin coats I prefer to use a large flexible concrete finishing trowel to apply it in one or perhaps two passes. You just need to fill the resin with enough silica to keep it from slumping but still be trowelable. And don't forget to clean your trowel with acetone before the epoxy goes off!
Tight Lines
Richard
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Permalink Reply by Terry E Walsh on
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Lookin good!
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Steve: Great job on the restoration. It may be a 20 year old boat but look at the quality of the DF PW. You don't see that anymore. Our local supplier won't even handle DF so called "marine grade" as it is loaded with "football" patches.
Good luck
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Sounds like you are almost finished! What color Kirby paint did you choose?
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Eric, hello I was really torn with the paint idea. After about 25 to 30 hrs. with stripper, heat gun and sharp scrapper the varnish on the interior of the boat was gone never to be heard from again. Lots of sanding and 5 coats of tung oil were hand rubbed into the doug fir sides and cedar ribs which resulted in a really cool light to dark caramel color. The boat wood work, trim and furniture will be white oak with sapele and mahogany accents for contrast. The color we choose was Kirby #8 see red in gloss. It really pops against the wood work that is complete so far.
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I was very lucky in that I had no rot issues to deal with. I had dodged, a major problem that could of been created do to my in proper storage. My floor showed signs of checking on plywood, but was solid with out soft spots. My chine joint was solid. I did create some damage on the plywood sides when I removed the old caps. They were screwed on. They were also bedded with a clear silicon looking product. When this was removed it tore up some of the outer layers of the douglas fir plywood sides. I got some Systems Three Quick Fix and filled in all the divots and bruises on chine joint area. I also filled in where the screws were on the sides, transom and bow area. The bottom was also filled. I had a hole where the old anchor rope exited, this was plugged with 1 inch dowel and putty. The boat was then sanded to 60 grit to create a good tooth for the up coming glass and epoxy work.
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