Journey of Building a 16' McKenzie River Drifter

Hello from Minnesota!  Ever feel like you need a project?  No, not a "weekend building of an Ikea shelving system", I mean a real manly project with bloody knuckles, sawdust and strange looks from the wife!

Maybe it is early onset mid-life crisis - maybe it is guilt for not following in a long familial line of foresters - but one day in January of 2014 I felt an inexplicable urge to build a wood drift boat to float the Upper Mississippi and Upper St. Croix, and for our once a year trip to the "Golden Triangle" near West Yellowstone, MT.

After hours of research (most of it spent trying to convince myself I was not going crazy), I settled on the classic lines of the Don Hill McKenzie River 16' Drift Boat and pulled the trigger to travel down a course as irreversible as the river itself. 

What follows is my journey to make something beautiful with my two hands while raising a little girl and maintaining a healthy marriage. Tight lines and beautiful wood.

~~~ Gopher Dan ~~~

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Permalink Reply by Gopher Dan on March 24, 2014 at 8:41pm

Well duh, now you tell me !!!!!

Of course now, when someone searches for "idiots guide to drilling holes on the edge of ribs" they will find a new home!  E-gads, the simplest solutions usually present themselves afterwards - but I am sure this isn't my last hole drilled :)

The hard part is the fairing / angle of the bottom of each rib is slightly different (some have no fairing, some have up to 14º of fairing (is fairing the right word?).  Your idea would have saved me anyways!  Here are the angles:  10, 7, 5, 3, 0, 0, 3, 6, 14.  

Yes the St. Croix is Be-A-U-tiful.... and a favorite though the Upper Miss is only 10 mins away. 

I don't know how many wood drift boats are in Minnesota, but I suspect based on my conversations it is under a 1/2 dozen of operable wood drift boats.

Permalink Reply by Tom Anderson on March 24, 2014 at 8:47pm

I'm impressed with your solution and the perseverance it clearly took to get it done.  So . . . regarding the angles, using the suggested method, many would probably be fine with having the hole perpendicular to the face of the rib.

It wouldn't be too hard to jig it up so that the axis of the hole ran parallel to the bottom angle, but would need it to be adjustable or new angle for each unique rib and is probably not necessary. 

Anyhow . . . nice work.  Keep it up.

Permalink Reply by Phillip Westendorf on March 24, 2014 at 8:45pm

GD, 

When drilling Limber Holes (Drainage Holes) in frames in the future just edge clamp a scrap piece of wood along the edge you are drilling the hole.  Also another way that works is to use a hot melt glue gun and glue the scrap piece to the edge where the hole goes.  It comes off easy enough and the glue scrapes off easily, easy peasy!

Hint:  A cheap set of cabinet scrapers are real nice have to have around.  I use mine darn near every time I work on the boat.  A chisel can be used as a scraper too, but you'll be sharpening it often.......

Keep up the good work,

Dorf

Permalink Reply by Phillip Westendorf on March 24, 2014 at 8:52pm

tom,

Google Sketch???  Nice dwg, Looks good.   I tried a tutorial for it, way over my head!  I guess I'll need to get my son to show me.

Dorf

Permalink Reply by Tom Anderson on March 25, 2014 at 5:33am

Yep.  Sketchup is great.  The key to getting Sketchup is understanding that you aren't really dawing solid bodies (like in a real cad system) . . . it is all edges (lines - straight or curved) and surfaces.  And, second key is knowing how to 'group' things or make components so previous edges and surface don't move/stretch with you draw and move new ones.

Anyhow, it's a pretty good tool for working out simple design issues.

Permalink Reply by Jason Knight on March 25, 2014 at 5:56pm
SketchUp combined with a decent rendering engine can be a lot of fun. We use it for simple fixtures and mock ups regularly.
Permalink Reply by Gopher Dan on March 30, 2014 at 2:25pm

Updated Progress


Scarfed 6mm Meranti with a 12:1 scarf.  

I filled the joints with 2 coats of System Three T-88 and slid the pieces together.  I was able to get the joint pretty well lined up. 

I used boards with packing tape to clamp the joint lightly.  The boards I used were "T" shaped so they wouldn't bow while clamped.

After I sanded the joints down, I cut the pieces into the appropriate dimensions.

The Good Side

I was able to get one side of the joint nearly perfect - however the side that was on the bottom while curing was not quite perfect.  It required a little more sanding.

The Not Good Side

I made the mistake of trying to get the joint overly smooth, and sanded through the top layer and exposed the second layer.  I have an idea of how I will fix this - but am still a little upset with myself for doing this but that is part of the learning.

Permalink Reply by Gopher Dan on March 30, 2014 at 2:36pm

First coat of Epoxy Down

West System Special Clear 207 with West System 105 Resin.

Prepped the surface with a light sanding, and brushed off the surface with a hand broom.  Did this the last night so all the dust would die down prior to today's work.

This morning, I wiped it all down with acetone being sure to get all the dirt, chalk from the snap line, etc off the surface.

Tried to keep the coat as thin as possible to eliminate riffling. Used an epoxy roller and then tipped off with a very light brush.  The wood has some interesting character to it in a few spots.  

Garage is about 55ºF today - and put down coat one about 9am - so plan to put down another coat late tonight while it is still tacky. 

Transom

I did the transom afterwards, as it required some sanding outside, and I had already discarded the roller I used for the sides, so I did the epoxy with a brush.  It went on a little thicker using the brush and was harder to control the amount being applied.  I see why the roller is important.  The transom actually looks good but it has got a little more thickness in epoxy and will require a longer set up time.

Permalink Reply by Gopher Dan on March 31, 2014 at 2:01pm

After 2 coats of epoxy

Permalink Reply by Mike Baker on March 31, 2014 at 2:16pm

Looks good Dan. That West 207 in awesome stuff, I just did my first boat with it and loved working with it.

Mike

Permalink Reply by Gopher Dan on March 31, 2014 at 2:19pm

I put down two coats - seems to be looking good.  I am thinking that is sufficient - plan is to wet sand it to knock down some of the nibs. I may have to touch up any areas with insufficient epoxy.

I have some more epoxy and may be able to get one more coat.  You think two coats is enough if the wood surface is completely covered already?

Plan to finish with Flagship on top.

Permalink Reply by Mike Baker on March 31, 2014 at 2:53pm

Hey Dan,

West sez two is enough, three if you sand. You will find when you start sanding that the epoxy is not near as smooth as you think. The issue will be low spots not nib (although you will have some). The low spots can eventually be filled with varnish. Just apply sand apply until you have it smooth.

Mike

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