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Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on August 30, 2014 at 8:14am

Building a 20 year boat isn't much different than building a short term boat. What separates the two is the maintenance and storage of the two. The principles of building are them same, pick good quality plywood, BS1088, a standard that documents the quality of the material. Also utilize appropriate stock for frame members and seats. Port Orford Cedar or Alaskan Yellow Cedar are two popular choices that come to mind. Your plywood will be better protected in most cases if you laminate fiberglass cloth to it with epoxy. If you apply epoxy you must also cover it with a UV resistant coating, be it paint or a clear coat, be it varnish or a polyurethane. One of the issues, the major issue with plywood is, it is constructed of layers of wood. If water is allowed to enter the plywood damage will eventually occur. The fiberglass cloth I have suggested will greatly reduce the woods propensity to check or unevenly age. The epoxy simply holds the fiberglass to the wood. The finish prevents UV degradation. However one of the more important, but unseen things you can do is to apply a thin coating of a polysulfide coating to each screw, bolt, whatever that penetrates the plywood. In my opinion a polysulfide compound like Boat Caulk by Boat Life will stay flexible, not harden and reduce the possibility of water entering the plywood.

I could write more than you want to read on the above subjects, in fact I and others have already done so. The magic search function on the top right corner of the site will lead you to a treasure trove of information. You just have to ask the right questions. For example just typing in paint will give you any post that has the word paint in it, but , and you may already know this, asking a question like, what kind of paint should I choose to finish my boat will drill down to better answers. If your first questions don't get you where you want, try again. darned near every question and subject relevant to building a wooden drift boat has already been asked and answered. If you can't find the answer there, ask here. I have found that those folks who take the time to read all the posts become very knowledgeable.

Now, the hard part of your question. Rivers that require a great deal of maneuverabilty like the Upper McKenzie in the spring will resemble a Porsche. Small, light, lots of rocker and easy to move and control and won't carry many people, one or two being ideal. Moving on downstream to less rambunctious water a four door sedan will carry you and a couple of buddies. The McKenzie River Driftboat was, as I understand it was designed to carry a guide / oarsperson and one or two "sports" that sat in the front seat and the guide positioned the boat to put the sports lures in front of the steelhead they were fishing for. Because of this the shorter boats are asymetrical and the bow of the boat is much wider than the stern. When a rear seat is added to these boats and a big guy is placed back there the handling characteristics are modified, often not in a pleasant way. They become sluggish and can be difficult to row and stay in one place which can give your fisherman a longer time for a fly to drift without drag.

When I go camping I like to travel in luxury and bring a stove, tent, food, sleeping bags, refreshments, etc. If I add a few passengers then I need even more room for them. Now I am in to my Tundra crew cab. A Suburban might be nice too. do you see where I am going? Three different major uses for the same boat with vastly different requirements. You have just joined the ranks of boat builders, in that you soon find out that you need more than one boat if you are doing such different activities. You didn't even have to build the first bot to find out this is what happens!

What to do? A. Earn unlimited amounts of money so you can build three or four boats, purchase trailers and equipment for each. B. Decide which of the scenarios are most important to you and which you will be doing the most of. C. Wait till your kids are grown and just take your wife or a buddy or two. D. Convince your wife that you not only will be fishing a lot but you will also be building boats for the next twenty years!

Costs to build a drift boat can vary a great deal. Dependent upon which boat(s) you build, the quality of materials you purchase, the tools you purchase, the size of the shop you build to build your boat in, the deals that you search out for materials, the mistakes that you make my "guesstimate" would be between $3,000 and the skies the limit. Not only do you have to buy the materials for the boat you will need oars, a trailer, lif jackets, anchors, anchor releases, etc. My boating partner and I started with an unbuilt Tatman kit that we paid $750 for, a trailer for $400, oars for $50, a couple of gallons of epoxy, fiberglass cloth, paint, paint sprayer, sanding blocks, scrapers, lots of sandpaper, etc. I also spent four and a half years of my time (also went back to school, took time off during the winters cause I couldn't keep my shop warm enough, 60 degrees F to work epoxy and do a lot of odd jobs to pay for the materials. I totally rebuilt the trailer, made numerous learning opportunities, ie mistakes that required more sandpaper etc. I also rebuilt the oars using the skills I had obtained building the boat.

I am not throwing cold water on your efforts I am just being realisitic. I wouldn't trade a minute or a dollar of what I have spent on our drift boat. In my mind anything worth doing or having has a price.

The first and perhaps the best money spent on your adventure is to purchase a copy of Roger Fletcher's book, Drift Boats and River Dories from riverstouch.com. It will explain more about the numerous drift boats that have designed to accommodate differing folks requirements. The second thing to do is free. Read all the posts here on woodenboatpeople.com. There isn't a book yet written that answers all the questions drift boat builders need answers for. Material selection, paint, varnish, tools, fiberglass cloth weights, where to appy your fiberglass, why to apply your fiberglass in certain places, anchor systems, seat placement, and much more.

After you have completed your homework you will be able to answer many of the questions that bother you so. You will have a great time learning about drift boats and be better able to answer your wife's questions as to why you need that new tool and such.

Good luck and keep us informed on your progress.

Rick Newman

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Permalink Reply by Dave Merwin on September 1, 2014 at 12:11pm

Rick,

Thanks so much for your thoughtful and generous reply. I'm buying the book ASAP and working through when I'll use what the most.

Thanks again.

Dave

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Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on September 1, 2014 at 6:41pm

Hello Dave, I am glad to be of assistance. I am just returning the favor that others shared with me when I got started. There is a tremendous amount of knowledge amongst the members here. Much of what you need to know has already been noted here, you just have to learn how to find it. There are obviously many opinions on some topics, you'll have to make your own decisions on those.

I don't know where you live but I advise you to visit the Wooden Boat Festival next year, probably April 25th near Vida, OR 35 miles upstream from Eugene, OR. It's a great time and you will learn lots.

Welcome aboard.

Rick Newman

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Permalink Reply by Gil Kozlowski on September 3, 2014 at 8:48am

I bought Roger Fletcher's book, Drift Boats and River Dories several months ago.  I am building the Rapid Robert he shows in the book.  Great book and invaluable if you are building a drift boat.  Roger will also answer your emails if you bought the book.  Since I live in North Carolina Southern Yellow Pine is abundant and what I am using for framing.  

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