Repairing old and new damage on a Keith Steele 16 Drift Boat

For details on this boat see my "starting a Steele 16 drift boat renovation" discussion. I have stripped and sanded the sides, which has revealed a number of gouges, cracks and old repairs.  I am wondering how to tackle them. At this point my preferred finish on the exterior sides is just epoxy and varnish, no fiberglass. However, the optimum solution to the dings and cracks described below may be fiberglass over the entire side exteriors. I will fiberglass the bottom through.

First is a repaired rock shot that was repaired with fiberglass maybe 20 years ago. I have sanded a lot of it away since the fiberglass seemed to have lost its strength.  There remains epoxy within the damaged area and on the inside a block of plywood that appears to have been glued in place with epoxy(?). The damaged area is maybe 4 inches side to side and less than 2 inches top to bottom. It looks like there was a hole through the plywood, but not a large area of cracked or shattered wood.  I don't see any fiberglass over the block. Can I just epoxy in the cracks or maybe just the interior or is fiberglass on the outside advised?

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Permalink Reply by Kirk Miller on February 22, 2016 at 9:41pm

Second is a newer rock shot which I caused last summer that has split plywood. Plywood is split on inside as well, but no openings all the way through unless I were to pry cracks open. Once again, can I inject epoxy into the openings with my syringe then clamp it together or is some more rigorous patching warranted? The damaged area is about 4 inches top to bottom.

Permalink Reply by Kirk Miller on February 22, 2016 at 9:52pm

Third, It looks like there was a horizontal crack from the bow back through the first part of the rub rail. It was repaired by screwing a 1x3 on the inside of the boat (see photo of additional board above the chine). They also replaced the first four feet of the rub rail since it is different wood, it is attached with staples instead of brass nails and there is a joint.  Overall the repair appears to be solid and only marginally visible.  I am thinking of just leaving it.

For those of you following my other discussion, note the "shadow" or "ghost" of the fly that was painted on this boat after I sanded it off. I guess the paint was better UV protection than the varnish.

Lastly, I have several gouges where the exterior of the plywood side has been torn away but there is no evidence of damage on the inside. I know I can fill with Sculptwood or I could mix my sawdust with epoxy and fill.  Which will give me less obvious scar on the exterior of the boat?

Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on February 23, 2016 at 7:29am

I remembered a post that AJ deRosa provided for me several years ago. Visit these pictures and see what can be done with a router, some new plywood and time mixed together with epoxy.

http://westcoastwoodenboats.ning.com/forum/topics/anybody-know-this...

Rick N

Permalink Reply by tungsten on March 1, 2016 at 5:46am

What did you end up doing for the damage on the side?Syringe and epoxy?

Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on March 1, 2016 at 6:23am

Tungsten, if you are asking me, I built a new boat because I didn't know enough not to. There were lots of issues and I didn't want to put a lot of time and money into a potentially flawed boat. Now I would rebuild it. Time and knowledge can be very helpful.

Rick

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