Starting a Steele 16 drift boat restoration

This is my first project so I am looking for general guidance to start with. I have bee perusing other discussions and can see there are lots of choices to be made. I believe my boat is from the 70s and possibly was first sold to Jimmy Gabettas of Jimmy's All Season Angler in eastern Idaho.
The wood appears to be in great shape, but until I remove the Uhmw shoe, I won't know for sure.
As much as I like to keep things original, I also like natural wood, so I am torn between sticking with Steele's painted boat and showing off the wood grains. I have indoor storage to protect it from the Montana winters.

Your thoughts on paint vs clear and need for fiberglass vs a shoe?

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Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on April 25, 2016 at 6:37am

It looks good, is it stable, does if fell strong? If so I don't see why it won't work. The majority of stresses are pushing in against the boats hull once the chine cap bends to the shape of the boat so you should be fine.

Rick N

Permalink Reply by Kirk Miller on May 22, 2016 at 10:20pm

A quick update. I completed scraping the interior paint then tackled sanding off the residual green that had soaked into the wood.  I did the large areas and now I am tackling the painstaking task of cleaning up all the little nooks and crannies along the ribs and rails. It has been a chore but I am making progress. I have extended my target launch from Memorial Day to fourth of July.

I recently talked to the original owner and he told me that he bought the bought unfinished in 1983.  He told me that prior to varnishing the exterior he had the fly painted on the bow to represent the 500 dozen (yes dozen) flies he tied and sold to Bud Lilly's fly shop in West Yellowstone, MT to pay for the boat. Now that's a committed boat owner and fisherman! He was very excited to hear about the restoration and gave me the history of most of her nicks, dings, patches and holes.

Permalink Reply by CWarmouth on June 1, 2016 at 9:26pm

Very nice project. Love it.

Permalink Reply by Mark Heskett on June 3, 2016 at 1:46pm

I feel your pain.

Permalink Reply by CWarmouth on June 3, 2016 at 1:51pm

Looking good! Awesome patina.

Permalink Reply by Kirk Miller on July 17, 2016 at 7:16pm

After weeks of sanding every little nook and cranny of the interior and then the removable parts (seats, fly deck, floor boards, front compartment, etc) I am ready to start applying oil and varnish. Photos are a little before and after on the loose parts.  I also started on varnish on the sides, which is going over the epoxy. I have held off on varnish until I was done sanding and could finally clean my garage of dust and keep it relatively dust free. I am using Dalys Teak Oil on the interior and parts and Epifanes Wood Finish Gloss on the exterior. For a little contrast I am using Epifanes Rapid Coat on the rub rail since it has a slight dark color to it. The rub rails were pretty beat up and have lots of dark streaks, so I figured a dark color would help mask the dings.

Who knows, by mid week I could be ready to launch her!

I remember reading a post that said they waited two weeks after varnish before finishing. I cant find the post.  Is that cure time necessary for a hard finish before you hit the river or for buffing to get maximum gloss? 

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