replacing chine rail

Hey there wbp:

I have a 40 plus year old wooden 14' drifter, probably an old Don Hill boat. I cracked the right chine rail (chine batten?) on a low water rogue trip this fall, and I am in the process of replacing it. The rail was oak, 15/16" x1 7/8" x @ 14'. My question is: will I be able to torture the wood into place? I am going to look at a piece of white oak today, just trying to figure out the best way to bend the piece into place. I figure there are folks on this forum who have done this before, so looking for good suggestions about how to proceed. I think I can run the batten long on both ends until it is screwed into place. Any suggestions would be most welcome. I would love to know what set ups folks use to make the bends, and do you ever laminate or steam or is that not necessary?

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Permalink Reply by Herb Jacobsen on January 13, 2010 at 8:18am
Laura,

A bunch of years ago there was an outfit in the Portland area that sold a boat similar to yours. The batter board gives it away. There was also a boat builder outside of Seattle that used the same style of batter board. 40 years would be a good estimate of when they were in business. My first boat was a kit from the builder in the Seattle area.

Nice job on the fix.

Herb
Permalink Reply by Laura Dalton on January 13, 2010 at 11:07am
Hmmm, which is the batter board? (is there a good source for drift boat anatomy somewhere? It would be nice to know what to call things). There is a builder's signature and a date underneath the little plywood foredeck, can't read the name but I think the date says 1967.
Permalink Reply by Herb Jacobsen on January 13, 2010 at 3:44pm
The batter board is the board above the chine on the outside. It is there to protect from rocks, etc. The other boats from Tatman, Hindman, Steele, Dersham and a lot of the other builders are tapered on the ends and do not extend the full length.

Originally the trailers they used had no bunks or fenders so the builders had to put something on the boats to keep the tires from rubbing through. The upside was they also helped when you hit a rock.

Herb
Permalink Reply by Laura Dalton on January 13, 2010 at 5:01pm
Ah. Thanks Herb! And thanks to everyone who gave good help (and told good stories) on this! Off to do some sanding and mix up the paint....
See you on the river.

cheers
Laura

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