Hey all . I posted in March about  my  purchase  of a wooden  drift . I finally  was able to put it into the water. The boat immediately  began  taking on water. I had expected  it to have a  minor leak or two. So my first thought  was I hope I forgot  about the drain plug. This was not the case. I visually  examined  the inside to see  if I could  see  where the leak was coming  from but could not .I had a friend  with me and we decided  to push out into the  trout  pond to get a feel  for the boat.  Since  we had a fly  rod with us we couldn't  resist  the urge to fish. We immediately  started  catching  fish to the envy of all the bank fishermen  in sight that had not touched  a fish. I can't  remember  the last time  that I had, had  such a good  time fishing I laughed  so much that my face and stomach  hurt.  The majority  of the fishing  I do is with a spey rod  for unicorns , I mean steelhead.  But this is a whole  another  story, let me get back  on track. We had the boat in the water  for about a hour and a half. After loading  it on the trailer  we tilted  the boat back and pulled  the plug. What we estimate  to be about 4 gallons  of water came out. Upon  examining  the outside  of the boat we believe  we found the  location  of the leak just above the . ( see attached  picture ) . I am a carpenter  by trade but expertise  is in rough  framing  of homes. But should  be able to handle  this boat repair. What  I am lacking is the knowledge  of how to go about this repair. I have read some other post  and will  continue  to try to dig deeper to find the best solution. This is my first  boat and and to be expected I want instant results  but understand  that I should  be  thinking  of long term. Please  please  give thoughts, advice,  pictures  links or anything  one is willing  to do help. Thank you all in advance.  I look forward  to posting  about the completion  of the repair. 

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First off I'd take an awl or a sharp nail and poke around in the suspect area to see if the wood is solid. Just looking at the pictures it appears you have some rot going on. Have you flipped the boat and checked out the bottom? Unfortunately where there's smoke there's fire. But maybe not. I'd start with the poke test and see what you're up against. After that I'd sand down the suspect area to the wood. You need to see how deep it goes, both on the side and also if there are any issues on the bottom. Then folks here can give you a better idea or ideas on how to proceed. Trust me there are folks here who know their stuff... Let us know what you find!

Unfortunately, the situation with which you are facing is not an uncommon one with older wooden drift boats. While water is needed to make our drift boats fun and usable it can also be their biggest enemy. When water gets inside plywood it can lead to damage and potentially rot when the right or shall we say the wrong conditions are met. The awl check for rot is a good start, the next step is called wooding the boat. By removing the paint you might be able to do two things 1. Start your love hate affair with sandpaper and electric sanders!, 2. You can see the GENERAL location of the rot if it is occurring. I capitalized GENERAL because rot can travel unseen between the layers of wood making up the plywood. What you can see or poke with an awl might not reveal the full extent of the issue. 

When you expose the wood on the inside and outside of your boat you have hopefully found the basic problem. If you decide that you will be scarfing in replace plywood it is best to err on the side of removing an excess of material keeping in mind where the scarf needs to be and and what shape patch will fit on or along the ribs of the boat. In other words it might be better to make the patch a bit larger if it makes your job easier.

At the top right of the website you will find a SEARCH function text box. The best results are obtained when you use a phrase rather than just a word to get good results. I have added a few link to information I quickly found by doing so. I have spent time on this site since 2010 and many folks have successfully found this and other information helpful.

Here is a tip that will save you time and money. Start at the beginning and read all the posts on the site. Believe it or not many others have already asked the questions regarding the situations you will soon be facing.

Best of luck on your upcoming project, time, money and effort will solve most all issues that drift boat repairers face. Please post pictures of your efforts to further the knowledge of those that come after you.

http://woodenboatpeople.org/forum/topics/remove-chines-save-the-res...

http://woodenboatpeople.org/profiles/blogs/in-place-plywood-scarf-for

Rick Newman

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