Wooden Boat People

By McKenzieDriftBoat.com

Steele Drift Boat Project Words of Wisdom

Hello all!

Here are a couple of picture of my latest project - a 14' Steele in relatively good shape. One is pre-pressure wash, the other post with all the innards removed. Unfortunately, this one was stored outside on Vashon Island in Washington State for who knows how long, so you can imagine it's a bit damp but nonetheless appears to be structurally sound. It's now drying in my garage.

I was lucky enough to play sidekick to my father-in-law several years ago during the reconstruction/renovation of another drift boat very similar to this one. I've got 20 years or so of woodworking experience (furniture making) but boats are a different animal and I'd welcome any words of advice or wisdom from the experts out there in terms of what to look for, products you've used on your projects, and how you would approach a project like this.

Thanks,

John MacGillivray

Renton, WA

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Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on January 24, 2011 at 7:31am

John, the search function is the key for finding some good writeups on checking out a boat for restoration. Primarily the condition of the wood in the floor, inner chines and frames needs to be inspected. Then outer chines removed to confirm the condition at that juncture. Start with that and see what surprises you find. Depending on what angle the boat was stored will determine where to look first for rot.

Overall your new boat looks good, however it's what you can't see that is the problem. Good luck and keep us informed!

Rick Newman

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Permalink Reply by John MacGillivray on January 24, 2011 at 7:39pm

Thanks for the advice. She's drying out slowly as of this writing so we'll see. I'll be posting pictures as it progresses.

John

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Permalink Reply by Kevin C. on January 24, 2011 at 8:36am

John, we've had good success saturating that old paint with ready-strip or aqua-strip,both non-chemical strippers that come in a 1/2 gal. bucket, and then scraping or powerwashing off to reveal all those hidden secrets underneath.I think this would work well if the wood is still damp as it takes some time for this stuff to saturate the paint layers and do it's magic.It's non-toxic ,does'nt have an overpowering odor and cost about $25 a bucket which should be plenty for what you'll need.A good Pro Prep scraper with a couple blades should make fairly quick work of it and enable you to get a good look at all the interior nooks and crannies.Poke around all the chine log and frames ,especially in the corners to determine if all the wood is sound and to see what your up against.Looks like a fun project and we''ll look forward to your progress. Cheers,Kevin

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Permalink Reply by John MacGillivray on January 24, 2011 at 7:40pm

Thanks for advice re: the paint stripper. A co-worker mentioned that I might consider a "gentle" sand blast but I'm hesitant to go that route. I'll get her cleaned up as best I can and see where that takes me. More photos of the project to come as it moves along.

John

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Permalink Reply by Rick Newman on January 24, 2011 at 8:06pm

John, I wonder what a soda blaster would do. I justGoogled it and Wikipedia suggested that it was used for non-destructive cleaning system for boat hulls and for other items that required delicate paint removal. On the new show I believe it is called "Restoration" on the same channel that "Pawn Stars" is on they used soda blasting to strip paint from a thin piece of aluminum that sand blasting heated up from friction and warped.

I don't know what it would cost but the labor trade-off might be interesting.

Once again, good luck.

Rick Newman

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Permalink Reply by David Jensen on January 24, 2011 at 8:20pm

I am fishing tomorrow and Wednesday with Keith Steele's sons, Stan and Steve.

Steve, located in Lebanon, OR builds and repairs wood boats. If there is an internet at the cabin, I'll get him to respond. Steve is in the DEX direcory if you need to call.

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Permalink Reply by John MacGillivray on January 25, 2011 at 2:57pm

Thanks, that would be great. I actually picked this boat up from Cam Sigler's son on Vashon Island. If you've never heard of Cam, he's one of the great fly fisherman on the planet. www.camsigler.com Perhaps Cam and Mr. Steele crossed paths at some point.