Wooden Boat People

By McKenzieDriftBoat.com

Repairing and painting a 30 year old wooden McKenzie drift boat--Several questions.

I've recently been given a 16 ft. wooden drift boat that seems solid, but in need of some repair and paint. Since this is my first wooden boat I would greatly appreciate any information anyone is willing to provide regarding the following questions:

1. The current paint appears to be an enamel. My son has been sanding and scraping it down to prep it. What type of paint would you recommend I use when I go to repaint it? Is there any type of finishing coat that then needs to be put over the paint?

2. Along the edge where the bottom of the boat meets the sides there appears to be a 1x1 strip of wood where there appears to be some caulking that is now cracking. Should these edges all be recaulked, or will the paint seal it? If it should be recaulked what type of caulk should I use?

3. There are several places along the side of the boat where it appears to have hit a rock which "dented" the plywood sides splintering the inside of the boat. What is the appropriate way to repair these?

4. On the outside of the boat there are wooden strips along the bottom where it meets the sides. In a number of places these strips appear to be slightly separated ( < 1/16 of an inch). Should these be caulked? If so, what caulking should be used.

5. We floated the boat just after we got it for a full day on the river. No leaks. Is there anything I need to do to the bottom, or leave well enough alone? Apparently the bottom is made out of a material called gluvet??? \

Any additional suggestions or ideas would be most appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

Rhett

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Terry E Walsh on August 22, 2011 at 6:13pm

If it were my boat all those spots would b repaired with epoxy and glass.start by sanding that hull until you are just about dead...then mix epoxy and saw dust to look like peanut butter and start filling all the cracks.....were you said the boat hit the rocks on the inside I would repair those spots with epoxy and sheets of glass......There are several guys that would have several opinions but you can skin a deer several ways also. When it comes to paint you can put just about anything on it, even house paint. What's the most important I think....is to store it in the garage when you are not using it on the river!

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Permalink Reply by AJ DeRosa on August 24, 2011 at 7:18am

Rhett,

Since your boat doesn't leak a quick coat of paint could be all that you need right now. There are many posts on this forum that explain the how to's of restoration for many different proceedures. You might just enjoy it as it is for now and get after the restoration work after the season is done. I'll try to answer your particular questions.

1. To remove old paint and prep the hull for glass/epoxy or just new paint or oil a bucket of paint stripper saves a lot of work. I prefer a good oil based marine paint and have had good results with Kirby's, Epifanes and Interlux.

2. That strip of wood is called the chine cap. It protects the chine joint and should be bedded with a polysulfide marine bedding compound. It is designed to be a replaceable, sacraficial part as it takes the beating on rocks. If it is in good shape it can be removed, cleaned up and reinstalled.

3. Dented and splintered hull repair can be as easy and aplying a bit of epoxy to the interior area of the hit or depending on the severity of the damage, scarfing in a new piece.

4. See #2

5. Doesn't leak. That's good. Run it till it's broke and then fix it. The gluvit is an epoxy type goo that is popular with the aluminum boat guys. Aluminum tends to stick on rocks so the Gluvit creates a slicker surface. It works well for a while but will eventually crack and fall off. I had an old Keithe Steele boat that had gluvit applied over a plywood shoe. It worked fine.

6 Get Rogers book and become familar with the building process. This will make it easier to make the reairs down the road. Get familiar with the search funtion on this forum and read all that you can as most of the questions you have are well documented here. Keep asking questions and enjoy your boat.