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Comment by Rick Newman on February 25, 2018 at 11:10pm

The edit function is not letting my post. At the end of the fourth line it should say delaminated rather than solid. Thennext to last sentence should read suffered delamination. Good luck.

Rick

Comment by Rick Newman on February 25, 2018 at 11:04pm

I don't have enough time tonight to answer your questions. Suffice to say it isn't that bad. It is all fixable! You will have to take apart things like the gunnel and the stem. I think you may be at least the third owner. The first one did a good job of building the initial boat. He sold it to someone with few skills who left it out in the weather for a year or two as evidenced by the solid plywood and spots on the wood. Once you remove the stem you can see what is going on behind the pieces that were so roughly installed. The stem will provide a bit of protection but is more a cover over the joint of the two pieces of plywood at the bow. It might be possible to cut a one-piece stem on a table saw if the bow is straight, not curved. The gunnel needs to be replaced because once you cut the right ratio of a scarf to either a 12 to 1 or 8 to 1. You can look up how to do scarf joints by using the Search function at the top right corner of the page. Ask for something like "How do I do a scarf joint in a gunnel? 

The screws must be removed because they are sheet rock screws that will rust. Further evidence of poor craftsmanship. Depending on why the screws held together you need to either replace them or figure out why they were there. More pictures. 

Take your heat gun, a pair of leather gloves, a sharp, stiff putty knife and heat up the epoxy and fiberglass cloth. The heat will loosen up the epoxy if they used a marine type epoxy and the putty knife will help you pry off the cloth and the gloves keep your hands safe. The sharp blade of the putty knife can be used to scrape off the excess epoxy.

When you heat the epoxy try to see if there is a strong chemical smell or not. If they used a polyester or vinyl ester based epoxy which doesn't work very well the smell will be the key. You definitely want to not use those kinds and not leave any on the boat. You can search for epoxy brands on the search bar. It has been written about many times.

As far as finish goes it may be difficult to achieve a glossy varnished finish. Not impossible but it takes a lot of time, effort, sandpaper and patience. Paint will be much easier to apply and it will require less maintenance long term. Again you can read about paint using the search function.

Where the plywood has sffereddelamination it might be possible with the creative use of clamps and epoxy to reglue it. 

Like any drift boat building or repair project, it will take three things. Money, time and effort! Please keep us posted on your project. Do you have access to basic power tools, sanders, clamps and such? That will help your project go quicker. Good luck!

Rick