Chumsalmon/Wingnut & Driftwood:

I'm going to take your advice and go ahead and replace that 1/4" piece. While the interior frames are solid and sound, an added 1/4" to the bottom can't hurt.

Spent some time at Flounder Bay this afternoon (nice folks). One question that came up about fiberglass on the bottom was the chine design on this hull. The inner chine and the bottom extend beyond the sides, so if I'm going to glass it (to extend over the chine and up the sides a bit) I'll have to round the bottom edge so the glass isn't trying to make a sharp corner. I'm sending a pic of the bottom edge showing the detail to the folks there at FB and then a determination can be made whether to glass or not.

Also bought 1/2 Gal. of System Three resin and plenty of hardener (#2) to be able to coat the sides. Since I'm going to paint, this will seal the wood and provide a better surface for the paint. Bottom will also ultimately be coated with epoxy w/25% graphite added.

BTW: Been slobbering over the Tracy O'Brien pages for a while now...the "Deadrise 19" looks great, although I was thinking of a more squared off front and flatter bottom...but its an idea!

Jerry: Sounds great! It'll be a few weeks yet before I get that far, but the pieces I'll be looking for are about thin - 1 1/4" X 1/2". Squared edges is fine as I can use the belt sander to get the right radius once they are installed. If you have something even close maybe I can get someone to rip them down for me with their table saw.

Kyle: I am told that the UHMW is quite the thing for drift boat bottoms...but the problems I'm hearing also make me want to avoid it. There is no way to seal the UHMW to the bottom sufficient to keep water from getting under it...making a perfect environment for rot. Stuffs also spendy compared to the epoxy/graphite mix, and cost is becoming a factor in a hurry on this restoration job. I don't want to cut-corners, but spending $200 for UHMW when a high-quality alternative is under $100 doesn't make sense on this boat.

How big of a sheet did you put under your boat?

If I was to use it, the bottom would definitely have to be glassed otherwise it would have to be removed after each season and the hull dried out to prevent the dry rot.

Awesome slippery stuff though...no question there!

As to the scarf joint on the 1/4" ply, I have done them before on other woods without problems. I can belt sand in the 8-1 fadeout and do the scarf joint on the floor of the garage. If it is a slight bit bumpy on top of the joint the belt sander with a 120 belt can fix that in a hurry. Having spent some time working with a custom cabinet maker in my youth taught me just enough to get in trouble..:-)

Salmo/Chum - Thanks for that great tip on Flounder Bay. Nice people, very knowledgeable and took the time to answer all my dumb questions on the resin/glassing. Only spent a bit there today, but I am guess they will relieve me of much more income, over time, and as future projects are begun. Small store, quality products, nice folks with tons of know-how will get my business every time before the mega-stores.

About to flip her back over (right side up) and start stripping the interior now. I did find one bad spot in the side at the chine level. Ground out all the bad wood up under that chine piece(about 6" long by 1") and the wood underneath is still sound, but now that 1/4" side is down to about 1/8" through that area. Epoxy filler with wood-flour added should be able to fill it in sufficiently once it totally dries out. The spot will also be coverd by the kick-panel, so it can be a little ugly, but got to be strong enough and water tight.

Tomorrow is a day off...down to Woodinville to install a new shower for my parents.

Mike