Saw Titanium Craniums' post on the other forum for his 13' wood drift boat..thought about it...talked to the wife...and we agreed we just couldn't pass it up..

I've been looking for a good project boat...not one from scratch (yet), but one that needed to be gone through so the price was right, but also a boat that would be nice looking once revived.

Here's what she was when I started on it last Sat. evening.



Overall a sound hull, but being over 20 years old (best guess), the boat needed some care and renovation...so..to work I went.

Started by stripping all the interior seats, their mounts and the inside gunnels:



Sunday saw the transom removed, and if you look closely you can see where there was also an inner transom...Mark and I determined this was there to mount a small outboard on. The inner transom sits about 18" in from the back transom.



I am considering cutting about 8" off the back of the boat, and replacing the inner transom (the existing one has the only dry-rot on the whole boat) and relocating it as the rear transom of the boat.

This would shorten the hull a bit to 12' 8", but would allow a stonger rear transom to be installed, and with (I hope) sufficient room for my 7.5 Johnson to provide rear power.

Leaves the anchor system up to question. I can see using the boat somewhat as a "Power Drifter", able to motor back up-river to re-fish slots, but also a full bore drift boat that will be great for pulling plugs, etc. Small, but the best of both worlds.

Q: Anyone use a front mounted anchor system on their drift boat?

The transom issue has been set aside for now, as that horid green pain is ALL coming off. Spent 20+ hrs. over the last week sanding, scraping, using stipper, belt-sanding, etc. The stuff was on THICK, but the wood underneath will be sweet looking once properly cleaned, buffed, stained and sealed.

Anyone who has done a job like this feel free to jump in with whatever wisdom you can. This is a new thing for me, and while I'm having a blast and looking forward to next Coho season (and Steelhead!), I want to do this old girl justice and give her a new beauty.

Mike

Good luck,
STRIKE ZONE

ROTFLMAO!

I was expecting a reply or two..but that one is probably the most accurate I'll get.

In all honesty, it is going well. The belt sander is helping to remove the bulk of the paint.

Anyone got a suggestion for a good bottom covering? I know there are recommended ones for fiberglass and aluminum hulls...how about wood?

Mike

Not sure I would shorten the hull, it's got a big flat transom at that length already. Shortening it makes it flatter and wider. Remember in a river you have the transom pointed up stream, so you are basically travelling backwards through the water. Messing with the shape of a DB can cause big handling problems. By the looks of the shape of that hull you will have a handfull with handling as it is.

For the bottom I would suggest 2 layers of 7.5 oz. cloth and epoxy resin, then cover with Coatit. UHMW is the shiat for woodies but it's not easy to install and is kinda spendy.

Driftwood:

Both points worth much consideration. Thanks.

I have been looking at the UHMW for the bottom. I agree...might not be easy to install, but from what I read it is the hot stuff.

As to the back end, I think I'll remove just a couple inches of it that are bad. Also need to replace the back piece of the bottom, which may prove to be the toughest part of the whole deal.

Still sanding the interior of the hull. I had planned to take it all to bare wood, but the paint that is there is just too much to deal with, so instead I'll just take off all the rough stuff, sand the rest lightly and put 2/3 coats of a good, white sealer on it. Probably repaint it a dark tan on the inside.

The exterior is easy to remove the paint from and that is going to get a coat of stain and several coats of spar varnish. Everything I read tells me not to glass over older wood,
and since the hull is tight and solid I see no reason to.

Mike

Mike, 1 word of advice. The cup holders appear to be way to whimpy. I suggest you make them out of 1 inch thick titaniam. That way, the boat may sink, but the cup holders will be on the bottom of the river forever.

B-Run:

You can see cup holders in those pics? I'll be sure to take that into account, although this is an all-wood boat. Perhaps one hewn from mahogany would be sufficient? :rolleyes:

Hopefully we'll be to busy boating fish to worry about consumption of beverages...but the odd shot of Class A "Casting Oil" might come in handy.

Mike

I don't know how you plan on replacing the transom, but I'll offer up how I replaced a wooden transom with success. I too cut the boat off due to rot and shortened it, but in doing so, I had to relocate the seat and oar locks in order to get the bow to rise the right distance out of the water.

After cutting the boat, I took a sheet of marine grade plywood and held it against the new stern and traced with a pencil around the inside of the boat. That gave me the pattern for the inside piece. Be sure to cut on the outside of the traced line (you want to be able to see the line when you are done cutting).

Then with another piece of plywood I traced the outer edge around the transom and cut that out (cutting ON the line this time).

Now I had a piece to fit the inside and the outside of the stern. Some good quality waterproof glue and brass screws to clamp things together and the new transom was ready for finishing.

I admire your sense of adventure. It has been my experience that the type of project you have undertaken always ends up costing much more than I originally imagined, but the learning process was fun and informative.

Have fun.

Here are links to a few posts I made on the restoration of my DB two years ago. Hopefully some of the topics will help you.

start

middle

near the end

bonus end

Fun5,

Thanks for the great tips on the transom. This (so far) is going to be a bit easier than I figured, as I hadn't expected to get it on the water till late July or Aug. Now it looks like it might be ready for Sockeye in early July.

After spending all day in Canada with my daughter I got home about 7, and was taking out the garbage for the wife (the garbage can just happens to be in the garage near the boat.. ). Stood there for a moment dreaming of what the craft is going to look like when done...and also about how to get that inner transom out of there.

Well..I gave it a shove and I'll be damned if it didn't crack and creak at the bottom where it mounts to the floor! (I have already removed all the side nails). A few yanks and a pull or two and out it came, busting off about 1/2" from the bottom, leaving that 1/2" of wood with all the nails sticking out. Cool! Now it will be easy to chip out the rest, push those nails back through the bottom (I hate using nails) and get the rest of the interior sanded out tomorrow.

Dogfish:

Much thanks for those links! I had seen one of those pages before..and had tried desprately to find it in the archives ('cause of all the good info on it) and had no luck. Got them bookmarked now.

Still trying to figure about how much to take off the back. Driftwood has a very vaild point in that the boat is flat transomed now, but I think the rise is sufficient that removing a couple inches won't effect the performance overall. Re-balancing the boat (seat locations) after the mod's might take a little doing.

The info on the dry-rot caused by the UHMW is helpful...I am thinking maybe to add a good layer of glass over the bottom, then UHMW over that. Before that happens (UHMW) I do want to compare costs with the epoxy/graphite solution.

Lots of sanding and work to get done before worrying about the seat locations. I'll post up some updated pics tomorrow, as the wife is working all day and I've got nothing to do but sand, prep for sealer coats and dream of monster Steelies in-waiting..

Mike

Mike B, my big question is, did you ever get that garbage taken out, or is the bag sitting there waiting for a dog to happen by?