Drift Boats
Do it yourself Driftboat Building
- Scaled drawings and step-by-step building instructions for All Three Boats
- How to copy another driftboat hull
- How to design and build your own hull from scratch
- How build a stitch and glue boat from someone else's framed-boat blueprints
Stitch and glue wood fiberglass construction--and/or honeycomb core
These plans include drawings, tool and material lists and written instructions for stitch-and-glue plywood-fiberglass construction. Stitch-and-Glue construction is well suited to the beginning boat builder. At approximately 275lbs. for a finished 15' boat, plywood-fiberglass boats weigh less than most aluminum or molded fiberglass boats.
A fiberglass skin is an essential component of the ribless boat since the glass fabric and epoxy resin give the boat structural strength as well as a tough and durable finish. Epoxy resin is used for all the gluing in the boat as well as for fiberglassing. Polyester resin, which is used in the construction of "all-fiberglass" boats, is not suitable for wood- fiberglass construction because polyester resin does not adhere well to wood. These instructions were originally written assuming the use of Gougeon Brother's excellent WEST SYSTEM epoxy products. But many recent builders report equally excellent results (and attractive prices) using Raka products. Read through the entire text of these instructions before beginning any work.
How long will it take?
I once built five boats in 30 days flat (with one employee). But I can't build a single boat any faster due to gluing/fiberglass hardening times. A friend of mine--an MSU art teacher--built a boat from my plans that was perfect. It was prettier than any I ever built myself. It took him 6 months, working by himself, working intermittant evenings and weekends. Many builders finish faster than that. Few, if any, do a better job.Montana Riverboats
Sandy Pittendrigh118 Erik Bozeman, Mt. 59715
sandy at www.montana-riverboats.com