Help me out fellow Drifters.
As you can see in the photos above I will need to repaint the bottom of the hull. Thankfully the fiberglass is intact and painting with house paint is easy. I am wondering how experienced boaters would have handled the situation. At two or three places we knew we would scrape bottom but didn't know how much. Now that I know what "skinny" looks like I can now better assess what to do and I'm thinking that the next time down the river I'll deploy the anchor, get out, walk it through the shallows and then get back in. Is that what you all would have done if you knew that you were getting too shallow. Surely you don't sit there and become a casualty like I did.

I also see the need for knee braces and a pedestal for the downhill fly fisherman to sit on when not fishing. it would help keep the load centered. What happens is that it is human nature to look towards the direction you're heading and so anyone sitting on the comfy front deck will try to turn around and look at the bottom or up ahead. I had a scenario where every time I would stop correcting for it the boat would spin 180. Thats when I realized tha the front passenger was leaning out to starboard just enough to change the centerline pretty dramatically. Once I had the passenger turn back and center themselves the boat rowed straight again. But then all he had to look at was me and that was not fun for him (grandson).

Don
Have you considered a layer of epoxy and graphite instead of paint on the bottom? I'm planning on doing that on my boat instead of painting the bottom.

Funny you should mention that as I was just looking at what The Don Hill Plans recommend. Seems easy:

I have never painted a bottom. A guy needs to do fiberglass patching at the end of a busy year and paint just gets in the way.

I have a bag of graphite RAKA sent me as a free sample. I don't see the point of it. It's possible there is a good reason to use it I just don't know what it is yet. I like to leave the chine area and bottom as raw fiberglass. If you paint it most of it will be scraped off by the end of the year anyway.

Nicks and cuts in glass over a plywood bottom have to be attended to quickly. Broken fiberglass allows moisture to seep into the plywood and then it can wick sideways. In the old days when I still used plywood for bottom panels I used a hot air gun to dry out nicks quickly and then patched soaked with resin, just as a temporary patch, to keep moisture away until I had time to grind it out and patch more carefully, at a later date.

That's why I use Plascore for the bottom panel now. If the chine or the bottom gets nicked you can shine it on for a few years. Nothing bad happens to Plascore that gets exposed to moisture. Cuts on the chine that involve the lower edge of the side panel 3/4" inch up from the bottom are rare. They do have to be dealt with when they do happen. Most damage happens right on the edge of the chine.

I believe it was LARRY who told me to use 5 minute epoxy for emergency sealing.

I'm wondering how people keep their garages so free of Sanding dust. By the time I've assembled, filleted and taped all the seems on my boat the entire room was covered by a film if sanding dust. When I look at some of the builds on this forum the background in the photos looks so pristine clean. May I ask how?

I keep it on wheels. Roll it outside and sand there. 30 below zero is fine. Rain is a problem.

IMG_5653.HEICIMG_5653.HEIC

Anchors aweigh.

Finally installed the uphill anchor DAVIT. Also the nav lights. Working on the fish finder.

I also figured out how to post photos from phone. What a contrivance.

It will be nice to have a front and back anchors. One in back for river and both to anchor in lakes fore & aft.

So far this year I've only used the Buffalo as a rowboat/flyfishing platform on flat water. Just used it on a Salt marsh in mD.

Looking good!

Rick N

It was fun.