...I almost forgot

your photo didn't attach....

Ah there it is......it did attach. My Apple computer can't work with that, lol.

Taping outside today and will flip Tomorrow.

By the way, When I released all the shorter wires I had installed it straightened right up. I didn't need to add the long wire.

Taped all edges. Overlapped the corners. Applied first fairing after it became tacky.

You're the first guy I know who has used construction plywood instead of expensive "marine grade" stuff. I think it's going to work just fine. I like your attitude.

I've used it before and liked the outcome but I DO NOT recommend it. This will be a totally epoxy encapsulated boat and so it should hold up well. If in later years I see some sunken areas I'll know that it is from voids in the junky plywood. $14.23 ea. x 3 sheets. Epoxy, glass and supplies $256.I'll be using a wood for the rails that is considered exotic by east coast standards and it probably came from right near you: Thuja Plicata (western red cedar). A friend gave me 4 - 1 1/8 x 3 x 14' pieces and I've cut them to 2" wide x 1/2" thick x 14". I just happen to own a bandsawmill and have allot of ash and cherry, oak and walnut but I love Western Red Cedar.
First fairing was talc. I'll sand it tomorrow night, wash it with acetone and do the final fairing with wood dust from Raka so I can see a contrast....not a high society job but it will look nice from your house.

I've been recovering from some very invasive but non serious surgeries and I'm afraid fine woodworking is not an option. I can always add some later when I'm recovered. I can't hand sand but I can run an orbital sander with my good arm.


The arch and radius of the chine came out pretty nice. Do you recommend a shoe along the outside of the chine like I see on allot of boats?

Right now the bite is off on the Delaware to some degree. The water temps are upper 70's - 80's and it is slow. I'm hoping to have this done by September or October for Smallies and Trout.

RE> shoe around chine

No. I strongly recommend against. Those wooden chine strips catch the current and make the boat harder and slower to turn. If you are worried about chine durability add more glass. And/or use Plascore for the bottom. But it's too late for that option for your boat.

You'll be fine on the Delaware.

Those chine strips are a disaster in white water. If you get spun sideways for what ever reason and suddenly find yourself sideways to a strong current those chine strips cause "chine dip," where the upstream side of the boat dips down. It's annoying at best and dangerous at worst.

Chine strips be damned.

Wow I'm glad I asked. I kind of like the way it looks but I don't need extra work. Glad to put this to rest.

I kind of feel the same way about overdone gunnels. They can be a hazard in some conditions. But I like them also.

The exercise of this build was therapy for a healing wrist and to cheaply get me onto the water by fall. I didn't know anything about drift boats. I was looking at 10 and 12' row boat plans and also looking at cheap used aluminum rowboats. Then I hit on drift boats and found your site. Cool!

Not much to report. Two layers of fairing materials. one coat of epoxy. Tomorrow one more sanding and then enough coats of resin to fill the glass,tipping away from the the direction I'm moving. My goal is to have it flipped by Saturday so I can figure out the interior.

Just a thought.

If you fill the weave over and over and over and over and over and over again in between hours and hours of sanding you can prepare a smooth as baby's bottom surface prior to paining, where you can then proceed to do ten or more paint or varnish coats with fastidious light and super-fine sanding in between. And then it will glow like a brand new Maserati. Until you start to use it. And then it will get scuffed up.

Another approach is to sand once with 100 grit and then again with 220 and call it good, leaving pebbly weave bumps in between flat spots. And then paint it, not at all trying to hide what it is. It's functional fast easy and only a bit ugly. If you have a spray gun you can open up the nozzle and spatter large dark splats over a lighter color, as a final touch, and it actually starts to look good. And a ten days or more process got compressed into three.

I'm a prototype maker. I care about the physical lines of the boat and how it rows. And about it's long term durability. I don't give a rat's behind about fussy finish anymore. I used to. But I gradually changed. And now I don't care about obsessive compulsive finishing.

Well Well Well. Great minds think alike...

This boat is to be my utility boat and It was selected do to its lightness, shortness and me being able to handle launching and so forth by myself. It will be knocked around allot and may even become a learning platform for some of my two million grandchildren.

So, That being said, the bottom will be coated one or two more times but with no sanding in btwn. The sides will get an extra sanding-fairing or two just so that I don't get laughed off a river. It will look like a beautiful boat that was used lightly for a year or two. I've gone the glassy smooth route and while it is nice to look at this is a utilitarian "on-the-cheap" project.

So you recommend going down to 220? I've thought that tooth was needed for the Pettit Paint and always stopped at 100 or so.

Two coats of paint will do.

Mind if it only has middle side drain plugs?

On the cheap................


Also found an old pair of 6' oars in the basement. They were starting to split a little but now they're fixed up and will work on calm waters for this year.

On the cheap........

"I'm a prototype maker, I don't give a rat's behind about fussy finish anymore." I will have a nicer model someday but this will be nice enough. And like I say you can't see it from your house.

Here are some things you can try:
At the beginning of the epoxy era there were folks trying every thing they could to thicken epoxy for the fairing process. I still prefer talc and wood flour. but it dawned on me today that paper towels might work. Wheat flour or any flour should work nicely.

Lastly, do you remember the 50's when the lint man used to come around and collect your lint and sell it to the rag factories? I do. Why not try dryer lint for special areas of attachments such as fillets for cup holders and so forth. If it could be combed or untangled it could be used for fairing also. Remember that todays clothing contains allot of acrylic, nylon and a multitude of poly's. Along with the cotton from jeans and socks it could make a nice substance for sanding.

The river beckons. Crystal clear. Boat finish is as done as it needs to be. Sand it tomorrow.

Delaware.

My Shop.

Paint options. What do you use. Do I need to use the high priced easypoxies and so forth or can I use exterior house paint.

Side drain only???????
Has anyone installed side drains? Rear drains doesn't seem to make sense to me with all that rocker. What am I missing?

I love that shape

Its Pretty square and Pretty looking.


Two questions above:

1) paint choice

2) Side drains

I use an end drain. I slide the boat half-off the trailer to wash it out. The drain gets the water out of the boat. Some put one side drain on the right side near the center along the chine, so when driving in the rain the boat will not collect water. Right side so the crown of the road will orient the water to the drain.

A high quality latex house paint would be fine for your boat.

Ditto's on the house paint. The boat will live on a trailer next to house which is also painted with house paint.
I bought three sheets of Plytanium for the hull. they were $14.23 each. The seats and lumber is scraps from shipping crates and leftovers.

Breast hooks are Quartersawn Sycamore That I cut on my mill

Seating will be simple


There won't b hardly any brightework as I just can't hardly work it out right now. I basically have only one good hand and it has been tough.

Could you please share a simple layup of tabbing for the seats and bracing. I have a spool of 6oz/6" tape and I'm thinking of tongue depressor radius of goop and one layer of tape on all seats and braces. What about the inside of the chines? On smaller boats I've used a hardened up old caulking tube (2") to radius and tape chines but on this somewhat larger of a boat that would be allot of resin and filler.

I'd love to hear what you all recommend.

Tabbing? Did you mean taping? For seats and chines?

A "physicians tongue depressor" was recommended in early epoxy manuals, for shaping fillets prior to glass taping. But that makes a bigger radius than needed. I use a cheap (cheapo) oriental vegetable cleaver with the front edge rounded off a bit. Has a nice handle. I keep it in a bucket of solvent. Has maybe half the radius of "a tongue depressor."

What goes over the fillet? 3-1/2" inch tape is fine. 6" inch is more than needed for taping over gussets cleats and seats. But on the other hand I use what I have on hand. Boat building is like cooking. You use what ever you find in the fridge.

RE> That front deck in the photo above
You might want to make that closer to level fly and lure boxes will sit there. And sandwiches etc

I've wanted to get narrower tape but didn't get that far. The one thing I keep meaning together and don't is the metal fiberglass roller for getting out air bubles.

Too late on the leveling of the seat. You said front seat. Does that imply that the big transom goes first down the steams? I guess it does.

At this point it would probably float nicely. Lots of sanding needed. Gunwales needed.......nothing fancy. Oarlocks need to be mounted..

Today I was told by relatives that coffee cup holders are needed be cause they’re tired of me spilling coffee on them. ☕️
Nah. Couldn’t be. I’d never waste a drip.

Got the first layer of gunwales on today. I did the inner ones first.