wood drift boat question

[Joe Blow]

Im looking at buying my first drift boat and the one I found needs some work. The boats 30 years old and looks like it may need a new floor and couple ribs replaced. Also the trim pieces on teh bottom outside are bad and need replaced. Asking price on teh boat is $400.00. It comes with lifejackets 3 oars anchor system and trailer. Is it worth it and how much work am I looking at here? Also is this something I can do myself? Im a journeyman framer so Im not affraid to work with wood.

[MacEFL]

If the oars and trailer are good then you probably can't lose! Only you can know if you can do it yourself and how long it will take you. If you can get the old pieces off in as few pieces as possible then you have a pattern and should be pretty straight forward. If the boat is worse than you thought, you can get your money or more back depending on trailer and oars!!! Just my opinion.

[Joe Blow]

Thats what I was thinking but at teh sametime I dont have the money to toss around on something that I cant fish. Anybody on this site thats in teh Eugene area and does wood boat repair for a reasonable price? Maybe that person could look at the boat with me and tell me what Im looking at in repairs. Im willing to pay for your gas and maybe a lil extra for coming out to have a look at the boat. thx.

[James in Idaho]

A couple of years ago I restored a woodie. It didn't look bad when I bought it, but as I got into it, yikes. I replaced the bottom ($100 of marine 3/8), all the ribs ($$$ in clear fir), and completely redesigned the interior. ($$$ in fir, cedar, white oak). You get the picture. I've got a great boat that's a blast to row, and during a lot of the work my daughter hung out and helped (which alone was worth every penny I spent). It took about 6 months to do everything, including fiberglassing.

Wood boats are great, I really enjoyed the restoration process, BUT, unless you really, really want to get into a project, pass. Take whatever time you think it will take to fix, then triple it, you might be close. Of course, it helps if you know what you're doing with wood. I'd never have finished if it was not for a very generous friend who let me use his wood shop and his advice.

[Joe Blow]

Yeah that is just what Im doing. I just found another wood drift boat for $1200 with all teh goodies adn its fishable. So Im going that route. Thx for teh help everybody.

[samiam]

The only reason my 16' wood drifter lasted as long as it did was the sheet of uhmw i bolted onto the bottom. Of course a bucket full of stainless steel fasteners is going to cost you some money. i used bolts and rubber washers inside and outside the hull to keep leaks down. countersunk the bolts in the uhmw. I think that Tatmans wood boat shop in Eugene area can give you lots of good advice on that project, and they used to sell kits for uhmw. Another thing to keep in mind is to never get too relaxed on varnishing and painting. You could fiberglass the bottom up over the chine to eliminate leaks. Gluvit or Coatit might be good to use to keep it watertight too, but won't absorb impacts like UHMW or fiberglass. Enjoy that boat.