I am building a drifter

[BigHookBigFish]

I have decided its time to build myself a drifter. I want to hear feedback about how best I build kit I'm buying I am going wood and havent decided on exact materials, doug fir or meranti ply, and depending on that painting or natural with a clear epoxy. Guess any feedback on mistakes or lessons learned is appreciated.

[MetalHead]

My Son and I built a drifter for his senior project in high school it was a blast and the boat fishes great. We used AA marine plywood and white oak. Covered out side of boat with 10oz cloth and West Epoxy then painted sides with epoxy paint and covered bottom with Coat-it.

[Woody]

Looks great Metalhead!!

There's nothing wrong with AA marine fir. Save yourself a few bucks over meranti. The fir will check, so it needs to be covered in glass and/or paint, just like metalhead did.

[MetalHead]

It is difficult to find wood in the lengths you will need so you will have to splice pieces together. get some sacrafical material and practice different splices until you find the one that will hold up to the bend you are making. Keep splices in Chines and Gunnels near the center of the boat where their will be less stress on them. When you bend and form your chines and gunnels let them set for a day or two before applying your sheeting to see if they fail. (White Oak 1x2 sounds like a gun shot when it snaps). When you join 2 pieces with epoxy do not clamp to tight or you will not get a good bond (epoxy is designed to fill and bond) When I lap spliced the plywood I used a grinder with a sanding disc to make the bevel for the splice 8 inch over lap saved all the dust (basically wood flour) and mix it with epoxy resin to make a paste for filling in all gaps and sealing the exposed edges of the plywood around the gunnels. I also used this paste to put in the front and rear decks only the 2x4 cross pieces are attached with fasteners. Use epoxy addhesive (not resin) for splices.
If you have any questions PM me and I will try to help if I can. Good Luck on your project
Oh ya it took us about 120 hours to build ours.

[snit]

Wow...what an accomplishment! Very good, you guys should be proud!!!

[James in Idaho]

I restored a rapid robert two winters ago, had a blast. Replaced the bottom, all new ribs, all new interior. I used 12oz cloth and Raka epoxy (great stuff, easy to work with and no offensive odor). Two layers of cloth on the exterior bottom, one layer on the exterior sides, one layer on the interior bottom. Sanded and glassed the interior sides with 4 oz cloth due to the checking issue mention by Woodie.

Do a search on Montana Riverboats, Sandy runs a forum for builders, several of which offer kits. His plans are somewhere around $20 for his boat (a 16ft stitch and glue), and worth it just for the instructions alone. Great site, there are some full time builders that contribute.

Do you want to build a framed boat or a stitch and glue? If you like framed boats, I'm impressed with Ray Heater's boats out your way, and Ray is a heck of a nice guy. Answered a bunch of questions when I was doing my rebuild.

[BigHookBigFish]

Planning on a framed boat and I appreciate the info guys. Ill post again mid project. :smile: