Replacing 1/4" plywood on "skimmer"

[Skimmer]

I'm hoping someone here might be able to steer me in the right direction.

This is the first time I'm trying to repair what looks like a wooden row boat, though there's clearly a place on the transom for a motor, which I'd like to eventually add. This is a boat I took a scenic picture of a number of years ago and a few years after that I found it on the curb the next street over with "FREE" spray painted on it, the bottom in bad shape.

http://www.northforkphoto.com/1.htm

Everything looks solid except the bottom, which looks like it was made out of 1/4" marine plywood. It was soft and held together with fiberglass. I removed it. It didn't appear glued in any way, but there were a ton of little nails holding the bottom on.

The locals call this boat a skimmer and a guy who hit my photography Web site said he lived out by me (east end of Long Island) and remembers how fast those skimmers could move with a good-sized motor. The bottom is perfectly flat except it curls up at the bow.

It looks like not too hard a job to put a couple of pieces of plywood on (which means it's probably just barely doable for someone of my limited experience), but I'm not sure how I should be doing it. Should I prepare the plywood first, should I lay some kind of glue down then nail the plywood on and trim it?

I just want to get out on the water with the kids and this looks like the only way I'm going to be able to swing it this year.

Any advice or even pointing me to other posts would be greatly appreciated.

I've attached some other pictures of it with the old bottom and in various stages of pulling the bottom off, in case it helps. The second to last one shows the boat with the bottom completely off. It's a really clean surface along the edge once the plywood was removed.

Thanks!

[rasorinc]

Do you know how to check for rotten wood? I'm talking about the frames? If you can push an ice pick or sharpe blade into the wood and it goes in easy it is rotten and needs replacing. That is the quick method

[Skimmer]

Thanks! I didn't know that but I bet all the wood but the bottom would pass that test. I think the fiberglass was keeping the bottom together.

Any thoughts on how to get a new bottom on?

Thanks!