Diviny for a drift boat.

Hi all,I'm building a S&G drift (pram) boat that I'm hoping to be light enough to get on the roof rack of my truck.I have one boat under my belt, a 10' lake pram plywood and FG.I also have another boat that weighs in at 150lbs that i can load by myself with the aid of some rollers on my rack so I'd like to try not to go any more then that with this build.Here in Calgary Canada I'm able to get Diviny for a reasonable price.
The Boat i'm thinking of would be pointless approx floor length of 10-11' and a chine width of 48" there would be about 8" of rocker on both ends.S& G construction capable of carrying 2 people and some gear.There will be 2 benches for supports.The sides and end panels will be 1/4" Merenti ply.This will be all hand lay up.
So some questions..


-would the H 80 be the right choice for a bottom of a 10-11' drift boat with a chine width of 48"?

-How much glass would i need on the bottom to survive?This will be pretty easy water that one can row around the shallows.So no class 4 rapids.

Should my benches be attached to the floor or should i leave them up a bit for some flex room?

 

It sounds like your going down a River in this thing?
That ought to be exciting

I'd make that bottom narrower than your inner fender width so you dont bang up the boat so bad loading and unloading.

I made and operated McKenzie Knockoffs at one time.
We never glassed the bottom.
Just the Primer and paint.
Use a million screws and NO fiberglass. The Bottom is a Skin that is easily replaceable and if your having a good year, you might replace it twice.

You get water inside drift boats. Don't make a big deal over that.
Primer and Paint.
Make all the parts replaceable. Use PL for a sealer if you want but don't glue it together because your gonna be taking it apart before too long for repairs.

Make plenty of "Lash" points so your gear in water proof bags can be fastened to the boat.

Looking back, I'd make the Bottom out of 3/8" Ply.
We did 1/4" on our bottoms which caused us to change out the bottoms too often.

I can't say this loud and strongly enough.
Make your oars VERY STRONG, and make it easy to set them in and out of the Oarlock Sockets.

 

Yes this would be for a river,the Bow river.The 10' boat i built last has a 3/8 wood bottom about 40" wide with low sides it weighed in at 130lb.This next boat has to be wider so one can stand and fly fish from.It also needs a little more length for 2 people.
I'm trying to avoid a wood bottom to try and keep the weight down.I thought the diviny may be a better choice since it shouldn't suck up water if i ding a rock or two.

 

From my experiences...
My uncle built a pram, about 6' long and would fit inside the pickup bed width-wise.
All out of 1/4" marine Ply.
Weighed in at 86Lbs.
I carried that thing a quarter of a mile to fish in a certain creek.

I was involved with drift boats of Plywood in Washington state.
We never experienced the Plywood soaking up water.
I replaced the bottom on the Drift boats and that little Punkinseed more than once.

I'm probably a subclass of Wood Butcher. I try harder than anyone else but rarely does my work come up to anything beyond adequate.

This is what I'd do in your case.
I'd build the frame and seats as light as possible with plenty of room underneath.
Make is all smooth, no splinters, etc.
Then flip it over and put a one piece bottom on it with a lot of screws.

From that description, you can see that removing an injured bottom is only a half hour's job.
Putting it back on is the hard part. You have to cut it accurately enough to keep the edges of the Ply from exposure to Rocks, sticks, n' water.
Simple Bronze or Stainless wood screws and some PL sealer will last you a whole season or more.

By the way, pick your rivers for Serenity when your going to use that punkinseed.
Even a really light wood boat will ship enough water to make it unsteerable.

 

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Just out of curiosity, what is "Diviny"?

 

Maybe I'm in the wrong section of this forum?If anyone could point me in the right direction that would be appreciated,or maybe some previous threads that would help.I've searched using Divinycell,any other key words that would help my search?
Thanks.

 

The plywood will be lighter in that size boat. The scantlings of the foam bottem to meet the same strength of the ply will be a heaver layup.

 

After your comment i did some searching.I've been told that i should have 2 layers of 1808 biax on the bottom and one layer on the inside.

Google says i need 1 gallon to wet out 26 sq/ft of the 1808, i almost fell off my chair at this point.Quick math says 4.5 gallons just to do the bottom

Does this sound right? if so plywood it is.

 

Take the total weight of your glass in lb,s , divide that by 10.5 and you will be close to total gallons for a 50/50 wetout. Rick

 

Go to Bateau forum and do a search on this subject, you will find all the info you need . Rick

 

Thanks Rick,
i once read that it takes the same weight of resin as the fiberglass.I think this was normal glass.So if its 6oz a sq yd it will take 6 o
z of resin to wet out 1 sq/yd.

I still think i can build it lighter then plywood,it just may not be as stiff.