More McKenzie drift boat repair questions

I just ran across a post from a while back from RichardJ about getting a badly neglected 17’ McKenzie style wood drift boat that needs a lot of help.

I currently have the boat upside down and have removed the bottom, 1 chine and a couple ribs that were rotted badly. I have one side that either needs to be repaired or replaced. The boat was parked curbside with no cover and the standing water took it’s toll.

My question(s):

As the damaged side area is relatively isolated to an area of less than 10” from the chine, is it possible to remove this section and stitch and sew a section in it’s place. It would be covered by the sidepiece, (bang-board)?.
I would rather not replace the entire side if at all avoidable.

I could post pics if needed.
Thanks
Chris

 

Hi Chris,

I too am in the process of restoring an older wood drift boat.

Here is a shot of what I started with:



Still in the process of stripping her all down and removing that thick coat of green paint. When done, plans are to fish her (daily if possible!) here on the Skagit.

As to your question, (and please excuse my lack of proper boat building vocabulary...I'm a rookie at this), are there ribs that the side is secured to?

Were it mine, I would probably take a section out, centered on the ribs, and replace it with like dimension plywood. An assumption here is your going to be glassing this anyway?

Mike B

 

an update..

Hello Mike. Thanks for the reply.

I too am a novice at this. A complete novice.

Reading my original post, I bet I left some people scratching their heads wondering what the &%$ I was saying.

This boat was bought for a song; the accessories alone are about 10X the price I paid. Anchor, all pulleys, foot release, 3 oars & oarlocks, live well, 2 swivel seats and a trailer!

Anyway here are the pictures. When I got her she wouldn’t float but she could sure hold her water!

The first picture is of the first day;

The next is of the area I have questions about.

I have both sides stripped and sanded and still under tarps (Pacific NW weather, you know). I understand what you said about relocating ribs to support the areas where old and new wood meet vertically, but I am somewhat puzzled on what to do with where they meet horizontally. I can stitch and sew with plenty of epoxy, and then hide it under the (whatever they are called) board on the side.

Anyway that’s the hold up for now. Thanks and stay in touch.

 

And by the way Mike, that is ONE GREEN BOAT. Are you going to get back to wood grain or a more subtle hue? I bet she’ll clean up nicely.

Looks like you have a good deal of work ahead of you as well.
Lets keep in touch.
Chris

 

Howdy Chris,

Looks like yours took some water under the side-panel that caused the dry rot? Are the ribs your replacing the ones just under that bad spot?

I would think cutting out the bad wood, replacing the ribs and then adding the new side piece with maybe a support piece on the inside as well might do the trick to make it strong enough all around.

I have been reading on another forum about glassing over an older wood boat..seems it is not recommended at all. Maybe a few coats of a good epoxy over that spot on the exterior (after replacing all bad stuff, of course) might provide sufficient sealing and strength. One thing to consider though, is that if your going to cover that spot with the side-board (I tend to think of them as "kick panels") it would be a bad thing for water to get under there again...same issue would result, I'm sure.

I spent hours sanding on the inside of my hull today...that green stuff is thick and everywhere. I had originally planned to take it all down to bare wood, stain and varnish the interior. Considering the near impossible task of getting all that green off I have decided to just sand the entire interior (not to bare wood, but taking off the top layer and all the bad stuff) and clean up all the joints of the old caulking and crap that has built up. Once nice and cleaned up a few coats of a good sealer, then a couple coats of a dark tan paint will take care of the interior.

Here is a pic of the back of the hull. The spots with the "x" marks need to be replaced. The hull was built with a double-transom, so that a small outboard could be mounted to the inner transom, and the flooring behind that inner transom was made in three triangle pieces so that they could be removed for when the outboard was mounted, allowing the OB to tilt up when needed.



My thoughts are to make this into a "power drifter", and since I need to replace that inner transom anyway, I'm going to take about 4" off the back of the hull and just have one, stronger transom on the back. This will open up some more room inside the boat, and also allow me more room to handle the tiller on the 7.5 OB.

The exterior is much easier to sand and strip the paint from, so plans are to fully clean it to bare wood, then a nice dark stain after bringing the grain out with some fine sanding, and mucho coats of top grade spar varnish.

Still have the bottom to do, as well. Am considering using a UHMW cover..I hear that's the hot ticket for the bottom of wood boats.

Seems both our boats have seen a lot of days on the river. Looking at yours the "Fish Mojo" is all over it! Mine was owned originally by a guide here on the Skagit, and she has seen a lot of Steelhead and chrome bright Coho cross her gunnels over the years, but it has sat now for about 5 years before I bought it last weekend. Like yours, I couldn't pass it up. I do need to buy some new equipment, though. 9 1/2' Cararaft oars, design an anchor system that will work with the OB attached...

Lots of things left to do...if I can ever get this sanding done.

Mike

 

Chris,

Hows the project coming along?

Got mine flipped over, and found an extra piece of 1/4" ply on the bottom. Guess they put it there is a skid-pad. Had to remove it to get the nails out that were used to secure that inside transom, and also removed the chines in the process. They need to be replaced, so I'll be looking for suitable wood for that. The originals were oak, and slightly rounded, but I think they were abit small.

Here's a shot of the chine (broke while being removed). Any input here is appreciated on shaping a replacement.



Mike

 

update

Hey Mike,
I also had an additional layer of ply on the center bottom. It was about 3/8”.

I had to use a backsaw to remove the chine because of all the nails. I saves a couple chunks in effort to bet the bevel and used it as a guide for when I set the table saw blade.
I went about a ¼” heavy in the rip and will plane it down after it is installed.

I found some nice mahogany in what was a 1” x 5” by 16 foot at a local shop for $1.00 a foot. I have enough left over to replace a few ribs as well. The tricky part will be finding the right compounded angles for where the chine meets the bow and transom.

I am by no means a mathematician but I am resourceful. After several hours and beers contemplating how I will recreate the angles without burning up too many trial pieces, I have decided to use my kids modeling clay in cellophane and mould it into the joints to create a model. I can then use a coping saw or scroll saw to male the cuts. Maybe I’m just crazy.

Here is a picture of the angled chine piece.

Man, I wish I had a garage!

 

Hi Chris,

Gaining some ground here, but slowly. While I was in the process of removing paint from the sides, I found a bad spot (still wet) that went under the inner chine, with the bad wood on the side panel. I was able to grind out all the bad stuff using my Dremel tool, and fortunately it didn't go too deep into the side. Treated it with some ethlene glycol (anti-freeze) that should stop the rot from proceeding any further, and once totally dried out (in a couple weeks) I'll fill the spot with some epoxy/wood flour mixture and sand flat.

Here is a shot of the exterior now that it is fully sanded and (in time) will be filled, epoxied and painted.



Working now on stripping the interior paint. Much tougher job with all the angles, corners and structure, but it's coming along OK. The interior will be painted, also, but I want it to look as good as possible when done, so ALL the old crap is coming off.

Here is a pic of the transom area. You can see the line on the bottomw here the old, inner transom was mounted. Once the new 1/4" addition to the bottom is mounted and epoxied in place, that "U" shaped piece will be placed back in the cut-out, epoxied in and edges filled. Plan is to add a 1/4" piece on top of that, inside, to cover the line from where the old inner transom was mounted to the back of the boat. This will provide additional support for the new transom in back, and better strength for the outboard.



Not sure if I'll make my target date of July 10 or not. Still have a ton of work to do, including fabrication of new seats.

Mike

 

guest

Chris
After looking at the picture of your boat, if it were mine I would be seriously considering starting over ( scraping the old ) and build a new boat. Take the accesories and trailer that you have gained and use them on a new boat. You already need a new bottom Inside and outside chines a bunch of ribs and sides and whatever you don't replace is probably going to rot out as soon as you fix the other. It will probably be less labor to build a new boat and it will be so much nicer. A mckenzie River drift boat is one of the most easily built boats there is and there are many plans available. I built mine from Don Hill plans and it is a great boat and I know it will last me a life time. Roger Fletcher of Riverstouch.com has many different plans and there has been a lot of plans selling cheap on ebay latley.
Also, to those that don't know UHMW bottoms will cause you to have more rot problems in a short time. They are very nice at first, but will eventually cause leaks and rot.
That is my advice.
Good Luck, DRB

 

Hello DRB

Thanks for your opinion. I probably should throw in the towel on this one. I am however more stubborn than rational. I believe she can once again be a nice drifter. Maybe not on the rougher rivers and lengths but on the deeper waters.
I still would like thoughts on stitch and taping a section (10 inch chine up) along the waterline.

Thanks!
Chris

 

guest

Chris
For lots of information on both stich and glue and traditional frame drift boat buiding and repair go to www.montana-riverboats.com/ and go to the builders forum. This site is all about drift boats only.
Have fun, DRB

 

drift boat

Looking at the photos and all the comments I tend to agree with the guest that a new boat would be more feasable,however, I live in N.C. where mahogany ply is more readily available(furniture market capitol)and can see the difficulty in obtaining proper materialsfrom your location for your project.Still, the Mckenzie is a simple boat, don't let it dog you!That whole side could be replaced with less effort than a patch.I am currently re-restoring boats I first did less than four years ago when I was learning simply because I was trying to do as you are.Let me tell you, its no fun the second time. That boat was designed to pound the waves and be rugged as hell, and it should be again true to its form.Do it right, you will appreciate it in the long term.By the way, all this talk about sanding left me weary,use chemical strippers or a 40 dollar heat gun and a respirator and the paint will curl up and fly off. Good Speed.