Fiberglassing a drift boat hull

S
SteelyStalker12
0
Hello fellow OFF'ers (is it a little immature that chuckled when I typed that?) haha,

anyway, a quick question to those who have done this before. I have the opportunity to purchase a drift boat from a gentleman that needs a little TLC. Mainly cosmetic things but the most important part of the fix is that a part of one of the chines on the bottom has seemed to have been damaged (not too terribly, maybe a total of 4 inches of one chine) and leaks a little bit, meaning <1L of water during an 8 hour float. If any of you with experience out there think it might be worth it to put some work into it please enlighten me with your experience fiberglassing the hull of a boat. I have looked into the process, does not look too terribly difficult but I realize it does take time and patience and it is imperative to DO IT RIGHT rather than quickly. My two main questions are 1.) best supplies to get and where, and 2.) what implications would arise if I wanted to cut out the damaged piece of chine and repair it with a new piece of wood then sealed the entire surgery with epoxy to make the boat more structurally sound....


Would love to hear some experienced thoughts!!!!

-Joe
 
what brand and size is the boat?
 
It is a 12' Steele. I believe from the 50's? It appears to be in pretty good condition for its age, I am just worried about the chine being a little bit too much of a project. Both money and time-wise.
 
I would like to add that I do not foresee this boat being used for many years to come. I plan to upgrade at some point to a bigger, newer boat. But for the time being, it might be worth it.
 
I would put a couple sheets of glass on the inside of the boat at the chine and then feather it, roll her over and mix a hot batch of resin and fill in any outside damage and sand and repeat, coat the bottom with some glove-it or devo epoxy resin paint and go crash the boat again.. crash fix repeat... crash fix repeat.. yada yada yada, its no biggy, I trash driftboats all the time.. that's why I got rid of my wood boat and got a clackacraft pro steelheader, it can hit just about anything and be fixed good as new-
 
Hahaha it sounds like you've done this a time....or 7... Haha. Anyway, you're just saying do a small repair on the one damaged chine and take it to the river? Also, what do you mean by "feathering" this is new terminology to me. Thanks a bunch!
 
This really deserves a rather long response. Do you have any photo's? I assume you're talking about the out side chine? And if so, plan on replacing the whole thing. Glassing with epoxy is pretty straight forward.

Proper way to do the out side of the bottom is to wrap the edge where the chine is, and the cap it with the chine. The chine is to protect the edge where the glass is wrapped, otherwise when you bump rocks, even lightly you can cause cracks where water will get in behind the glass, causing the obvious.

There is a ton of different weaves and weights of glass.

You literally cut the glass to shape, drape it over your work piece, and then use a putty spreader, and work a thin coat over the glass. And repeat layering until seen fit. 2-3 coats for the out side bottom is common. Paint brushes help for random situations, and I think I remember using a foam roller when we did our bottom.

There is a timeline as to where you can apply additional coats, after that you have to completely sand and clean the surface to remove whats called a "blush" on the surface of the dried epoxy, additional coats of epoxy wont stick to the blush and will cause problems down the road.

Our final coat of epoxy we added graphite.

We just did the inside bottom, and still have some more work to do. As just "normal" maintenance.
 
you want to put down a 2'' piece of fabric, then a 4'' and then a 6'' and coat it well with resin then sand the resin to a smooth transition with the original boat.. of course don't sweat the looks, I hope your paying less than $500 for the boat.. don't fix anything up, nothing cosmetic.. get it fishing and you can sell it as soon as you realize your a driftboat guy.. any money you put into an old driftboat is a loss, just fish it-
 
RWS's boat is a pimp wood boat, yours is a pos 60's fishin boat, I wouldn't put the effort into an old glass boat that he has put into his, and he knows how to handle a boat... if your learning your really gonna ding your boat up- I wouldn't do the whole chine until you have handling the boat down-;)
 
Thank you for the input RWS, very uuseful info. However, I think Halibuthitman is right. It is going to be a boat that will inevitably be bounced off a few rocks/logs during the learning process of rowing. I do not want to try to put a facelift on a boat that is going to cost $400...but the info provided is great! Thanks again!
 
steely, the first thing we really should address is if you should even buy the boat, if its a 60's era boat, and glass over plywood and the glass has been compromised I guarantee the wood inner core is rotten, when RWS recommended replacing the whole chine it is for safety, you should post us a couple photos, give us a close up of this damage. I know the prospect of getting a db is enticing.. but buying a lemon boat simply sucks... bigtime-
 
I had pondered this same issue....when you refer to the rotten inner core, would that imply replacing the entire bottom? If so what kinds of expenses am I looking at, legitimately. I wouldn't mind putting some work into it, just want a realistic idea of what I am getting into.

P.s. I also pay for guided instruction in beer if either of you could be bribed....
 
SS check ur pm's
 
I restored my glass boat last summer, and it was a ***** of a job. Not difficult technically, but epically time consuming and just a nasty process. Mine's a 1976 eastside that i spent originally $800 on with a brand new trailer, I basically bought the trailer and got the boat for free. It was ugly as crap but it has never leaked, except for one incident with a cooler full of beer and a rough road....bad combo. The bottom wasn't in terrible condition but I did a lot of reinforcement as insurance. I don't think I'd invest in an older boat than that however, unless it was free...and even then it would be a massive undertaking, you're going to end up replacing the entire bottom it sounds like based on interior water damage, I'd probably kill myself before undertaking such a task, fiberglass makes me a very hostile person. That said, fiberglass is the easiest of the 3 types of drifters to repair and they can withstand a hell of a beating. Good luck in whatever you decide upon!
 
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