During a recent two month bout of mononucleosis this past spring, I had a lot of time on my hands. How I caught mono at 38 is known, an ill timed business trip to Boston. I got stuck on a packed flight of college students returning to their studies from SFO to Logan. How I never contracted mono when I was younger is still a mystery. Lucky for me one of my fellow travelers sitting next to me was clearly ill with something resembling the flu. I felt the urge to request an alternate seat upon realizing she was sick but alas the flight full and I was stuck. For six and half hours I enjoyed her coughs, sneezes and occasional tissue falling over to my lap which I would happily return to her. Go figure, a few weeks after the trip, I ended up with a 105 degree fever and a trip to Urgent Care. The next several weeks found me locked up in bed with nothing more to do than read, watch TV and ruminate about my favorite pastime, fly fishing. During bouts of fever and lucidity I thought of one river in particular that had plagued me often as a fly fisher. While fishing this river from the bank I could always see fish just out of reach, sometimes by only a few feet, it of course is the lower Yuba. Time and time again on that river I had seen those lucky few who drifted past in a drift boat, hook and land those fish that were just a cast too far. Laying there in bed I was determined to come up with a plan to get those fish. I needed a way to be on the water, not on the bank, a floating craft of some kind. First I researched all the options, pontoon boats, jon boats, Klamath boats, Gunoes, Canoes, kayaks and finally the plethora of drift boat options.
Pic 2 Composite materials are not mandatory but strongly suggested in this case - Kevlar has been used to strengthen and protect the bottom panel.
Certainly all would work with many that would offer versatility beyond fly fishing (I also duck hunt religiously), but I needed a “stealthy” way to sneak up on fish. Stealthy knocked out several options right away; gone was anything built out of aluminum, bye, bye jon boat, Klamath boat. Then there was the consideration of safety and stability. I have two young children and no desire to leave my beautiful wife a widow. Gone now were the pontoon boat, canoe, kayak and Gunoe. The list narrowed quickly, it would be a drift boat for sure, strong and stable, but what kind, what material, what options? My mind raced as I lay there on the road to recovery. More days passed, I pulled out all my old issues of various fly fishing rags, looked over the ads to further determine my options and horror at the ultimate cost. New drift boats started with none of the options I wanted on the low end at about $5k and went quickly up from there. Adding a nice trailer, guide layouts and you were near the $10K mark. No way was I going to get the wife to authorize that outlay of cash, not in this economy or otherwise.
Then one article caught my eye; it was discussing building wooden boats in your garage, my eyes and ears perked up, my mood improved, my heart beat a little faster, I had found the answer to my search. Build the boat, not buy it that was the key. “Build it and you can get those fish!” I thought. My mind quickly began to contemplate the benefits of building vs. buying, “If I build my boat, I can configure it any way I want.” Days later I had hunted down the majority of boat building sites on the web and sorted down the list to those that just focused on drifters. Now there were even more considerations and concerns to hash out. Drift boat types, stitch and glue vs. framed, McKenzie, flat front, low side, high side, beaver tail, grand cayon dorie, on and on my research took me. I was comfortable with the idea of building something out of wood and epoxy. I was no stranger to swinging a hammer, my father was an architect so I grew up on a job site, literally. Finish tools and power tools I had held in my hands many times over my lifetime, with several bathroom remodels, framing, high school/college journeyman jobs and a fresh new kitchen under my belt, I was not discouraged by the work to follow with wood working. As for the fiberglass and epoxy, I had resurfaced my parent’s pool one summer with a couple friends and repaired a surf board or two in my time. It was only a question of composite materials, and boat design now. The decision to build a drifter had been reached.
Pic 3 In this photo you can clearly see the bailing wire holding the panels together. True stitch and glue construction.
Only my wife stood in the way now; how could I convince her this was a sound idea. My mind came up with an answer for that quickly, “Summer vacations to all the best rivers of the West, the Klamath, Snake, Eel, Smith, Yuba, Sacramento, McKenzie, Yellow Stone” on and on the list goes. All of which are accessible by drift boat and offer great camping to boot, but you need the drift boat to really experience those rivers. After some discussion and her seeing I was determined to do this she yielded and I was off to buy the plans and begin the process of acquiring an ever growing list of materials. There are many folks offering up plans to build your own wooden drifters out on the web, not to mention lots of folks building them. Plans run from $60-$100+ and some are definitely more detailed than others, same goes for the level of support you receive from the boat building company or designer. Design and configuration can be left up to the individual based on basic plans and their likes and budget. The cost is about half that of buying one, I won’t kid you they are not cheap to build, materials alone will clear $2,000. I “misquoted” the cost to my wife, boy I have still not lived it down either. Beyond one’s wife’s hardened gaze at the expense, mess, and destruction of her favorite vacuum, anyone with basic knowledge of woodworking and a few core tools can build one. But you better love to sand, and I mean sand and sand and sand. However despite the expense and marital strain, it is a very rewarding process. I am still only about half way through building my boat and the other day my wife said to me, “Honey, when you told me you would build a boat it never thought it would have come out this beautiful. I honestly thought it would look like something thrown together in someone’s garage, but it doesn’t. It’s really is beautiful.” Having the wife admit my project was worthwhile was rewarding, I have to admit.
Pic 4 Now the hull comes together, addition of some 12 oz biaxial tape and refining of the chimes. She is starting to take shape. With some sanding you won’t notice the seams at all.
OK, now down to the brass tacks of building one…
In the end there are two construction options for building a drifter, framed vs. stitch and glue. Both offer end results that are tough, strong, beautiful and light. Light being the optimal word, you can access areas of a river no other boats can, not even all fiberglass constructed drift boats.
Framed construction is as it sounds - you build a frame and then sheath it with marine grade plywood. They can be beautiful depending upon the amount of time and materials that go into them. The drawback is weight; they run over 400-500 lbs. or more. This is the traditional construction method, stemming from ocean going dories to the McKenzie boats of the 1930’s, developed up in Oregon. They are in my opinion some of the prettiest drifters on the water. Beyond the weight they take more wood working skill, tools, and time. They are also bigger most of the time, in the 18+ foot class. Big is not always better in my humble opinion when it comes to drifting down a low flow river system, for example the lower Yuba. You don’t really need the Queen Mary to float it. Even with the 500 lbs. I have read these boats still draw relatively little water, 4 inches loaded at around 700 lbs. That beats out hands down all fiberglass constructed drift boats. Shallow drift equals less boulder hits, less boulder hits equal less maintenance and repair time. However, if I ever move to Oregon I would definitely consider this boat construction type as my first pick.
Pic 5 Here is a pic of the hull nearly completed, less its bottom coat of graphite infused epoxy and marine grade paint. Note, no more bailing wire; it was removed in the filleting process. Seams are nice and clean.
Then there is stitch and glue construction. It was invented in the early 60’s and with the revolution of epoxy over the past 40 years, you can end up with a boat that is really of fiberglass construction that looks like a wooden boat, and its much lighter. Stitch and glue involves no skeleton to apply marine grade plywood to. You start out with marine grade plywood, sheet fiberglass and epoxy them. Then cut the pattern out and stitch the boat together using bailing wire. Once the boat is temporarily stitched together you apply epoxy fillets to the inside of the joints (chimes) and lay 12 oz biaxial tape to the inside and outside of the chimes. Then sand most of your weekends and evenings away for weeks before you start building out the interior. This was the construction method I decided to go with; it seemed strong and easy enough to do. Plus, I could use composite materials like Kevlar to further strengthen the hull. You will run into rocks in our rivers out here on the West Coast, that is a guarantee, so hull strength is paramount. My boat has a marine fur plywood bottom with two layers of 6 oz glass, one 12 oz layer of Kevlar, and four coats of graphite infused epoxy. You can’t put a bullet through it and it will take impacts from rocks with no issues I assure you.
Pic 6 Nice shot of bow of drifter, this is about one month in to the overall project.
For either one of these construction types you will need the following tools: hand planes, orbital sander, table saw, skill saw, as many clamps as you can buy, borrow or steal, drill, chisels, tape measure, compass, carpenters square, epoxy tools, painting tools, and a mountain of sand paper.
Basic materials would be as follows: marine grade plywood, oak, fur, ash or other hardwoods for buildout of interior. About 7 gallons of epoxy, 20 yards of 6 oz or bigger fiberglass, 5 yards of Kevlar, stainless steel screws, varnish and paint.
Rough breakdown of costs associated based on someone else’s project, so far I am on par with the course in terms of cost.
Pic 7 Empty hull, and only your time and imagination to fill it. This pic give you a good interior shot of the boats internal fillets, covered in biaxial tape. Still lots of sanding to go, not doubt about that.
| Montana Drift Boat - Freestone Guide Costs | Motor/Excessories | ||||
| Cost | |||||
| Item | Cost | Nissan Longshaft 6 HP outboard | $ 1,599.00 | ||
| WOOD | Drift Boat Anchor System | $ 550.00 | |||
| White Oak | $ 475.00 | Oars | $635 | ||
| Northern White Oak | $ 432.00 | Safety Gear Vests etc | $475 | ||
| Mahgony | $ 1,200.00 | Total | $ 3,259.00 | ||
| Plycom Core | $ 300.00 | ||||
| Wood Total | $ 2,407.00 | ||||
| Glass Materials | |||||
| 10oz x 6" Fiberglass Tape(50 yrd) | $ 137.50 | ||||
| 6oz x 50" Fiberglass (22 yrd) | $ 220.00 | ||||
| 10oz x 60" Fiberglass (6 yrd) | $ 120.00 | ||||
| Kevlar Felt (5 yrd) | $ 237.00 | ||||
| glass total | $ 714.50 | ||||
| EPOXY | |||||
| 12 Gal Kit | $ 1,200.00 | ||||
| Epoxy Total | $ 1,200.00 | ||||
| PAINT / Truck Bed Liner | |||||
| Kriby Paint | $ 87.50 | ||||
| Durabak | $ 325.00 | ||||
| Paint Total | $ 412.50 | ||||
| TOOLS | |||||
| Saw Blades | $ 46.00 | ||||
| Clamps | $ 40.00 | ||||
| Orbit Sander | $ 75.00 | ||||
| Sawhorses | $ 45.00 | ||||
| Bevel Square | $ 5.00 | ||||
| Chalk Box | $ 9.00 | ||||
| Tools Total | $ 220.00 | ||||
| MISC SUPPLIES | |||||
| Sand Paper | $ 48.26 | ||||
| Wood Glue | $ 63.00 | ||||
| Razors | $ 1.85 | ||||
| Foam brushes/rollers | $ 21.70 | ||||
| Mixing Containers | $ 10.20 | ||||
| Dry Wall Screws | $ 5.43 | ||||
| Other screws | $ 37.62 | ||||
| Rope (for seats) | $ 20.25 | ||||
| Masking Tape | $ 73.00 | ||||
| Varnish | $ 60.00 | ||||
| Thinner | $ 7.33 | ||||
| Epoxy Pumps | $ 12.00 | ||||
| Spreaders | $ 5.25 | ||||
| MISC Total | $ 365.89 | ||||
| Grand Total | $ 5,197.47 |
To date I am about a month into the whole process, which has given birth to an empty hull ready to be built out. To complete the boat I need to do the following: build front decks, rear decks, guide seat, front seat, rear seat, dry boxes, rod holders, anchor pulley system, inwalhls, outwahls, and finally finish it off with paint and varnish. Then commission it, put the final touches on her, and give her a water trial.
If anyone is interested in going down this path on building one of these as I have they can feel free to ask me any questions. My email is podesta71@comcast.net. I would be happy to share with them any knowledge I have to date, plus let them come by and inspect my process, or even have the sander for a while. I am also including links to some of the better drift boat design sites.
Montana Boat Builders, they build some of the nicest boats out there, you can also buy kits ready to be assembled or just plans, kits cost is about 60% more, you can save money by just getting the plans and sourcing materials on the web.
www.montanaboatbuilders.com
McKenzie Drift Boats - Old School Drift Boat Builder Kits and Plans
www.mckenziediftboats.com
Rays River Dories – Ditto Framed Construction
www.raysriverdories.com
