Hi, boys and girls! My name is Ira, and I'm a 56-year-old fart who lives in South Florida, near the Glades. Sorry if I'm a little long-winded here, but here's my story:
This weekend, I picked up a Craig's List beauty (HAH!) for 20 bucks--an old 4 by 8 wooden dinghy/rowboat. All I ever wanted was something tiny like this because I just recently got into Burmese Python hunting, and the only legal areas to hunt them are in Wildlife Management Areas accessible only by boat.
I love to fish, but stink at it, and I don't expect to actually shoot anything, because I stink at that too. So I wanted something small and cheap. In my area, it's impossible to find old 8- to 10-foot Jon boats, because everyone who has one hangs onto them, and anything new or newer would be too expensive--and my wife would yell at me.
Here she is on the sawhorses:
Here is the bottom of the boat and the keel thingy. (As you can tell, I'm real up on boat technology.)
I have this damage on what I'm referring to as where the wood rub rails meet:
I'm posting this bad image of the interior because I'm too old and weak to right-side the boat for a good photo right now, plus I have a question about it below.
First priority is refinishing the bottom and sides. (Technical term for the bottom?) Those lines in the wood are not deep, the photo might be deceptive, but obviously it's a sign that the wood is going south. The paint is flaking--where there IS paint--and actually rubs off like a powder on your hands.
I plan to take the orbital sander to it first, so my first question is:
1) Is it okay to use mineral spirits for cleaning off the dust while sanding? I have this odorless, green-friendly stuff at Wally World, but I don't know if it's okay for THIS wood in THIS condition.
Next, it obviously needs treatment before final finishing/painting, so what do you recommend? This part of the boat isn't showing signs of fungi rot, but who the hell know what's going on in there?
I saw a product call PC Rot Terminator, but it's real expensive. It has the benefit of both fungi-killing AND providing an epoxy (or epoxy-like) seal. I also read that coal tar creosote is the best stuff on earth for this, but you cant find it. And that simple white vinegar, anti-freeze, or borate solution will do a good job of killing wood-eating organisms, but of course does nothing for sealing. So next question:
2) If this was your boat and you didn't want to spend a fortune, but would spend whatever is needed to do a decent job, how would you approach restoring this, with the final step being paint?
Now, remember that broken thing above that I called rub rails? I heard that a product like moldable quick-setting epoxy is good for fixes like this, so:
3) Yes or no? Or would you rip the dang things off and install modern rub rails?
Finally:
4) See that round plastic thingy in the photo of the interior? There's one in the bow and also in the stern, and one is missing the cover. What exactly are those FOR? Hiding your beer from the authorities?
Well, I guess that's enough for now. With the exception of a small crack in a piece of the corner blocking, the interior seems to be in very good shape. In fact, it's in such good shape that it's going to be a nightmare to strip and refinish. There's rot at the top of the transom, but the boat wasn't in a great position to get a decent photo of it, and I figured first things first.
I'm not going to be able to register this because the title has long been lost to history, and I haven't done an in-depth inspection yet to find a VIN. You don't NEED registration in Florida for under 16 feet and unpowered, but I still want to throw a trolling motor on it and take my chances with the authorities.
Anyway, any help you guys can offer is appreciated. I'm not the handiest guy in the world, but I still love projects like this. (I once built a teardrop travel trailer.)
Thanks for listening!
This weekend, I picked up a Craig's List beauty (HAH!) for 20 bucks--an old 4 by 8 wooden dinghy/rowboat. All I ever wanted was something tiny like this because I just recently got into Burmese Python hunting, and the only legal areas to hunt them are in Wildlife Management Areas accessible only by boat.
I love to fish, but stink at it, and I don't expect to actually shoot anything, because I stink at that too. So I wanted something small and cheap. In my area, it's impossible to find old 8- to 10-foot Jon boats, because everyone who has one hangs onto them, and anything new or newer would be too expensive--and my wife would yell at me.
Here she is on the sawhorses:
Here is the bottom of the boat and the keel thingy. (As you can tell, I'm real up on boat technology.)
I have this damage on what I'm referring to as where the wood rub rails meet:
I'm posting this bad image of the interior because I'm too old and weak to right-side the boat for a good photo right now, plus I have a question about it below.
First priority is refinishing the bottom and sides. (Technical term for the bottom?) Those lines in the wood are not deep, the photo might be deceptive, but obviously it's a sign that the wood is going south. The paint is flaking--where there IS paint--and actually rubs off like a powder on your hands.
I plan to take the orbital sander to it first, so my first question is:
1) Is it okay to use mineral spirits for cleaning off the dust while sanding? I have this odorless, green-friendly stuff at Wally World, but I don't know if it's okay for THIS wood in THIS condition.
Next, it obviously needs treatment before final finishing/painting, so what do you recommend? This part of the boat isn't showing signs of fungi rot, but who the hell know what's going on in there?
I saw a product call PC Rot Terminator, but it's real expensive. It has the benefit of both fungi-killing AND providing an epoxy (or epoxy-like) seal. I also read that coal tar creosote is the best stuff on earth for this, but you cant find it. And that simple white vinegar, anti-freeze, or borate solution will do a good job of killing wood-eating organisms, but of course does nothing for sealing. So next question:
2) If this was your boat and you didn't want to spend a fortune, but would spend whatever is needed to do a decent job, how would you approach restoring this, with the final step being paint?
Now, remember that broken thing above that I called rub rails? I heard that a product like moldable quick-setting epoxy is good for fixes like this, so:
3) Yes or no? Or would you rip the dang things off and install modern rub rails?
Finally:
4) See that round plastic thingy in the photo of the interior? There's one in the bow and also in the stern, and one is missing the cover. What exactly are those FOR? Hiding your beer from the authorities?
Well, I guess that's enough for now. With the exception of a small crack in a piece of the corner blocking, the interior seems to be in very good shape. In fact, it's in such good shape that it's going to be a nightmare to strip and refinish. There's rot at the top of the transom, but the boat wasn't in a great position to get a decent photo of it, and I figured first things first.
I'm not going to be able to register this because the title has long been lost to history, and I haven't done an in-depth inspection yet to find a VIN. You don't NEED registration in Florida for under 16 feet and unpowered, but I still want to throw a trolling motor on it and take my chances with the authorities.
Anyway, any help you guys can offer is appreciated. I'm not the handiest guy in the world, but I still love projects like this. (I once built a teardrop travel trailer.)
Thanks for listening!
