Extreme Driftboat Makeover

Chromium · May 10, 2004

What once was called the "Short Bus" by many will be no longer. LOL

It was time that I invest SOMETHING to make this thing a little more appealing to the eye.

Here's a shot from last summer on the Cumberland River (See what I mean?)

We've made some progress! The stickers are removed, some light sanding done, divets repaired (will be sanded next), and rhino coating applied to the bottom. Waiting for UPS to deliver the new oars any day.

Here is a pic with the bedliner applied. The kit is at Meijers for $54 and it comes with a Gallon can and a spray can of the liner, a brush, roller and a paint tray. It dries within one hour. I put three coats on in one night and it came out awesome. At least it will keep a lot of the deep gouges out of the bottom.

Here are some pics of the first coat of white. The paint I am using is Petit EasyPoxy from West Marine. It's a polyurethane based paint that can be air sprayed, airless sprayed or rolled on and dry brushed out.

This pic it about 10 minutes after it was applied. When it's applied with a foam roller, it initially leaves very small air bubbles in the paint. The brush removes those bubbles. You can see the brush marks and where the yellow is still showing through. This is normal and the paint does smooth out as it dries.

And an hour later:

More to come as the situation progresses........

Foersterhunter · May 10, 2004

john looking good thought about the bedliner myself (decide to go the route of having an x line as they can do it in a smooth coat)done myself but figure the gulvit will be good till next year.Keep us inforemed

May 10, 2004

There is something that is just not right about a motor on the back of a driftboat.

Maybe I'm just a romantic or maybe that I enjoy having a galley slave rowing for me as I fish.

Chromium · May 10, 2004

I very rarely use it. Only if I need to get back to a vehicle or if I miss the launch or on the big water rivers.

I prefer the oars as well.

Galley Slave............

Steeldrifter · May 10, 2004

Lookin good john wont even look like the same boat when your finished

I was halfway through a float below mio last year when a big storm came up behind us and i had to turn the boat backwards and row like hell......i wished i had a motor on mine back then

SD

Foersterhunter · May 11, 2004

John since the boys are getting older they will be getting ready for there own boat in another 8-10 years.Sounds to me like your the expecting father of another boat(lol)especially after the honey do list on the old one.

May 11, 2004

LOL Troutbum. Actually, the home of the Driftboat (Oregon) it's more uncommon NOT to see a motor on one. Quite a good majority of the boats I've seen (and people I know with them in Oregon) have motors on them. Mostly because they're fishing tide water of the Pacific. The lower stretches of the rivers are nice to float with a driftboat, then can motor up when done. It's actually a nice addition. You can pull the motor off when you want to do a standard river float. Then in the lower waters, you can use the kicker to push you around. A good multipurpose boat.

My Eastside Driftboat has the motormount in back. I'm in process of doing same thing to my driftboat. Mine will stay white though. But will change the inside from green/burnt orange to gray. Then some modifications to the inside.

Foersterhunter · May 11, 2004

Steelheader interested in hearing what inside mods your going to do

May 11, 2004

Well, I'll post two pics of my boat (this is when I brought it home before I cleaned it up) and then tell you what I plan to do with it.

First off, gonna resand down the whole inside so it'll take the same paint used above. I'll be using a sprayer. Nice having a compressor with a professional paint gun. I can use a variety of materials with it, so can spray outside and inside with it. Luckily, I'm just going to do some work to the bottom. That's it. Mostly just some Coat-it to it. Then, will sand and recoat the gunnels. They used a nice wood on the gunnels on the Eastsides (made in Duvall, WA). Luckily, the wood is worn but not rotted. Have had friends who have had to reapply new wood to fix it. Will simply clear coat it with a good sealant.

Ok, now the retrofits. Easiest one is the bottom picture. You can see the rear area with anchor mount and cutout for an outboard. The original owner (I'm actually the second owner of this boat) put a rear mount on it and never utilized. Have already taken the aluminum mount you see in picture off. Going to sand down the wood plate on front/back and refinish to new. Then you can see the rear deck. Will add a level mount (will have to make an angle piece of material to do so) and have a quick disconnect seat (have all the seats already for the boat). This way I can have a seat in if I'm running a front/rower/rear setup for fly fishing. I can take rear seat out if I'm running the motor in back. Have the new anchor system already. Will be a side release. Basically the rear mount would be out of the way of the kicker, but still would have an anchor in rear that is usable. But will also have a front mount as well. That way I can use it more effectively in the tidalflux of our bigger rivers. Also, under that rear compartment, I'm going to cut a hole in it for more storage. Most of the Eastsides I've seen have this cutout, but for some reason this one didnt'.

Now, I'm going to cut out the front bench. I'm going to retrofit it as a fishbox. Have a stepbrother who works aluminum, so going to have him build an aluminum fishbox that will drop right into that seating area and I can rivet it in. Then will have a lock down flip lid. On the lid, will be a slider bracket so I can arrange from 1-2 people up front. Will actually make a mount for under the rowers seat so I can put storage under there too. Luckily, someone changed out the wooden oar towers to block aluminum. That is a bonus. Will keep the rope seat. I don't like having any sort of a backrest rowing (think it's all the years of whitewatering, never used a normal seat for that). Will make a mount and storage up under the bow. Going to make a fitting for my heater (have the heaters that work off a bulk tank). May even plumb it for mid/rear heaters. Will put probably a set of 6 rod holders in the boat. This way I have rod holders for whichever direction I use the boat (will use like a normal when trolling for salmon in the fall).

If you look in the middle picture, you'll see the rowers bench area. Between the two pics, you'll see the rowers area is pretty open. I'm actually going to have my stepbrother make aluminum trays to bolt from rowers seat to passenger seat and form fit to the gunnel. That way I can mount my anchor release to it (I have a full pulley system with front release) and also put misc. tackle in it. May even add a small battery and a 12volt LED low light system. Have a friend who has his Willie setup for this. Is really nice for night fishing for Sturgeon and those early morning setups at the boat ramp. Will finish up with a herculiner floor in the driftboat. This way it's non slip. They have it in gray, so will match the inside of the boat.

One last thing. I noticed the above boat was done in the spray can truck liner. By chance, was it a dark blue can with black top? Only reason I ask, this stuff comes off REALLY fast. Doesn't adhere at all. I coated all the "in water" parts of my cataraft trailer with it. This was after a complete sanding to bare metal and then following all instructions to properly adhere. The slightest touch and it comes off. Drives me nuts. Also, I'd suggest when the time to redo the bottom, you should use gluvit or coat it (coat it is prefered since it has a graphite base). What this does is lets your boat slide over rocks MUCH easier. Glass boats are natural slippery. So they will go over rocks better then aluminum. But coat it REALLY helps. In fact, was on that trip with my friend in his WIllie. The put in was REALLY low. So low, we had to drag his big aluminum boat 80 feet. Which, with a loaded down DB, it's a pain. He used coat it and tossed in extra graphite in the mix. That boat moved over the gravel/rocks like it was on wheels. Was amazing.