I have been wanting to build a wood boat build for 30+ years. Finally took a step toward that goal by purchasing a 16ft wood skiff / bateau that I’ll be refurbishing and hopefully, upgrading instead of butchering. A good chunk of the materials are on order and I will jump into the actual work as soon as the big portable awning I purchased is delivered; here in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, I’ve been playing around with the layout & would greatly appreciate any & all feedback you good folk would care to offer.
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Awesome!!
Looking forward to your progress!
Supplies are steadily rolling in. Have the paint stripper, fiberglass and epoxy in hand; along with most of the sandpaper, scuff pads and masking tape & plastic sheeting and brushes / rollers for painting. Still waiting for the 10x20’ canopy, delivery ETA is 9/9. Once I have that set up work can begin shortly thereafter. I’ve tried to order Diolen material twice now, to beef up the bottom’s resistance to scrapes / gouges, but both times the vendor delayed the order by several weeks after I submitted it so I’ve given up on that idea. Instead, I ordered a “super slick” epoxy kit to coat the bottom and lower sides of the skiff.
Also picked up a trailer over labor day weekend. It will need some refurbishing and reconfiguring, as it was made for a bass boat. But… that gives me something productive to do while waiting another 6~7 days for the canopy.
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As always, a lil too late seeing as you’ve already ordered it. But an alternative to the super slick is a simple Epoxy/Graphite/Alum mixture. I went a little overboard as I like black, but my entire skiff hull and trailer was done with Epoxy/Graphite. Both have held up reasonably well.
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Got an update on the canopy, it’s been shipped but delivery won’t be until 9/12… sigh. Started tearing down the trailer last night, with some help from my son. Got the side bunks pulled off & soaked the bolts for the lower bunks with penetrating fluid. Plan to have those pulled off tonight and will work on getting the fenders removed this weekend.
On a side note, Lowe’s plywood is crap! Had 4 sheets delivered yesterday, for another project, and they are so full of cracks, delamination, edge damage and missing chunks of inner layer that they’re worthless!
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Lowe’s has gotten terrible. I had them deliver, against my better judgement, supplies to build a shed. Every single piece of the 4x8 hardy board was damaged from the straps, what was supposed to be a ledger board looked like a pretzel. The 2x10 for headers were both split/checked at the ends. Just absolutely ridiculous.
I did use a b/c 3/8 exterior ply from Homedepot on my last build, it was ok (ish) not great but it worked. Definitely not as nice as marine grade. But it was also 1/3 of the price.
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Didn’t get as much done as I was hoping to this weekend.
Saturday I discovered that the fenders are not only bolted on, but also secured to the frame by roughly a dozen rivets along each side. Couldn’t find the right sized drill bit, so they are still in place. Did manage to pull the old, lichen ridden carpet off of the fender steps and found 4 additional, very rusty bolts hidden under it. Also got all of the misc brackets & other such whatnot removed.
Sunday was a rain out. Thankfully, the weather was really nice today so after work I got a start on sealing the wood for the new bunks with epoxy.
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@CaptainInsane-O Just curios as I’m always trying to learn more. Is there a reason you’re using plane lumber and epoxy coating it? In the past I’ve replaced bunks with pressure treated lumber but just because that’s what was there before, I think. Also that winch install on your Frontier is clean as heck nice job!
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Actually, I used pressure treated lumber & borrowed / stole the epoxy idea from the jon boat community. The chemicals commonly used to pressure treat wood are corrosive, especially to aluminum. The crowd on jon boat forums and video channels often promotes using “plain” lumber and sealing it with resin to improve rot resistance. I won’t have the aluminum hull corrosion issue, so I went ahead and used pressure treated wood. Partly because I already had several pieces on hand and partly because I’m curious if the epoxy + pressure treated wood will last even longer than the jon boat guys say resin sealed regular wood does.
Thanks, I’m happy with it. It performs really well and only adds ~40 lbs of weight vs the 120+ a full bumper would have.
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I was wondering why the epoxy was used myself.
Getting some more work in on the the trailer today. Pulled one of the wheels off to give the hub and bearing a once over. It has a bearing buddy installed so I pulled the c-clip and took the front cap off. Guts are full of what looks & smells like moly grease, with no sign of gross wear or contamination. I re-installed the cap, pushed some more grease through the zerk, then wiped off the excess and installed a new cover.
While I had the wheel off, I went ahead and got a start on rust removal and paint prep. Started with a wire wheel and brush on the frame and then used a few scuff pads on the underside of the fender. Sprayed everything down with brake cleaner; which unfortunately, softened the fiberglass’s gel coat in a couple of spots. 
. Thankfully, it hardened back up after a while. After another wipe down, with alcohol this time, I sprayed the scuffed and cleaned surfaces with a couple of coats of etching primer.
At some point in it’s life, the backside of the tire was rubbing on the fender; long enough to wear through the gel coat and expose the glass chop. I don’t have any polyester resin on hand,so I’ll have to get some and reseal that area before I start laying down any top coat paint.
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Good as used! 
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Capt: If the tire is rubbing on the fender backing, you can buy 1/4" wheel spacers for cheap online. I had one tire doing that and a wheel spacer stopped that problem for me. TexasJim
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Thanks! Fortunately, there are no signs that the current tires have been rubbing.
In other news… The canopy finally got delivered. Hoping to have an opportunity to hit the FIL’s shop this week to get it set up and move the boat underneath.
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Those springs and hubs look great. 
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Nice upgrade on the trailer. Should get plenty of life out of it.
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Received a nasty-gram from the HOA last week, saying the trailer needs to be removed by 10/12, or they will start levying fines.
Sooo, I spent most of the weekend’s daylight hours trying to finish up rust remediation, removal of the old paint and laying down a couple of coats of etching primer. Got everything done but the front tongue / hitch coupler and a small section at the back of the trailer, which sits behind a roller that is being stubborn about coming off. Forgot to take any pictures yesterday, but here is one from Saturday… this is my not so mini-me helping scrub rust off of the fender supports ahead of treatment with POR-15.
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