Christine's Makeover Part 3: A New Begginning

Christine is reborn!

It was a ton of work and it took a bit longer than anticipated but the great boat makeover is over!! She had her second "maiden" voyage on the Big Hole River yesterday.  I was too excited about it to actually take good pictures but you can expect more to come.

Click here for the before pictures. 

Inside back after interior paint with doors and seat benches removed

The back deck got a non-slip additive in the final coat of paint to make it a great casting platform and the dog doesn't slip all over the place anymore. The entire floor surface also non-slip.  All wood surfaces received at least 3 coats of marine spar varnish and are glowing again.  They look even sexier than ever with some patina.

Inside front after interior paint with doors and seat benches removed

Shiny, stinky, and beautiful!  We accidently picked a different color for the inside this time.  It has a light blue tint which I love.  It looks a lot cleaner and more boaty than the old color.

Finished boat, ready to fish!

Here is a crappy picture I took while we were loading up to float in the morning.  You can see the floor system, the doors are back on, and the new rower's seat is installed.

The boat looks better than when it was brand new.  This is the first major overhaul since I first built it 8 years ago.  I beat the absolute crap out of this boat and now she's ready for a bunch more.  Some of the work I had to do this time, I should have done when I built it. So, it was a much larger project than it would have been otherwise.  While wooden boats do require some love every couple of years, it's absolutely worth it.  Even if you didn't build your boat, you'll still get a great feeling when you see how gorgeous your boat looks on the water after some winter love.

There will certainly be better pictures of this posted soon...

How to Build a Wooden Drift Boat

This is not really a how-to but it does provide some insight into the process.  I built my infamous red boat 5 years ago.  It took over two months with some daily work and was one of my greatest life accomplishments so far.  Enjoy.

My boat was built upside-down on this frame

A scarf joint makes lumber long enough for boats

Best and most beautiful dog that ever lived on planet earth!!

Putting the skin on

Lots of fiberglass and epoxy

Front compartment

Building the rear compartment/platform

Rear compartment

Finished shell

Outer paint, chines, and gunwhales

The inside with the old blue seat

My ex-rower

I cannot describe what it has been like to have built this boat and then have so many great times with it.  Her name is Christine.  She is named after my Grandmother.  The boat was designed by Ken Hankinson and I bought the plans from Glen-L Marine.  This boat is the 14' drifter model.  They have a few drift boat plans and a seemingly endless supply of boat plans in general.

http://www.glen-l.com/

If anyone has any boat building question, email me or write it in the comments