# My turn- Banana River Skiff rebuild



## Finn Maccumhail (Apr 9, 2010)

So, for a while I've been jonesing for a project and after seeing this thread by @jboriol regarding his '79 Banana River Skiff refurbish. decided I wanted to restore a microskiff. Especially since my Panga needs 10" to pole in. I wanted a 5-6" boat.

Well, one came up for sale last August over in Sarasota. It was extremely rough and would be a total rebuild but it was what I wanted and the dude only wanted $700 for the hull & trailer- I've had a couple guys tell me they'd have paid $2000 for the stripped down hull alone, holes & all. Anyway, I happen to have a couple good friends nearby in Tampa and one friend's family business has a big warehouse and yard where he keeps his boats and he offered to handle the deal and store the thing until I could come get it and bring it home to work on. So, I sent my buddy the $$$ via PayPal and he handled the transaction for me, based solely on the photos.

There it sat waiting for me to come get it as a couple hurricanes and life got in the way until last weekend when I went over and got it and it's now in my garage.

And now it's where I've learned a couple items which make my project different than the one in the above link. First, the original skiffs were 15'10" overall, including the sponsons and 72" beam with a single keel on the flat bottom. Mine is 16'0" from the bow to the transom and the sponsons add another 20" so it's 17'8" overall with the same 72" beam. I still have the same V at the bow and same lines into the flat bottom but I actually have keel strip along with port & starboard strakes. Evidently, Banana River made these sized hulls custom for a company in FL to use for managing aquatic vegetation and mosquito control and then sold the molds to that company who made their own hulls for a while.

At any rate, here's what I'm starting with. I still need to do some more grinding and sanding and cleaning of the hull itself, both inside and out. Once I do that I'm going to lay down a layer or two of 6oz. glass to the interior and then flip it to patch the holes on the outside. Then I'll get the exterior sanded down. And then flip back over to determine if I want to go with a false floor or a liner.

I will not be using marine plywood. I'm going to use Core-cell for the decks and bulkheads and Penske board for the transom & rod-racks (which will provide gunnel support). I'll also probably put in some Penske in the bottom of the cockpit to secure the cooler rack(double as a seat) which will have a grab-bar. I'm still going to go with a tiller but the extra size & weight may mean I'm looking for a 50hp tiller vs. a 30-40hp I was planning on for the smaller size I thought I had.










Hole in the bow and bow-eye holes to be fixed:



















Holes where the herbicide/pesticide tank sat- the tank pumped in water to mix and spray it, this will obviously be patched.










Transom (still need to grind out some wood and sand down)



















Pay no attention to the Maine plates on the trailer. I don't think the thing has ever been registered. It's a POS and more suitable for a 20-foot bay boat than a skiff. I'm going to either sell or give it away when done and get a new trailer.










Damaged gunnel










Rear view of the whole thing


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## LWalker (Aug 20, 2013)

I'm in.


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## makin moves (Mar 20, 2010)

Score!


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## jmrodandgun (Sep 20, 2013)

None of this cool shit ever happens in my neck of the woods. All we have around here are lawn mower engines strapped to the back of bateaus. I've come across a few barn finds but they haven't been anything interesting.


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## Net 30 (Mar 24, 2012)

That poor girl is in need of some serious love...you are brave. 

Post lots of pics during the process.....


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## devrep (Feb 22, 2009)

I really enjoyed the last banana river redo thread. It came out like a new skiff. I see a lot of these, mostly shorter used by lake treatment companies like Lake Doctors.


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## Finn Maccumhail (Apr 9, 2010)

jmrodandgun said:


> None of this cool shit ever happens in my neck of the woods. All we have around here are lawn mower engines strapped to the back of bateaus. I've come across a few barn finds but they haven't been anything interesting.


I found this one trolling the classifieds on here. I live in Houston and found it in Sarasota. I just happen to have a some close friends there who were cool enough to do me a solid and handle the deal as my proxy and store it for almost 4 months until I got over there- I had to scrap 2 planned attempts to go get it because FL was getting hit by hurricanes.

I brought presents to my buddies and their wives for their favor- booze, Rtic tumblers, and boudin from Best Stop in Scott, LA.


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## Finn Maccumhail (Apr 9, 2010)

LWalker said:


> I'm in.


Oh, and I'll probably be hitting you up eventually for some sweet vinyl decals when I'm finishing this sucker.


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## bobber (Sep 29, 2015)

Boudin from Best Stop ! Your friends have been well rewarded.
Looking forward to following this build.


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## jboriol (Jan 2, 2010)

You have not lived until you filled a cooler full of good eats from Best Stop! 

Ready to see this go down! Good luck


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## permitchaser (Aug 26, 2013)

Finn Maccumhail said:


> I found this one trolling the classifieds on here. I live in Houston and found it in Sarasota. I just happen to have a some close friends there who were cool enough to do me a solid and handle the deal as my proxy and store it for almost 4 months until I got over there- I had to scrap 2 planned attempts to go get it because FL was getting hit by hurricanes.
> 
> I brought presents to my buddies and their wives for their favor- booze, Rtic tumblers, and boudin from Best Stop in Scott, LA.


You may have to explain Boudin to the Yankees


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## jboriol (Jan 2, 2010)

Finn Maccumhail said:


> Oh, and I'll probably be hitting you up eventually for some sweet vinyl decals when I'm finishing this sucker.


Luke did a nice job for me...might even have some artwork that might work for you


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## jboriol (Jan 2, 2010)

How's the skiff coming along?


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## Finn Maccumhail (Apr 9, 2010)

I'm still sanding & grinding. There was actually a lot more sanding that needed to be done. Plus, there was some pretty nasty mold growing in it and I wanted to kill that off and dry it out first.


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