Selecting a drift boat finish
Any boat must be protected from the environment. Ultraviolet rays from the sun, along with mold and corrosion from constant dampness will make their mark on your boat. Today there are many options to seal out the environment and make your boat require less maintenance and stay beautiful for years to come. Drift boats usually use one of two methods.
The modern method: Seal it all in.
You can paint every part of the boat, inside and out, with a clear or colored high quality polyurethane. The clear is beautiful to view but has a bit less UV protection than opaque polyurethane. Whether clear or colored, all surfaces of all parts are encapsulated with this water proof barrier to keep the wood dry and protected from the sun. I recommend semi-gloss polyurethane. It looks great on the water and scuff marks from rocks or your trailer are less obvious.
The traditional method: Paint the exterior of the boat and oil the interior.
The exterior is painted with clear or pigmented polyurethane up to the outside handrails the same as the method above. Then the outside handrail and the entire interior of the boat are finished with multiple coats of high quality marine oil. There are two reasons you might want to try this traditional approach. First, oil repels water while allowing the interior of the wood to dry. This can be important for the non-plywood pieces of the boat. Any water that enters this wood through a ding, or improperly sealed fastener is allowed to dry over time rather than be trapped under the waterproof polyurethane. Trapped water will cause corrosion around fasteners and possibly rot. Second, a ding, scuff, or other damage can be quickly spot-sanded and more oil applied. It is an easier and quicker job to match spot repairs in oil than it is in polyurethane. With a little extra work an oil finish can be buffed to a semi-gloss finish that looks like hand rubbed furniture.
