Aluminum Tracker, oxidation, pitting, first boat, help

[morrow21]

Bought my first boat last year. 2000 Tracker, had a marine shop go over it, engine good. I asked them about the bubbling paint around the heads of some of the bolts in the transom, and they said thats a problem with aluminum boats, but shouldn't be a problem.
Fast forward to today, I find a hole about the size of a pencil. I have sanded, cleaned an jbwelded it. However, looking around, and especially underneath between the bunks I found significant pitting and am afraid of what is to come. What can I do? How much would it cost to have someone fix and would it be worth it? Can I tackle it myself? From what I've found so far, sand and clean then maybe marinetex followed by gluvit for the significant pitting and just gluvit for the oxidation after sanding then all followed by primer and paint. Is this the preferred method? Some other options?
Thanks in advance

 

[Bondo]

Re: Aluminum Tracker, oxidation, pitting, first boat, help

Ayuh,... My guess is, someone has run the ground path of an accessory through the hull, instead of a dedicated ground wire, setting up a galvanic corrosion issue....

I'd be more worried 'bout the Cause 1st, then deal with the effects...

 

[morrow21]

Re: Aluminum Tracker, oxidation, pitting, first boat, help

ok, I'll start looking at the wiring. Just looking for grounds attached to the boat rather than the battery? Am I on the right track as far as repairs?

 

[MichaelP]

Re: Aluminum Tracker, oxidation, pitting, first boat, help

I just went throuh the repair of my hull that had a bunch of pitting all over the botom and transom. My approach was to sand blast the entire underside, treat the bare aluminum with Prekote (alternative to Alodine) fill the largest areas with Marine Tex, self etch primer, 2 heavy coats of Petit 4700 high build epoxy primer then top coat with Petit Easypoxy. Most folks just use Rustoleum but since I went with the Petit primer I stuck with thier products all the way.

But that boat is way too young to get that kind of pitting just from salt water. As Bondo stated you have to find the root cause first. The hull is probably part of the electrical circuit which is a NO NO.

 

[live2pipe]

Re: Aluminum Tracker, oxidation, pitting, first boat, help

Any update on how you made out with this repair. I picked up a project boat last year (Tracker Pro Deep V17) with similar/heavy pitting and oxidation on the transom. Trying to figure out the best course of action for repair.

 

[JB]

Re: Aluminum Tracker, oxidation, pitting, first boat, help

Hi, L2P.

Welcome to iboats.

Please read and respect our rules about posting to dead threads and the BIG RED BANNER that told you not to post here. Please start your own thread.

Thanks for your cooperation.