Need help fixing holes in aluminum jon boat

[am2018]

Hey guys, I have an old aluminum jon boat 1971. There are a couple tears in it that need to be fixed and I cant afford to get it done by a welder, if I could even find a welder who deals with aluminum. Does anyone have any inexpsive methods to fix these tears? the first tear is 5 inches long and is shown in 3 of the pictures at different views, it had a patch job on it but was not working so we took it off. The second tear is the 2 inch long tear. I figured the 2 inch tear might be fixable with some jb weld?? I have no idea how I'm going to fix the 5 inch rip yet.. Thanks so much for the help.

 

[ricohman]

Re: Need help fixing holes in aluminum jon boat

I've welded plenty of aluminum and I can tell you that thin gauge material that has gaps as pictured is extremely difficult to weld.
I would be tempted to drill and debur at every end of the cracks and rivet a patch on then seal as needed.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Need help fixing holes in aluminum jon boat

Clean the aluminum throughly. Mix up some Marine Tex and smear it across the holes and a bit around each hole. Now lay a piece of fiberglass cloth over the Matine-tex and work it into the material. Cover the cloth with some additional marine-tex and smooth it out. That repair will hold up to some flexing and should be strong enough.

 

[lukeb83]

Re: Need help fixing holes in aluminum jon boat

jb weld will not work due to the flex of the boat. it will fail the first time you taker out (i know because i tried!). i have had to do this repair myself actually. the local weld shop flat out told me the material was too old and thin to weld onto. i used 3m marine adhesive/sealant and fiberglass cloth. i did it 2 seasons ago and she still holds water (knock on wood). its a cheap repair (around 20$) and should work for at least a few seasons for you. good luck!





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[5150abf]

Re: Need help fixing holes in aluminum jon boat

Man, that is going to be a job, I have welded a bunch of jons over the years but that on is tore up, be really careful how you clean it, if you use sand paper use a small grit, the metal is already really thin and if you take off half of it cleaning it it makes it that much harder to weld.

on the bigger cracks use a steel backer plate and super low heat 50-60 a the most and you are going to have to weld a plate over the repair or it will just fail again, you have to spread the stress over a large area.

I have welded aluminum for 24 and am really really good at it and I don't think I would do this one, Chris and Luke have the best solution for this one because I don't think you can get it welded witout making it worse.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Need help fixing holes in aluminum jon boat

Go to your local municipal garage and ask for a damaged street sigh. The signs are normally very heavy gauge aluminum and hardened.

Those holes are going to require substantial patches (large) to spread the load.

The patches can be riveted in with a layer of 3m 5200 between the hull and the repair piece.

Forget the fiberglass cloth since it will not work (or last) on aluminum.

It could be welded however, be warned that metal is thin and it will require a skilled person with a spool gun. I would be welding patches on inside and outside. The damage you have requires repair from both sides.

IF you need to fill a large gap after the patches have been attached you can use PC 11 (available at a hardware store and for marine use). Do not hesitate to fill that simple drain channel since the goal is to become water tight.

The "icing" on your project should be a coating of Gluvit and your boat will be fine and dry!

 

[ricohman]

Re: Need help fixing holes in aluminum jon boat

If you patch, you will need to drill and debur at the ends of the cracks. If you don't they will slowly continue past the patch.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Need help fixing holes in aluminum jon boat

Since these tears pass through a strake, I doubt any fiberglass patch is going to hold up very well. The only proper way to do this is to take the boat as far as you need to and have it welded. Yes - it costs money. But you can either do this two or three times and in the process put yourself in danger since those are large tears and will let in a lot of water in a hurry, or you can do it once, correctly and not have to worry about any more.