This followed me home....

[Watermann]

Coming from the eastside where we have more days of clear skies than cloudy and a few million less people I would have to say I won't take my chances heading over to Seattle to go boating. :lol:

Lake Chelan looks to be pretty close to full already (my home town). :thumb:

 

[java230]

Coming from the eastside where we have more days of clear skies than cloudy and a few million less people I would have to say I won't take my chances heading over to Seattle to go boating. :lol:

Lake Chelan looks to be pretty close to full already (my home town). :thumb:

Chelan was still way low! ~5-6' more water needed to get to normal.

This pipe is normally 1/3 covered. All the rocks seen I can take by boat over no problem.

 

[Watermann]

That is almost full for Lake Chelan just being 4.5' lower than summer time levels. Check out the water level sometime during winter it's almost 20' low! Give it a few more weeks and it will be at max around the middle of June.

One of our trips last year to Chelan in September for the hydro races in Manson. We cruised up lake a ways while waiting for the races to start.

 

[Gold Eagle Co]

A bit of advice for all your new goodies. Pop for some Aerospace 303 protectant for the vinyl seats and the Aerospace fabric guard for your new bimini. You won't be sorry, it's great stuff.

Hey everyone,

Just to make everyone aware we are the manufacturers of 303? Products and recently partnered with iBoats. Watermann is exactly correct regarding which of our products to use per the material. There are several other surfaces you can use those products on, as well. If anyone ever has any questions regarding our products, please do not hesitate to reach out.

Have a great weekend!

 

[java230]

Been using it a ton! Getting out 3-4 times a week.

Then.....
A leak started.... Its bottom painted, so out came the grinder and wire wheel. I found the drippy spot in the garage and went to town. getting through the paint, and BONDO?! WTF.

So long story short, there is a definite repair, a shitty weld, its cracked right through the weld. Cant get to it on the inside it looks like.... AND the bottom is pitted a fair bit and someone bondo'ed it. I guess I learned my lesson on buying bottom painted CL boats.... FUN.

Oh and it appears someone used shitty ass foam, because it was wet too.... I dug out what I could without pulling the console. Thats a project for another day....

See el shitty weld a crack? oh an the lovely pitting.

Dirty bilge.... Foam removed from the outsides of the stringers. Nothing in the middle.

 

[GA_Boater]

:facepalm: Rats!

That's a lot of pitting. Find any more, java?

 

[java230]

:facepalm: Rats!

That's a lot of pitting. Find any more, java?

I stopped looking.... But it turns out the cracked weld is on an added on plate to the bow section. There appear to be a couple of 1/8" drilled holes way up under the bow, I'm guessing this is where the water was coming in from the Crack. I'm thinking I'll fill it with water tomorrow.

But I did take it to my tig welder friend. We chased the Crack with a grinder and welded it all up.

 

[Watermann]

Man what a bummer finding something like that the PO didn't disclose while I'm sure wanting top dollar for the boat (like everyone does in our State). People can be pretty unscrupulous nowadays. Hope it doesn't keep you off the water for long getting it all fixed up. I would be tempted to drop the guy a line and let him know you found the hole he had covered up.

 

[java230]

Man what a bummer finding something like that the PO didn't disclose while I'm sure wanting top dollar for the boat (like everyone does in our State). People can be pretty unscrupulous nowadays. Hope it doesn't keep you off the water for long getting it all fixed up. I would be tempted to drop the guy a line and let him know you found the hole he had covered up.

Yeah I was seriously pissed... There was 4200 on it with some fresh bottom paint over the top...

But I don't think it will do any good. I have thought about it for a couple days and maybe he just didn't know.

But I did have a friend of mine tig up the cracked weld this afternoon. I am carving out wet foam, I will re foam with xps shortly, and re install the floor.

I am thinking of filling it with water to check leaks but not sure. I scrubbed and hosed out the nasty front bilge today.

 

[java230]

A few pics, you can see the plate line now that I know whats going on.

and matching on the other side.

Upside down tig welding!

Bad pic, but a nice tig bead along the middle of the old weld. We decided it was better to leave the old weld in place and not grind it off. simply ground out the crack and welded it up.

More foam to carve out.

NOW the big questions, should I 5200 the little drilled holes in the original hull where the new plate was? I dont want to trap any water in there and cause issues. But Id like to fill them.

Second, we didn't weld the pitting, as it was impossible to get clean enough without sand blasting. Leave them as is? Fill with JB weld/5200 other? I dont think I will be blasting and spending countless hours trying to weld them all up....

 

[Watermann]

On the holes it's best to fill them, I would just use some closed end blind rivets and 5200. For the pitting I can't tell how deep they are or what the thickness of the bottom AL is. Personally I would wheel them clean, use some cleaning vinegar and a pick to get in if they're very deep and then skin them with marine tex or JB weld. Sand the repair smooth prime with SE primer, regular primer and then paint. I've only used marine tex on bow/keel areas and I can tell you that it is tougher than the AL it's on but you'll want to avoid and impacts that would dent the AL around the repair. Rubbing or scraping is no problem it will hold up well. With that sort of repair the area that's effected will be protected the best you could hope for under the circumstances.

 

[classiccat]

The hull appears to have been smacked pretty good...on both sides? was he out breaking ice in it?

I had encountered alot of corrosion issues in my SS

A tool that I found useful for removing that embedded aluminum oxide is a dremel armed with this pointed-bit (tungsten carbide?). It doesn't have any flutes on the tip therefore it doesn't dig-in however it cuts easily laterally through the cheese.



Once the mechanical removal was complete, you'll want to chemically treat it. A lot of different techniques are used here. I hit it with a 2-part West Systems aluminum prep system; Part-A is a Phosphoric-acid based cleaner & Part-B is a surface conversion/passivation (Chromic Acid)...i believe this is very similar to Alodine.

Marine tex or JB makes a good spackle once everything is cleaned-up.

 

[g0nef1sshn]

Im on my phone so pics arent huge for me, is that pitting under the bottom paint? Maybe thats not the aluminum friendly bottom paint and has the copper or whatever in it? Just a thought here.

 

[java230]

Thanks for the input. I may wire wheel the other side to see how it is. The aluminum plate that was added appears to be 1/8 to 3/16 maybe. The pits are pretty deep but don't appear to go through (some are approaching 3/32 probably)

Yes pitting is under the bottom pain, and bondo, and there is another layer there, I don't know if maybe it was added after the pitting began, its hard to tell grinding it off. It was very tough though, so the other possibility is that tis an epoxy barrier paint under the bondo.

Ill have to price marine tex vs JB

The hull appears to have been smacked pretty good...on both sides? was he out breaking ice in it?

I have no idea. But yeah it hit something VERY hard a couple times... I think thats why its plated under the front, one of the stringers had a crack in it right up front there too...

 

[java230]

Foam or no foam.. There isn't much volume. I would do ridgid insulation sheets cut to fit. Removed 24 lbs so far... Two household trash bags.

 

[Watermann]

Man what a chore :blue:

I would certainly think about using rigid, to repour foam you would have to make a faux piece of deck to cover the area with a hole in it to pour the foam through.

 

[java230]

Man what a chore :blue:

I would certainly think about using rigid, to repour foam you would have to make a faux piece of deck to cover the area with a hole in it to pour the foam through.

Yeah... Not what I was going for buying a 20 year newer boat.


Not wild about the pour in, no drainage, holds moisture against inside one hull...

How about no foam? The oem foam in in the bow. But I don't know how much the stuff along the outside edges will ads flotation wise.

 

[g0nef1sshn]

looking at that pitting on the computer now, id wonder a few things i have learned/read since owning this old aluminum boat.

1. wrong anti fowling paint used
2. extensive saltwater use
3. bad grounding (electrical) causing expedited galvanic corrosion?

I could be wrong. those are just my thoughts.....

I still think thats a sweet boat too. :thumb:

 

[java230]

looking at that pitting on the computer now, id wonder a few things i have learned/read since owning this old aluminum boat.

1. wrong anti fowling paint used
2. extensive saltwater use
3. bad grounding (electrical) causing expedited galvanic corrosion?

I could be wrong. those are just my thoughts.....

I still think thats a sweet boat too. :thumb:

Yeah maybe all 3,who knows. The guy I bought it from lived in a state with no salt water, but who knows before then. It's been very well used... I am going to patch it up and run it for another decade hopefully!

I may add a second bilge pump...

 

[Watermann]

I just wish that others who do these sort of shoddy repairs could see what damage they caused down the road.

I have faith that you'll get things done right and another decade will be no problem.:thumb:

I wouldn't worry about there being anything catastrophic happening, if there's going to be a problem, most likely you'll know as leaking will start off small and become more each time out.

Send me a PM the next time you go to Chelan, maybe can meet up. :happy: