mark_gober
Petty Officer 3rd Class
- Joined
- Jan 12, 2009
- Messages
- 76
Hey guys, I've got a question about my boat. My brother and I recently restored my grandfather's 14' Lonestar aluminum fishing boat. It turned out really great and we've had several good days on the water in her. When we got it, there was a very small hole in the strip of aluminum that runs down the keel from where it had probably been repeatedly beached or even maybe from just riding on the trailer for 40+ years. Either way, it didn't affect the water tight integrity of the boat, it was just on the small strip of alumininum that runs the length of the keel.
I had pondered covering the hole with some epoxy before we painted it, if for no other reason than to reduce the drag in the water. Well, I didn't. After our last trip out we pulled the boat out of the water and when we pulled up the boat ramp, we noticed that that strip of metal had torn back from the hole. Now it looks like a little bit of a flap and is about 3 inches in length. So now I'm wondering how to tackle this problem. The water tight integrity of the boat has not been breached, but I'm concerned about this flap of aluminum affecting the stability of the boat at higher speed. My brother (co restorer) thinks that we should take it down to have the flap aluminum welded back up. I'm questioning the cost of this venture, not to mention the pain of having to sand and then repaint the area. I can't imagine it is going to be cheap. I was pondering using a light hammer to coerce the piece back into place and then using some epoxy to cover the flap, and fill the original hole to prevent another blowout.
Does anyone have any suggestions either way on this problem? I look forward to hearing your suggestions.
Mark
I had pondered covering the hole with some epoxy before we painted it, if for no other reason than to reduce the drag in the water. Well, I didn't. After our last trip out we pulled the boat out of the water and when we pulled up the boat ramp, we noticed that that strip of metal had torn back from the hole. Now it looks like a little bit of a flap and is about 3 inches in length. So now I'm wondering how to tackle this problem. The water tight integrity of the boat has not been breached, but I'm concerned about this flap of aluminum affecting the stability of the boat at higher speed. My brother (co restorer) thinks that we should take it down to have the flap aluminum welded back up. I'm questioning the cost of this venture, not to mention the pain of having to sand and then repaint the area. I can't imagine it is going to be cheap. I was pondering using a light hammer to coerce the piece back into place and then using some epoxy to cover the flap, and fill the original hole to prevent another blowout.
Does anyone have any suggestions either way on this problem? I look forward to hearing your suggestions.
Mark
