aluminum boat leak and seats

[strykerChaos]

Hello I have a 14 foot aluminum boat that has a tiny hair line crack in the bottom that is about an inch long at most. what would be the best and least noticeable fix for this?

there is also holes in the metal seats that are from hinges. I would like to either cover the existing metal with another metal to hide the seats or remove and replace the existing metal with new. I essentially don't want it to look like the boat was damaged in the first place.

Thanks for what ever help you can provide.

 

[jigngrub]

Cracks, holes, and scratches are battle scars for tinnies... and they wear them proudly!

For your crack, drill a 1/8" diameter hole at each end to prevent it from getting bigger. Then you can skim over with a marine metal type epoxy like Loc-tite marine of JB Weld marine. This may or may not last for a while, but it'll be the least noticeable. An aluminum sheet metal patch buttered with the marine epoxy and then riveted on will be your best, longest last, and most durable fix... unless you want to take it and have it welded.

You can have aluminum caps fabbed up for your seat tops and rivet them on, or you can rivet some nice wood on top of the seats... there's lots of things you can do with tinnies to dress them up.

Post some pics of your boat and I'm sure some of the other folks here will give you some other ideas.

 

[Bwana Don]

How about brazing it. It will be as strong as ever. Mapp gas torch would probably work.

Or follow Jigs advice. Either way not a hard fix.

Don

 

[strykerChaos]

Thanks for the responses. If I was to purchase a couple sheets of aluminum and heat them up and bend them to form to the seats and then pop rivet them on do you think it would be noticeable? I ask because the boat was borrowed from my fiances father and some family of mine put the holes in the seat so I want the boat to look like nothing happened. as for the leak fix I will look into brazing and see what I think.

 

[jigngrub]

Trying to heat and bend aluminum will look bad, real bad... and it'll be noticed right away.

You need to go to a sheet metal shop and give them the measurements and let them bend the pieces up for you on a brake, then you can pop rivet them to the seats.

 

[jbcurt00]

I ask because the boat was borrowed from my fiances father and some family of mine put the holes in the seat so I want the boat to look like nothing happened. as for the leak fix I will look into brazing and see what I think.

Trying to heat and bend aluminum will look bad, real bad... and it'll be noticed right away. You need to go to a sheet metal shop and give them the measurements and let them bend the pieces up for you on a brake, then you can pop rivet them to the seats.

Brazing the cracked hull will likely be quickly noticed as well.

I'd come clean, this is not how you want to start a long (hopefully) relationship w/ your future Father in law. AND I'd probably thru whoever caused the damage under the bus, but if you borrowed the boat, own up to & take responsibility for the damage & see what he wants to do. Carp happens, in life, in & on boats too..........

BTW: That's the primary reason I'd rather err on the side of TOO CAUTIOUS when discussing boat repairs. Carp happens & when it does you don't want to be the 1st one standing directly downwind from the poop flinging fan

 

[strykerChaos]

the crack was already there I just wanted to fix it also so I am not really worried about it. Also I am not worried about telling him I just feel I should return the boat in the condition I recieved it in. I also thought about putting some kind of simple cover ove the seats them selfs but I haven't though of any good was

 

[strykerChaos]

The crack was already there I just wanted to fix it also so I am not really worried about it. Also I am not worried about telling him I just feel I should return the boat in the condition I received it in. I also thought about putting some kind of simple cover over the seats them self's but I haven't though of any good ways to accomplish this.

 

[strykerChaos]

Would I be able to put pot rivets in the hole in the seats and than sand them down and repaint the seats? The holes are about a 1/4 inch or so. I wish I had pictures but I am not with the boat.

 

[jigngrub]

How many holes are we talking about? 10? 20? If it isn't too many you could fill them with the marine epoxy and sand them down and paint. The seats probably have foam in them and you could stuff some paper down in the hole and leave the hole about a 1/4" deep so you wouldn't have to use a bunch of epoxy.

If you try sanding pop rivets flush the heads will come off and leave a loose stem in the hole.

 

[strykerChaos]

There are 12 holes total, 6 in each seat. There is foam in the seats but its rather deep. I tried to put JB weld in the holes with no luck because I didn't have any thing below the holes. I suppose I will try to place a flat piece of aluminum on tom of the seats and sand the edges smooth so they are not sharp. I am assuming I would just use epoxy to apply the metal on metal and a small roller to insure that the metal is flat and the epoxy is evenly applied.

 

[electric603]

What about using bond-o with glass fibers in it to fill the holes, feather it out sand it smooth and paint it.

 

[jigngrub]

Anything you do to the boat will be noticed, we boat owner know our boats intimately and any change in appearance will be noticed.

I suggest you take the boat back to the owner "as is" and explain what happened and apologize profusely. Then tell him you want to fix it and do the right thing and ask him how he would like to have it fixed, then fix it the way he wants and will be satisfied with.

Bent metal seat caps pop riveted on will look the best. A plywood seat cap with a radius edge sanded smooth and painted and installed with pop rivets would also look nice.

 

[jbcurt00]

Anything you do to the boat will be noticed, we boat owner know our boats intimately and any change in appearance will be noticed.

I suggest you take the boat back to the owner "as is" and explain what happened and apologize profusely. Then tell him you want to fix it and do the right thing and ask him how he would like to have it fixed, then fix it the way he wants and will be satisfied with.

Bent metal seat caps pop riveted on will look the best. A plywood seat cap with a radius edge sanded smooth and painted and installed with pop rivets would also look nice.

Yep, exactly my point earlier:

I'd come clean, this is not how you want to start a long (hopefully) relationship w/ your future Father in law. AND I'd probably thru whoever caused the damage under the bus, but if you borrowed the boat, own up to & take responsibility for the damage & see what he wants to do. Carp happens, in life, in & on boats too..........

BTW: That's the primary reason I'd rather err on the side of TOO CAUTIOUS when discussing boat repairs. Carp happens & when it does you don't want to be the 1st one standing directly downwind from the poop flinging fan

and yes Virginia, Poop Flinging Fan is a technical boating term...... Always stand clear of the PFF :watermelon: