aluminum sealer

[hadaveha]

I have a guy that lives a street over from me stop by the house yesterday, he knew I allways messed with boats and he had something he wanted to ask me about, well he had a Id say 1990's aluminum bass boat I didn't notice what brand maybe a bass tracker, anyway he bought it from a uncle who lived in florida, and the boat has spent some time in salt water, well to make a long store short he has some pin holes below the water line and inside the splashwell where water pooled quite a few pin holes. I told him ive never really delt with that but I would try to see what to do. I'm guessing sand the paint off the transom and the live well just see how bad it is and the cover with some kind of epoxy. any better ideas
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[gm280]

I have never dealt with such things either. But not knowing where the pin holes are, what about "Flex-seal"? Just a suggestion. I am certain there are lots of things that could seal it up. Just need to see where it is. JMHO

 

[Woodonglass]

Yes I'd recommend Gluvit or Coat-It. If the metal is really thin I'd also recommend placing a riveted aluminum patch over it as well

 

[Scott Danforth]

the problem is that if there are 100 pin holes today, there will be an additional 100 pin holes tomorrow. the material has corroded away.

the corrosion is a combination of chemical, electrical and mechanical. the salt caused both a chemical and electrical corrosion which compromised the mechanical integrity of the material.

if the material can be salvaged, you will need to make it clean of corrosion (both physically and chemically) before trying to seal it.

 

[hadaveha]

so if he sands it to bare aluminum, should he wash it with some chemical before he used coat-it on it

 

[Scott Danforth]

I would recommend blasting vs sanding, a neutralizing agent to neutralize the oxidation, a second round of blasting to remove the chemicals, then go from there with a good self etching zinc dichromate primer

 

[jbcurt00]

Boat hulls w numerous areas of corrosion and pin holes that are visible, often have significant damage that isnt easily visible.

Large areas w thru holes or numerous pin holes, in an already thin aluminum hull, often require large patch panels to re-create the structural integrity of the hull in an area riddled w holes.

W out pix, no way to know if you could even skim coat the holes w JB weld or MarineTex and have it hold up.

But fairly sure just painting it w GluvIt or Coat-it isnt likely to solve the problems.....

 

[hadaveha]

I tried pix but it's not my boat when he sands it some I think the pix may show up but the pics I took u couldn't really see anything.