How much damage is "damaged"?

[daroli1971]

New to the forum, and to aluminum-hulled boats. Just bought a 2003 17 ft Lowe. Been looking for a while, knew what I wanted, this had it, so I jumped on it. Took it out for a ride, it rode great. Looked all around the boat, a couple things here and there, but nothing terrible. Looked at the underside of the boat and didn't see anything, maybe a couple dings but all in all it looked good. Got it to the house under a little more light and noticed a couple of brownish areas on the aluminum, looks like it is right around where the ribs run across the bottom. I'm assuming it is just because of age, but since I don't know, I thought that I would ask... Is this anything to worry about? I'm not expecting a 10 year old boat to be perfect, but I don't want to get stuck, either. Thanks for your help. Feeling a little panicked...

 

[jasoutside]

Re: How much damage is "damaged"?

Hey daroli, welcome to the site!

You'll find there are some great guys here with excellent experience on alum hull build stuff.

But, we gotta have some good photos of what you are looking at there. Can ya hook us up?

:welcome:

 

[daroli1971]

Re: How much damage is "damaged"?

will do... i will take them and post them tonight. thanks for the offer to help!

 

[daroli1971]

Re: How much damage is "damaged"?

Got some pics. As you can see, some of this runs across almost the bottom of the entire boat, right at the ribs. In the second picture, I am kept my finger in so you can see scale, not because I am the world's worst photographer...

 

[fishrdan]

Re: How much damage is "damaged"?

Looks to me like burned paint, are there welds on the inside of the hull that match up to the marks on the outsde?

 

[jigngrub]

Re: How much damage is "damaged"?

Is that an all welded hull? I don't see any rivets, and it looks like those marks are where ribs have been welded in and the paint scraped off.

 

[daroli1971]

Re: How much damage is "damaged"?

Here's another pic. The marks themselves are smooth. Very smooth... Literally like the aluminum has just been worn. I can't see the bottom of the inside because there is foam under the flooring.

 

[daroli1971]

Re: How much damage is "damaged"?

All welded hull, too. No rivets. In that picture above, you can see a little silver line right in the middle of the reddish area. That little silver piece is really smooth, like its been buffed smooth. Nothing is compromised in the surface of the aluminum. Is it possible that it is just from use/age?