Old 17 foot aluminum leak repairs-pointers on how to proceed please

[BlacK_Blade]

I have a 17 foot old aluminum that has leaking issues. Upon inspection, I notice that along the bottom middle, someone in the past has laid on what looks like bondo or something similar and there has been several layers of paint over that over the years. The bondo has a crack all along it length and is also leaking at the edges of it as well.


Rainwater that got in, leaking around edge of bondo filler.


Showing the crack in the bondo filler stuff all along the length of it, leaking from probably all kinds of spots under it.

Questions (haven't tackled a boat repair before but willing to):

1. How to get this boat up off the trailer to be able to sand it all down. (May as well completely clean it up and repaint it all while I'm at it.)
2. Would using a wire wheel on my electric drill be ok to strip all the paint and filler off, or is there a better way? Or maybe sanding discs instead?
3. Once stripped, not really sure what I will find as far as holes or leaking rivets etc, so hard to say what best process is to perform repairs with, so maybe best to leave that discussion until I get a good look at the bare metal.

Any helpful thoughts and ideas are welcome guys, from the reading I have done on here, there is plenty of members that are quite knowledgeable, I look forward to hearing from you all. Thanks in advance!

 

[iggyw1]

The only thing I can help you with is this: After you get down to the aluminum and the rivets, you can do some repairs on the rivets without bondo or filler. I once had an aluminum boat that had leaking rivets. My buddy got underneath the boat on the trailer and held a short sledge hammer on the rivets underneath as I took a 5 lb sledge hammer from the inside of the boat and pounded hard on the rivet that my bud was "backing' with the heavier, short sledge. This sealed ALL of my leaks. Sorry I cannot be of any other help to you.

 

[64osby]

I have used a wire wheel to remove paint and filler. It can or will leave marks in the hull. If you are looking for a smooth hull look at paint stripper and sanding.

Once you get it cleaned up you will be able to better make a decision on how to proceed. Bucking rivets, replacing rivets and sealing it from the inside with Gluvit are in your future.

There are lots of tin heads here that will assist if you ask. Take a look down in the Starcraft section and you will find a world of info and great restorations for reference.

You don't state much about your boat and trailer and no pics showed up. If it's an outboard, pull the motor and any wind shield. Pull the boat off the trailer to the ground. Old tires can help. Tip it up or all the way over. Again look in the starcraft section for ideas.

 

[BlacK_Blade]

I have used a wire wheel to remove paint and filler. It can or will leave marks in the hull. If you are looking for a smooth hull look at paint stripper and sanding.

Once you get it cleaned up you will be able to better make a decision on how to proceed. Bucking rivets, replacing rivets and sealing it from the inside with Gluvit are in your future.

There are lots of tin heads here that will assist if you ask. Take a look down in the Starcraft section and you will find a world of info and great restorations for reference.

You don't state much about your boat and trailer and no pics showed up. If it's an outboard, pull the motor and any wind shield. Pull the boat off the trailer to the ground. Old tires can help. Tip it up or all the way over. Again look in the starcraft section for ideas.

Posting pictures on this forum sure is a frustrating experience! As far as I can tell, the pictures I posted are showing up in this thread, so I assumed all was good. I am a member of many various fourms on the web (fishing, woodworking, and a host of other interests I have) and I have to say this forum engine is the most user unfriendly one I've used so far, which is a shame for the information here is so valuable and interesting! I have my pics on my computer stored in a folder and I simply have a resize utility to customize the size to forum specs. I use that program Dropbox which automatically uploads/updates pics I take on my phone and syncs with my laptop.
I originally attempted to post pics in the above post by clicking on the image icon, which I thought from other forums, would automatically place the IMG tags around your link, but all it did was to place a slightly opaque white film over the entire screen, essentially freezing my screen, leaving me with only the option of clicking the back button on the browser. This of course caused me to lose my entire original post.
I was going to take a bunch more pics of the boat and trailer, to maybe get an ID of the boat as well, but until can get a reliable method of posting pics, I guess no point in doing that.

 

[redneck joe]

recent upgrade to the forum has some glitches.

I've always used photobucket and use the IMG code link

 

[BlacK_Blade]

So the "upload attachments" button in the top right is not a reliable method of posting pics then?

 

[Watermann]

Welcome to iboats Blade, yeah the forum under went a recent "upgrade" and has been flakey every since. We look forward to it working like it should but for now were sort of stuck. Most of us use photobucket here like shown above.

You know what make the boat is? A little more info on the hull and motor too since no pics. Stripper and a fine wire wheel are in your future. A long no fun part of the rebuild process.

 

[BlacK_Blade]

That's too bad about the update fiasco, since a picture saves a thousand words...lol. I don't know what make the old boat is, can't find any name plates or anything, for I wanted to know what it was rated for, for a possible outboard upgrade down the road. From the looks of the mods that a previous owner done to convert it to a side console style of fishing boat, it used to have a covered bow style with the old cable pulley style of steering. (the pulleys are still in the back corners). They did a pretty decent job of building a platform up front with a little locker to store a bit of stuff up there. The floor was left bare and sleeper seats were screwed down, so shouldn't be too much to pull up the floor to get at the inside of the hull. I already took the sleeper seat from the SB side out and installed a single driver swivel seat in, to free up space to move about in the rear. Will be replacing the other sleeper seat with maybe a bench type of seat along the side with storage under the seat (possible battery storage for a future 24 volt trolling motor).
This is all sitting on a home built trailer which has a round steel tongue which I need to find a person to weld some sort of plate onto, so that I can properly attach my tongue jack. At the moment somebody just used muffler clamps to secure the jack to the tongue and I have already had it slip around on the tongue. But trailer work is for another day...lol.

 

[BlacK_Blade]

Gonna try and post some more pics I took today of boat and trailer, I have removed the motor and the interior seats and floor up to the dash area. Got myself a wire wheel for my electric drill and started on a patch at the bow just to see how its going to strip off...boy its not gonna be a fast job thats for sure! I switched to a sanding disc on the drill, for was taking forever to get thru all the layers of paint with the wire wheel. I think I will just use the wire for cleaning up around rivet heads etc.

Not sure what make the old girl is, pretty sure its not styled like any Starcraft tho.







I started a small section, can tell its gonna take a while!
Somebody can maybe let me know if the pics are showing up now.

 

[BlacK_Blade]

My method to get boat up off the trailer. Home built stands, I will run a ratchet strap under the boat front and back and ratchet it up off the trailer. I have since installed a cross piece to brace the tops so they don't buckle inwards. It has worked good so far, boat is up and I'm ready to pull trailer out. Rain came along and halted work last night.
Planning on lowering boat onto some old tires and then turning it about 3/4 the way over, so can work on the boat easier. (will have it propped up by some 2x4s) More pics tonite when I get out home.

 

[BlacK_Blade]

My method to get boat up off the trailer. Home built stands, I will run a ratchet strap under the boat front and back and ratchet it up off the trailer. I have since installed a cross piece to brace the tops so they don't buckle inwards. It has worked good so far, boat is up and I'm ready to pull trailer out. Rain came along and halted work last night.
Planning on lowering boat onto some old tires and then turning it about 3/4 the way over, so can work on the boat easier. (will have it propped up by some 2x4s) More pics tonite when I get out home.

 

[BlacK_Blade]

It looks like there has been some kind of sealant brushed on the inside of the hull before, will this need to be stripped off as well to re apply a coat of sealant? I assume so, but it will be a job to get all that clean enough..yikes.

 

[jigngrub]

Good prep work and the removal of all old material will ensure your fix will be long lasting.

 

[jbcurt00]

Post a pix of what ur seeing @bondo stuff you mentioned initially & whatever sealant your seeing now. Brushed on sealant is on rivets & seams? Perhaps it wasn't properly prepped or applied so it didn't do what it was supposed, seal againnst leaks. If so maybe it won't be so tough to get off. Awful big maybe, though... Post some more pix & good luck. .