Old aluminum boat questions?..

[Jesse00721]

Hello, I have a bunch of question regarding older aluminum boat hull. Basically I just got a project boat to fix up and need some advice to steer me in the right direction. First the boat is an older 71 mirro craft 18ft aluminum center console. Boat has many leaks so they will be my first order of business. I did put some water in the hull and found 15 leaks. Apparently the last owners had drilled the rivets out on 2 of the stringers on the outside of the boat and put in stainless machine screws in its place with some sort of epoxy around the, most of those leak!

Question 1: I will have to remove all the screws but was wondering if SS machine screws are ok to reuse in this application? I thought I read a problem with SS and aluminum causing corrosion over time if they touched one another?

Question 2: I seen cabela?s sell an aluminum patch kit product that had good reviews, I was considering using this along the seams of the 3 bottom stringers of the boat but was wondering if anyone tried this product? I think I might run into problems if it used on the machine screws.

Question 3: What would be the recommended chemicals or methods on stripping all the old paint off the boat?

Now, after that problem is fixed. I would like to repaint the boat with nice emron style paint.

Question 4: Aluminum boat use a special primer first right? And after the primer will the emron paint adhere to it ok? Think there will be chipping with flex of the aluminum?
Also, there is another product called gluvit that seems like a good product to try I was just wondering if anyone used it or if it can be painted over with the emron paint?

So lets say that all the leaks are fixed, boat primed and painted on the outside, this leads me to some more questions and in need of suggestions on the inside. I removed floor boards that someone made after cutting out the floor. The factory floor is fiberglass right on top a bun of foam. The floor is spongy in areas and I need suggestions on how to repair this. Not sure how to go about it considering there is no framing there, only foam? Did not know if I could gel coat new wood and place it over the fiberglass and glue it down or something? Ultimately I want a fiberglass/wood floor that I can add some webbing solution to for a finished look on the inside.

Question 5: Floor repair suggestions???????????

Well, that would give me a pretty good start on the project so if you can help please feel free to offer any input, will be checking back daily for your responses.

Thank you for taking the time to read this,
Jessie00721

 

[floatingwoody2006]

Re: Old aluminum boat questions?..

why not just use rivets to re-seal? They are time tested and work. you can use a product called gluvit to seal any small leaks, and it works very good. I re-sealed a leaky tub 2 years ago with it and dont have any leaks at all.. The stuff is amazing. I don't have any idea if it takes paint well, but i would assume with the right prep it would. Good luck. Here come the experts...

 

[Jesse00721]

Re: Old aluminum boat questions?..

I would consider using rivets again but my only concern is that they would have to be huge, lol. The machine screws that was used are pan heads and are alot thicker then a standard rivet. So whoever repaired it before most likely ended any use of rivets in those holes. Unless the screws can be sealed and rivets placed next to them but that is 2x the amount of holes then.

Thank you for your reply

 

[beerfilter]

Re: Old aluminum boat questions?..

How big are those machine screws ?
Most rivets are 3/16" round head solids , common practice is to drill them out with a 1/4" bit and replace with 1/4" machine screws , as has been done on your hull .
Stainless is fine , especially in fresh water .
Still only minor galvanic potential in the salt .

FYI , if you want to go back to rivets , they are available in a wide variety of sizes and lengths .
Get a rivet set for a pnuematic hammer gun and a thick piece of steel , and , you are in business.

Gluvit is an excellent product , search around .
Lots of topics about it .
Can't help with the paint , I prefer the metal , mostly because I hate sanding and painting , lol .

Pics will help immensly and be much appreciated .

Sounds like that foam is water logged , probably needs to come out .
It wont rot the aluminum hull , but it's flotation is probably very questionable .
You can redo the floor many different ways , wood and glass , or , aluminum are the most popular .
For a lot of ideas , try this site : tinboats(dot)net (not posting a live link , as it could be construed as a competing forum...).
They have a lot of great build projects to look through , although they are mainly geared toward smaller open jon and v hull craft , mostly "bass boat" type mods .

Good luck and stick around , theres a lot of knowledge here , and , some excellent folks .
Welcome aboard .

 

[Willyclay]

Re: Old aluminum boat questions?..

How's the transom? When I started my project to replace the rotten transom in a 16.5ft riveted aluminum 1965 Lonestar Medallion II, I discovered that the floatation foam was bonded to the plywood floor which was covered with fiberglass. That was the structure for my boat as there were NO stringers or ribs! My foam was dry but the aluminum transom skin was badly corroded. I gave up on mine and bought another boat. Good luck with your project.

 

[fisher1952]

Re: Old aluminum boat questions?..

I have a 1994 Lowe Bass Striker. Water in the lower bottom will not pass to the back of the boat and can not find where the drains are located. Apparently something is stopped up somewhere. What should I do?

 

[Jesse00721]

Re: Old aluminum boat questions?..

Thanks for all the replies, I wiil have to check the screw sizes tomorrow, for now here is a few pics......

PIcs not working, will check tomorrow

 

[HONKER1]

Re: Old aluminum boat questions?..

After I saw what salt does to aluminum and plugging holes I would recommend that you replace the SS screws with aluminum rivets. Two places to look for rivets, besides a good hardware store, is WWW.BYLERRIVET.COM and WWW.RIVETSINSTOCK.COM. Both can answer any questions you may have, but their min. shipping amount is probably more then you will need.

 

[Jesse00721]

Re: Old aluminum boat questions?..

Ok, here are a few pics. I will check out the sites that were posted to help with the leak problems. Just wondering if all the foam was removed the best option for installing the new floor considering there are no ribs to start building on? Unless aluminum ribs was installed and riveted through the boat...

 

[JDowie]

Re: Old aluminum boat questions?..

I just finnished using Gluvit to seal the wood on my new deck. The stuff works great but is very expensive. Mix it in small batches, and don't plan on re-using any paint brushes. I painted it with Tuff Coat from Bass Pro. I used the primer before I painted it and it worked great. It seems like the Gluvit will accept most primers. I sanded it before I primed it. I e-mailed the people on the tuff coat website about the Gluvit before I used it and they were very helpfull. Gluvit is the best. That's why it's 40 bucks a quart.

 

[5150abf]

Re: Old aluminum boat questions?..

I would just scuff the paint with a light sand paper(600 grit), the original paint still looks pretty good and if it has stuck to the boat for this long I doubt it is going anywhere, there is no need to strip it unless you really need a 100 hour project.

I would test the imron to make sure it doesn't react with what is on the boat first though.