Re: 23' Lonestar Cabin Cruiser. Converting to an outboard.
Hey 63cruiser. Good to see you here. I would like to offer up a suggestion on your problem with the 20 or so holes. This is a bit more extensive of a repar, but I was reading through your thread and I would like to offer an idea that comes to mind. I think this is what I would do if I were in your shoes.
The first couple of patches would be kind of like gearing up, but then I believe you could kind of assembly line type work the rest of them. Especially if most of your holes are the same size. I will try and explain my idea for you and give you a list of a few things you'll need.
1. A drill and a few 3/16 drill bits.
2. Dremel tool with some small diameter router bits.
3. Grease pen or thin sharpie.
4. Pop riveter and some 3/16 diameter rivets. Use rivets at least 1/4 inch or so longer than the combined thickness of your patching material and hull.
5. 2 or 3 square feet of patching tin or aluminum. Preferably aluminum.
6. Waterproof flexible epoxy or sealer of some kind( maybe ask jbcurt00 about what type of sealer to use. Im not sure exactly on that subject, sorry.)
7. Some sand paper of a medium grit.
Ok, here's how I would do it.
1. For a 1/4 in. diameter hole; with the dremel and router bit, cut a 1 inch semi-square hole around it and and keep the cut-out as intact as possible. Make sure it is not a hard cornered cut out. Hard corners will allways stress tear while under flexing torsion movement. That's why aircraft have rounded windows etc...
2. Trace the cut-out onto a small section of the patching material.
3. Use the dremel and cut the 1 inch semi-square patch out of the patching material.
4. Trace that patch out for as many holes as that size cut-out will repair.
5. Now trace that 1 inch semi-square patch over the holes that you want to repair.
6. Next out of the patching material, cut two 2 inch semi-square patches for every one repair you will make.
7. Sand the inner and outer surfaces of the repair area to bare metal out to about 3 square inches around the repair area and clean thoroughly with some thinner or alcohol.
8. Rough the surfaces on both sides of all of your patches and clean them thoroughly as well.
9. Spread a layer of epoxy etc... on one side of one of the 2 inch patches. Place the patch semetrically around the cut-out on one side of the hull and press it firmly against the hull to create a seal while you place the smaller patch inside of the martching cut-out. Now run your finger around the diameter of the small patch to wipe off the excess epoxy, and at the same time fill the gap in between the cut-out and the cut-out patch. Let the epoxy harden.
10. Once the epoxy is hardened, use the drill and 3/16 drill bit to drill a hole 1/4 inch in from the edge of each corner of the large patch and one hole the same distance in but in between each of the corner holes( like in the tips of the lines on a British flag) through to the other side of the hull.
11. Now use the sharpie to mark the drill points on the matching 2 inch patch for the opposite side by lining the patch up over the repair area and poking the sharpie through the drilled holes against the patch. This way you can make sure that the larger patches match each other semetrically on each side of the hull.
12. Now drill out the holes in the second patch and dry fit the holes by pushing the rivets through the patch and hull to the other side. Make sure the rivets fit through the patch to the other side without binding up causing a serious bow or bend in the patch.
13. Sand over the patches mating surface again to make sure there is no bulging and hardened epoxy that came through from the other side. Clean the area thoroughly.
14. Spread a layer of epoxy onto the 2 inch patch and press it firmly against the hull and insert all of the rivets into their holes so that the patch wont shift out of place while you pop the rivets through.
15. Begin to pop the rivets through starting at one of the holes in between the corners and working to the opposite side in the pattern of a cross. Then pop down the corners from edge to edge.
16. This should force excess epoxy out from underneath of the patch. Now just run your finger around the edges of the patch to smooth the epoxy and fill in any gaps that might have been created by smashing the patch against the hull by popping the rivets through.
So basically what you are doing is filling the cut-out back in with a matching piece and sandwiching it together with two larger patches on each side of the hull with some rivets to keep it all in place and some epoxy to hold everything in place while you work on it. And also to keep the layers of metal seperated from each other helping to reduce the chances of corrosion in between them and to help keep the water out.
Sorry it seems like such a process, but if you chose to try it in one area and it worked out for you, then it would be a pretty quick process for your repair once you had everything traced, cut and sanded. From there you could really get rockin on it and have her patched up and painted over in no time. Oh sorry, and I forgot to mention the paint part and that you'll want to use an epoxy etc... that paint will adhere to as well. Good luck and sweet old Lonestar man!
