aluminum boat with pinholes

[sidthekid]

I'll try to describe this as best as I can. I pulled my son's 14' boat out of the water last year and had to scrape quite a bit of barnacle growth off the bottom.The water here is brackish.I then hosed off the boat and stored it bottom side up for the winter.Apon close inspection last week, in order to get it ready for bottom paint, I noticed that everywhere there was a barnacle there is now a small area that looks to be corroded.These areas are 1/8 - 3/16ths in diameter.At the very center of alot of this are very small holes, the smallest being the size of a pin,the largest being the size of a sixteen penny nail.There is around 50 of these.What the heck do I do to repair this?? The only thing I could come up with is that Rhino lining they spray on pickup truck beds. It looks tough and is flexible.I've asked the marine stores and no help there.The rest of of the boat is in great shape so I would like to try and save it.Thank you in advance for any help...Sid

 

[Reel Appeal]

Re: aluminum boat with pinholes

sid,<br /> A two part epoxy designed for aluminum may be the ticket.Hardware store should have it.Patch each area individually.Sand if needed.

 

[JB]

Re: aluminum boat with pinholes

Hi, Sid,<br /><br />I like your Rhino-Liner idea. I think that's what I would do.<br /><br />Good luck.

 

[FlyBoyMark]

Re: aluminum boat with pinholes

Another alternative is to weld.....clean with ss wire wheel on drill, both sides. Weldor should charge about 50 to 80 bucks. Make sure he knows what he's doing....the little dimples of weld should be so small that you would not normaly notice them and he must use 5356 filler. Set up for the tig job is 1/16" tungsten, 1/2" ceramic nozzel and .45 size filler, machine set to less than 100 amps. If you don't see this he's going to do a hack job with grapes. Pre cleaning as I said will save you a ton of money and make the weld job go much easier for the weldor. Any other forms of repairs are temporary at best.

 

[dkondelik]

Re: aluminum boat with pinholes

'Mornin'Sid,<br /><br />My wife found an ol' aluminum boat for me toplay with. Rhino was pretty pricey at our local parts store but they had a similar product on the same shelf. <br /><br />I used the stuff and it seems to work GREAT. The boat lands in the sand alot. I figure, if/when the liner wears down/off, I can just re-spray and it'll be good-to-go again.<br /><br />Good Luck<br />HAVE FUN!

 

[cpasseno03]

Re: aluminum boat with pinholes

I was gonna mention Rhino Liner but obviously your one step ahead of me. I forget where I first heard this idea but it really sounds like a winner to me! I have never talked to anyone that has actually done it though.. I have a steel boat that is no thicker then a rusty license plate in areas... Klondike, how did that work out for ya? And if you dont mind, what did it run/what was it called/ how much did it cover? Let us know what you wind up doing Sid, and for the pinholes, paint alone would keep me asleep at night, but 1/8" is pushing it for paint alone. My opinion and you know what they say about those!<br />Craig

 

[sidthekid]

Re: aluminum boat with pinholes

Thanks for all the replies. As soon as it clears up again I will try the do-it-yourself Rhino lining and let everyone know how it went. The Walmart here sells it for about 35.00 dollars a gallon.The Rhino dealer here wanted 225.00 dollars and I was going to do all the prep!Thanks again...Sid

 

[sidthekid]

Re: aluminum boat with pinholes

Well, I finally finished the repairs and here's the scoop: I used a stainless steel power brush to prep the bottom, then I used bondo to fill in the pinholes and just enough to fill in the corroded spots that were not quite holes yet.Then I bought a can of spray on truck bed lining at the auto parts store at $8.00 a can. I figured this should be easy.Then I realized it was going to take 8 or 9 cans.It also went on kinda thin and skimpy.Plan "B". Went to Walmart and bought two quarts of roll on or brush on truck bed liner at $15.00 a quart.I'm here to tell you that this stuff is FANTASTIC!! This stuff is like part of the boat now, very tough and hard finish.It went on alot thicker then the spray on stuff.You have to work a little quickly,it skins over fairly fast.Two quarts was perfect for this size boat.(14 foot) Mix with some sand or whatever and this stuff would also make great non-skid.So, anyway I finished up with bottom paint and it goes in the water tommorrow.Hope this helps someone out there with a simular problem.Feel free to ask any questions and don't ever under estimate Walmart!!....Sid

 

[wayne h]

Re: aluminum boat with pinholes

this might be a stupid question but u used it bed liner on the inside of the boat?