Re: To weld, or not to weld (alum boat) ??? Pics
Tig welding is Definatly the way to go.
Erik was right about the contaminaton and being necessary to grind and clean the welding area throughly before welding, stainless brush is good, but to grind it i would use a flap disc with a grit of about 80 on it. and i only use acetone never heard of using brake pads, and something i notice with cleaning the surface with acetone, use paper towels and only make one or two swipes with each part of the towel, as it gets dirty very easily when cleaning aluminum and as a result you eventually start smudging the stuff aruound intsead of removing it, i usually fold it into a square and use one side for about 1-2 swipes (check to see how dirty it is after each swipe) i then switch sides and use a clean one, eventually the paper towel will be will have almost no black on it when you make a pass or a light amount. and also sometimes... no matter how good you clean the metal .. it will get contaminated or just be contaminted and there is nothing you can do accept back off the heat a bit start feathering the pedal and feeding it some rod :-D
also from your pics, it looks like there is a peice of 1/8th inch thick strip aluminum on there, i would buy some more of that and cut the old stuff off and and back a bit away from the damaged area into some good area, then put down some fresh aluminum and tig weld it from there!
tig welding alum takes some practice, not a whole lot. depends on the machine your using. i have a Miller Syncrowave 250dx at the shop, love it to death!
good luck with the repair keep us posted, and as ive posted before, it sucks you wernt closer id help you out with the welding.
