Patching a small slice

So the other day I went out fishing, only the 5th on the boat and after a few hours, I had about 3 gallons of water in the boat :shock:

I thought maybe the plug was set correctly, scooped out the water and continued fishing. When I got home I checked the bottom and didn't see anything and the plug was good. Hmmmm. Went out again last week and still had water getting in. Thinking I had a loose rivet, but the boats only 3 months old and never had a leak the first 4 times I was out.

So today I pulled everything out of the boat....batteries, floor decking...ect and planned to have my buddy come over and help me flip the boat.....well while I was waiting I decided to adjust some of the bunks and rollers on the trailer and there it was, about 8 inches from the transom, just under the bunk I see a small slice in the aluminum. Then it hit me, when I was taking the batteries out, which are inside battery boxes mounted to plywood, there was a rock from my drive way, under the wood. I must have hit a good bump and the rock got pressed under the battery into the floor of the boat and sliced opened the aluminum. :-x

So my question is, what is the best way to fix this slice? JB Weld? Maybe other more suitable Marine product? So far I used a mallot to bang the bump flat so it doesn't catch on anything when I use my boat. This seems to have sealed it, but I still want to seal it with an epoxy.

I had a similar situation when a loose bunk bracket touched the boat - made about the same size hole. i took a small piece of scrap aluminum and sanded it and the spot on the boat real good - then some JB Weld and not a problem since

Give the shape of your hole, you might get away with just the JB weld

Thanks for the info....Picked up some JB Weld, sanded down the surface, cleaned it up and JB Weld'd it. Should be all set now.

Just shows how fragile these tins are.... JB will be fine, Years ago my boat flipped over ( it was leaning against a tree) from some high winds , slamed on a piece of survey iron stake, went right thru...

Froggy said:

Just shows how fragile these tins are....

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Yeah makes me second guess beaching at 10 mph :lol:

It's kinda scary how thin the aluminum is, but they do take a beating. The other day I was backing down a step ramp and my boat slipped right off and slammed into the concrete ramp.

Luckily I got away with only some scratches....I thought for sure I would have cracked a weld or popped a rivet.

JB Weld worked like a charm. No more water in the boat.

robr3004 said:

JB Weld worked like a charm. No more water in the boat.

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Keep an eye on it because if there is any pressure to that area that will be the first place it cracks. Glad it worked out for ya.

I like to sand the area around the split. I then take a piece of aluminum that is about 1" bigger around than the split. I then push ut up against the hull and drill a few holes through the patch and the hull to put rivets in. I apply a coat of 3M 5200 and put the pop rivets in and pop them. The rivets will hold it solid and the 5200 will seal it forever. I personally do not like to use JB weld or any of the epoxy's on larger holes as they tend to crack under the pressure of the water banging under the hull.