Repair on my son's boat

My son has a 12', 36" bottom Polar Craft that was given to him and it has a few cracks in the hull and in other areas. So today we started the repairs. This is in the corners at the stern. Cracks and one bolt hole to fix.
We will repair the cracks in the hull next.

Here's the pics..
1. the corner on port quarter. The crack is longer than it looks in the pic
2. the corner on starboard quarter. the crack is hardly visible in the pic
3. repaired port quarter.
4. repaired starboard quarter.





repaired port quarter


repaired starboard quarter

Looks great! What did you use to repair with?

Welded? I hope, did you drill a hole at each end of the crack?

russ010 said:

Looks great! What did you use to repair with?

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Thanks...used a Tig welder, 4043 filler

lckstckn2smknbrls said:

Welded? I hope, did you drill a hole at each end of the crack?

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Yep, I always drill the end of the cracks and then watch after it cools to make sure it did not run. 8)

I know and understand the purpose of drilling a hole with cracks which is stopping the crack from continuing. But is there a purpose to drilling something that's going to be welded when dealing with aluminum? Seems that you're going to start and stop the weld past the ends of the crack and any hole you might have drilled so what good does the hole do?

JMichael said:

I know and understand the purpose of drilling a hole with cracks which is stopping the crack from continuing. But is there a purpose to drilling something that's going to be welded when dealing with aluminum? Seems that you're going to start and stop the weld past the ends of the crack and any hole you might have drilled so what good does the hole do?

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Aluminum will continue to crack after welded, even worse sometimes, if ya don't drill the ends.
Just the nature of the alloy.

Never knew or heard about that with aluminum, thank you.

Another shot of a small repair on the bow area and yes I did go back and fix that crater at the end of the weld. :wink:

Ya know I was just thinking that my boat has lots of imperfections that could be cured with with a little welding/sanding etc. So should I get the adoption papers ready for your signature? :mrgreen:

JMichael said:

Ya know I was just thinking that my boat has lots of imperfections that could be cured with with a little welding/sanding etc. So should I get the adoption papers ready for your signature? :mrgreen:

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[-X I've done got too old to start raising young'uns again :LMFAO: :LMFAO:

Well I'm already potty trained if that helps. :lol:

JMichael said:

Well I'm already potty trained if that helps. :lol:

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:LOL2: :LOL2: :roflmao:

Great work! Please add your location to your profile

What kind of tig welder do you have? Nice stack of dimes!

Steve

Captain Ahab said:

Great work! Please add your location to your profile

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Thanks 8)

acwd said:

What kind of tig welder do you have? Nice stack of dimes!

Steve

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I have a Miller Syncrowave 200. Thanks. 8)