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rickta24

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I just bought my first jon boat and am new to the forum. I have a lot more searching and reading to do on this board but thought I'd start with a post and try to get a general direction to head with getting this boat in shape.

The boat is a 1988 alumacraft 1648 welded flat bottom. It has a couple issues that I'm concerned about though.
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It has what I think is some pitting in the aluminum on the sides and hull. Looks like very small calcium deposits or salt deposits stuck to the boat. When I started scratching off the deposits I realized there was what looked like some pitting? It all looks pretty minor, not very deep or cancerous looking.
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So here's my first question of many. How do I remedy this?
From what I've read, I'm hoping I can sand/wire wheel it down to bare aluminum and then paint/reseal the boat. Wondering specifically what supplies I'll need to fix the pitted areas.

The only other issue I know of so far is that there are two cracks near the corner pieces of the transom, in the exact same spot on each side. Can these be welded, repaired? I plan to put a 25-30hp outboard on eventually.
Thanks for all of the help!
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Since the boat is from AZ I doubt it's salt water related. It looks like the boat was used for bow fishing which use a lot of electric lights. I'm thinking there was some transient voltage in the water around the boat.
You can clean the boat with a stainless steel wire wheel or brush and fill the pits with JB weld.
The cracks at the transom indicate the wood in the transom needs to be replaced.
 
That looks like galvanic corrosion to me.

Wood may need to be replaced in transom. But, those cracks are not necessarily a definitive indicator of that. Could have been caused by not trailering with a transom saver. Good news is that there are a lot of good threads on here where guys have documented how they fixed this exact issue.
 
So, just to make sure I understand, both of these issues are fixable?
I'm about to buy an outboard and just want to make sure this boat is salvageable.

From what I've read so far, it looks like I can grind down the corrosion to get rid of it and the transom crack issue can also be fixed.
 
Yes, both fixable, like others have said. I'd look over the whole boat for cracks, circle them in sharpie or grease pencil, and get them welded. And while your there, any other welding you'd want done (think storage, livewell, baitwell). Also, I'd sooner fill the pitting with something other than thinning the hull by sanding them out. Looks like a solid platform otherwise.
 
Yeah I had wondered about filling in the corrosion rather than sanding it down. I didn't know if I just filled it all in if it would continue to get worse over time. Thanks for the info. More research and then on to the work.
 
I bought a new Lund 1448 in the spring of 2014 a month in both corner braces had cracked in the same as yours. I just welded them up. I also made 4 transome braces. Two of them copy the factory one I installed them half way between the factory brace and the side of the boat. The other two run across the transome at the top then turn and follow the side of the boat. The transome has no flex at all now. I run a 2014 Mercury jet 25 hp it weighs in at 198 lbs.
 
So I have finished wire wheeling the entire exterior of the boat. There were quite a few areas of surface corrosion. A good amount of the spots I was able to get down to clean aluminum, but there are still quite a few large areas where there are small pits from where corrosion was. It took me a few weeks to wire wheel the exterior so I know I will have to go back and lightly sand the boat to get the oxidization off.

I've noticed in these little pits that it has turned slightly white after being grinded down and sitting for a few days. Is that just the aluminum oxidizing?

Do I need to grind down all of theses pits until the aluminum is smooth?

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