HTS-2000

I fish in a rocky area, launch, & retrieve the boat on gravel. As a result the bottom of my 16' Lund is in tough shape. A few rivets broken off, and three small cracks. To compound the boats problems it is used in saltwater about 100 days a year. Extensive use of 3M 5200 has been a quick fix, but now I think it's time to turn it over & get serious. Has anyone used a HTS-2000, or any other brazing rod on the bottom of an aluminum boat with good results?
John

Mig or Tig welding.

lckstckn2smknbrls said:

Mig or Tig welding.

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The instructions on the product is to prepare the surface by getting it very clean, then a hand torch is used to heat the surface to be repaired, not the rod, the rod is placed on the surface, & melts into the repair. Lots of you tube videos. It is a brazing process, not welding.
John

Don't use the brazing rods.
Have a welder mig or tig weld the cracks.

I'd love to try that stuff. But, not on the bottom of a boat that I am taking into deep water. I'd heed the advice above and have it welded.

Heck, try the rods on some not-under-the-water stuff. Might be great, but your life is worth the welding costs. richg99

The brazing process is going to be similar to soldering. Especially plumbing soldering(sweating). I don't see why it wouldn't work assuming you know how use the product fairly well. The rods are pretty cheap. You can always get some and try it, but I'd test it before taking out on big water. A proper braze should work for that without any problem (as long as you can braze properly).

If you are not already comfortable with the process it will be easier, faster and possibly cheaper just to bring it to a local shop to have them weld it.

My take on any of those "As Seen on TV" products, be sure to take a few grains of salt with you when you buy one of them. Cause if it seems too good to be true, it usually is.

I tried it on some leaking rivets which were just too deformed to rebuck anymore, and at least in my case, the temperature you had to get the aluminum for the brazing rod to liquefy was so hot that it warped and deformed. Granted, this was with an older 12' sea nymph, but it caused more problems than it solved by deforming the hull.

I had mixed results attaching strips of a heavier gauge material (1/16" thick 1/2" flat bar) to little cuts of angle to make a tackle rack. The brazes turned out to be brittle, and in a year of use roughly half the brazes have failed. Again, the melting point on the braze is so close to that of the aluminum that on several pieces I actually melted the aluminum with the torch before the brazing rod would flow. Some of the brazes have held, but they were the ones where the aluminum was close to its melting point and very soft at the point when I was working. I can tell after the fact because the aluminum was deformed and needed to be touched up with a file so it didn't have protrusions interfering with the tackle trays.

I'm certainly not an experienced welder, I can definitely do a better job than Weld-Bilt with my mig working aluminum now (not that that's saying too much either) but I've had no luck with this product. Before anyone comments on the cleanliness of the aluminum I cleaned it thoroughly each time with both a degreaser and rinsed with alcohol then wire wheeled each spot to be worked with a stainless wheel I have only for working on aluminum.