Preparation of aluminum jon boat hull for "Coat-It"

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flgudmusic

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Hi, I'm a newbie to the boating world w/ a 'possible free' or $50 12' flat bottom aluminum jon boat. I say 'possibly free', cuz my brother-in-law left it with me, saying, "Well go ahead and fix the leaks and THEN we'll talk about money." Hahaaa, that's NOT gonna happen. Following THAT logic, I'm thinking he's gonna sign it over to me NOW, before I put anymore time & $$$ into it, and I'll give him lifetime usage prviledges.
Anyhoo, I've got a situation that may well make some of the folks here scratch their heads, thinking, now THAT'S a first.
The boat's very old but in relatively good shape. In the past some welded repairs were made, welded rivets and a couple of 3 corner holes as well. I now see where some of the rivets are loose as well as 2 outright missing. My first issue was to find out what in heck the bottom of the hull was coated with that CRACKED, which must be removed before knocking, replacing or welding damaged rivets and then properly coating the hull with "Coat-It" and possibly painting to protect from UV damage.
The stuff was hard as a nail and BRITTLE!, explaining the cracks. After intense questioning of my b-i-l as to what in heck this wierd shtuff was, he finally admitted that long ago his now deceased brother was working for a company that did epoxy coating of concrete floors, i.e. garage floors and businesses.
BINGO!!! The light flashed on and NOW I knew where I'd seen this stuff before!!!
I've taken a wire wheel to the damaged rivet areas and got them down to bare metal and begun repairs. I've ground, wire brushed and sanded all the weakened, cracked areas to the bare metal as well and bought enough "Coat-It" to do the entire bottom.
My question is...Does anyone know a way to strip the darned 'floor epoxy', short of sanding/ brushing the entire boat, a solvent/ stripper maybe? Will "Coat-It", being an epoxy as well, possibly soften and bond to the remaining 'floor epoxy' or is there some kind of etching compound/ material that will give the present coating a sufficient 'tooth' for the proper coating?
I'm thinking, if this thing is gonna be too much more hassle and expense, he can take the 'free' boat back, pay me for all my work & supplies or just write it off and flat out keep it in lieu of repair payment.
Thanx for any ideas or info on my first boat ownership & repair.
 
flgudmusic said:
My question is...Does anyone know a way to strip the darned 'floor epoxy', short of sanding/ brushing the entire boat, a solvent/ stripper maybe?
Nope ... good adhesion epoxy requires mechanical removal. Any acid strong enough to weaken the chemical bond would eat through the tin.

Will "Coat-It", being an epoxy as well, possibly soften and bond to the remaining 'floor epoxy' or is there some kind of etching compound/ material that will give the present coating a sufficient 'tooth' for the proper coating?
Yes, I believe it will. Or let me say it this way, I have never yet run into incompatible epoxy products. Sand/scuff well, as that creates 'gouges & pockets' that epoxy sticks into, which also causes a mechanical bond.


[Other]
I wouldn't weld such an old boat, use solid rivets and buck them properly. I've posted a few tips/tricks in that regard and if you only needed a handful, I could send you some. Also see the tricks I've posted on using West Systems G-Flex 605 or 650 flexible epoxies, as you might be able to 'weep' some into tiny crevices you can't see by applying the heat gun (to the tin, NEVER the epoxy product) to help make it flow into all cracks, etc. Then coat out entire hull.

And yes, epoxy products need protection against UV exposure. Oh and good luck! Tell your BIL for the efforts YOU put into this hull - it is now yours for nada - but he can use it IF he takes care of it. Good luck there, lol.

Now what the heck is 'flgud' music :?: ?
 
HAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!!!!!
Errrr... thanx for the reply and I WILL take it under advisement, as in will definitely researching your info. I'm still open to opinions from anyone, puleeeeez!
I laugh 'bout the ..."Now what the heck is 'flgud' music :?: ?"
It's pretty self evident! flg as in 'FLG'(flig)... ud as in 'UD'(ood) ... and music as in 'MUSIC'( well ummm...music)
K? haHAHAHAHA.... flgudmusic is short for 'Feel Good Music', the name of a long defunct DJ biz I had, waaaayyyyy back when. Oh Yeah, I'm an ol' fart and the bulk of my traveling show was based on music that actually made folks ...feel good. It wasn't some, ahem, individual shouting out some foolish rhyming nonsense to a hammering beat, as they rubbed the needle back and forth on a vinyl record, that has become, per the media, a 'cultural landmark', and it wasn't a bunch of whiney, crybaby, boohoo on me tunes that folks used to cry in their beer to.
Just plain ol' music that made ya feel good to hear and maybe even sing along to. In fact I used to pass some wireless mikes out to the crowd so that people could sing along to "Help Me Rhonda" & California Girls", etc. Sort of a sit with your friends karaoke type sing along. HaHaaaaa!
Again, thanx for your comeback. Pat
 

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