Aluminum Welding in Durham Region?

Hey Gang!

Are there any welding folks in Durham region (Ontario, Canada) that can fill some holes on my Aluminum boat in exchange for some beers or reasonable price?

I’m in Oshawa, probably would be 30 min of work (if that). I’ll do the grinding/finishing, just considering options before buying some “filler” product.

Thanks!

I had some small cracks where welds had worn at the rear of mine. Too many times dragging the boat through the sand. I brazed it with aluminum brazing rod and a propane torch. I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out but it worked great, looked professional, and cost me almost nothing. I experimented on some scrap aluminum first and tried to tear apart the braze using hammer, chisel, and my vise. The original aluminum tore before the braze. Two tips I learned from my experimenting: (1) Clean, clean, clean. The aluminum needs to be bright and shiny. I used a NEW flap wheel on my angle grinder to shine up the aluminum first. and (2) you'll need to "work" the brazing material into the aluminum. You kind of press the tip of your brazing rod into the base metal to work it in as it melts. Once the temperature is right, it will stick but working it in as if you were using a pencil eraser seems to help.

I wouldn't hesitate to do small repairs this way in the future.

Thank you, good advice and something I’ll try. I never knew that was an option.

How well would a brazing technique work for filling small holes (rivets that have been removed)?

Would you need to apply some kind of backing material to the hole in order to hold in the filler until it cools?

Thanks again!

Actually, a few min on YouTube answered all my questions. I’ll give it a shot!