Hull repairs

I decided to make another post over here for my hull repairs and I well go back to the other thread when I actually get to modifying the boat. As you may remember my boat had a pretty nasty "repair" job done on it by one of the previous owners and I have been working on getting all the silicone and old weld removed and ground/sanded down. I have that pretty much all done and I now looking at having a couple of the small holes welded in properly. I didn't do too much on the inside of the weld aside from remove some of the more grotesque lumps, the middle seat covers the area anyway, but I got the outside ground down and cleaned up pretty good, still not near perfect but 150% better then it was. I am going to call a guy I know that does metal fabrication and welding and have him weld the small hole closed and also put a fillet bead along the lower seam in the effected area on the inside to make sure it is sealed nicely. Here are a few photos of the area now.

Here is the inside, as mentioned I am just going to have them run a good fillet bead along the seam to ensure that the seam is sealed.


And the outside view, just a small hole about the size of a pencil eraser.

I weld for a living so I'm talking from experience.A good welder will be able to fix you up but when you weld a seam,where you stop there will probably be a little leak.It is hard to weld a seam because of the dirt between the 2 halves.Aluminum is easy to weld but has to be very clean.

Thanks for the reply, I know a guy who is pretty good and when I have him weld the seam I think I well have him weld up to the ribs and just refill in between the ribs and skin with silicone. I well definitely go and clean the thing up real good this morning before taking it down.

Here is his website: https://martinmetalfab.net/

I cleaned it up good and dropped it off, the owner who I know was out unfortunately so I talked with the shop manager, he quoted me $100 to $250 :shock: just encase something weird happened as they were welding it. He said it will probably be more towards the $100 end, hopefully. Hopefully when I pick it up the owner will be there and give me a bit of a deal. Anyway it well be done properly and I shouldn't have to worry about it too much afterwords.

Just got a call from the welder, its done and well only cost $65 I well go get it later this morning and post a photo or two.

Will, I brought the hull back this morning and it looks like it well hold water I also applied some fresh silicone to the seam and the one deformed rib, a little bit better then the previous owner if I may say so. I haven't gotten anything else done, would have liked too but the mercury hit 90 at about noon and it is just not bearable to work out there so it is going to cool down the beginning of next week so I well start with the rear deck and whatnot then. Here are a few photos of the repair, still not pretty but a lot better then what it was.

Looks good.time for prep and paint.