old_school
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- Joined
- Jan 18, 2011
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1st - great forum - been able to DIY our bilge, pour a new transom, fix the OB and now ....
When we bought the boat I noticed that one of the rail strips on the bottom had been repaired - someone spot welded on top of a loose rivet - I thought it looked strange so I even snapped a couple pics at the time - it also had some other little spot welds on the hull on either side of the rail (you can see them in the pics) - I figured they had a problem with the fuel tank brackets and needed to do some welding - our boat has a 5' long, 24" wide, 8" high plastic fuel tank that lays flat under the floor
We were out the other day - nothing irregular (although my wife did hit some other boater's wakes rather hard) - get back to the house, hosing underneath and WOAH! WTH!
QUESTION - is there another way of installing the broken piece of rail? (other than welding). I still have the foot long piece as it was hanging on by a sliver. The piece broke off right where the rivets were drilled on both LH and RH sides. The LH rail piece that is still on the boat is SUPER HARD to push and lay flat against the hull (maybe why it fatigued in the 1st place??). The RH rail is easy to push and lay flat against the hull.
Can another piece of aluminum just be cut and laid on top and then riveted? Or is it best to have all this welded?
Thanks!
When we bought the boat I noticed that one of the rail strips on the bottom had been repaired - someone spot welded on top of a loose rivet - I thought it looked strange so I even snapped a couple pics at the time - it also had some other little spot welds on the hull on either side of the rail (you can see them in the pics) - I figured they had a problem with the fuel tank brackets and needed to do some welding - our boat has a 5' long, 24" wide, 8" high plastic fuel tank that lays flat under the floor
We were out the other day - nothing irregular (although my wife did hit some other boater's wakes rather hard) - get back to the house, hosing underneath and WOAH! WTH!
QUESTION - is there another way of installing the broken piece of rail? (other than welding). I still have the foot long piece as it was hanging on by a sliver. The piece broke off right where the rivets were drilled on both LH and RH sides. The LH rail piece that is still on the boat is SUPER HARD to push and lay flat against the hull (maybe why it fatigued in the 1st place??). The RH rail is easy to push and lay flat against the hull.
Can another piece of aluminum just be cut and laid on top and then riveted? Or is it best to have all this welded?
Thanks!