Aluminum boat repair

[billw]

Has anybody tried this?

https://www.aluminumrepair.com/boat-repairs/

Long live American manufacturing!

[jerry-ahrens]

I have not tried any of these particular rods, but I did buy some of the Ace hardware brand aluminum brazing rods.. I couldn’t get enough heat using a MAPS gas torch, and finally gave up. It sounds like these have a lower melting point though, so they may work great? I would love to find something like this product that I could use myself, vs. going to a welding shop. The aluminum welders in my area are VERY expensive. We have such a massive amount of pontoon boats that are getting damaged from the rough water conditions here at Lake of the Ozarks. The aluminum welders have way more work than they can handle, so small jobs are usually made to wait,
or just turned away. Thanks for posting that Bill !

[Buccaneer]

I watched their 6 minute video.
https://youtu.be/RCrixbXz4rc

I like how they fix a threaded hole and
make a new "ear" with a bolt hole on
a casting.
I’ve had some hardware store aluminum brazing rod
and 75% of the time I failed with it. Maybe this
stuff is better? As with most things, they make
it look pretty easy in the video!

Prepare to be boarded!

[bob-d]

Since I don’t weld, I tried it. It looked great in the video. Tried propane and map gas, special stainless brush to clean the parts etc…..I couldn’t get it to work.
It probably takes a larger learning curve then they make it out to be.

[brian]

I tried it on a two line OMC steel tank and it stuck but the flex in the bottom of the tank compromised it. This was a ribbed bottom tank, one of several I have had develop a leak in the bottom of the tank. Had nothing better to do so I wanted to test it on various metal. I got it to work on a Champion aluminum tank and a few small repairs. Never tried it on a boat. I ran out of the rod and never bought more from the local farm supply store. I would rate it 50% overall success using map gas.

[The Boat House]

I patched this prop with one of those low temp.
aluminum welding rods this winter. Been running
the motor 3 to5 times a day for the last 8 days.
The paint is coming off and I can see it has
changed to a darker color but it’s still on there.
First time I got the stuff to work for me. There
Is defiantly a learning curve and I’m not even
close to being around the corner.
Here is a link to that discussion.

https://aomci.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=11625&p=61708#p61708

[kees]

.
when you figure it out, how it works , then a prop is very easy to repair
and f.e . small parts
but a boat !!!….
do you realize how much heat you have to put in to finally get it to work with these rods ?
aluminium conducts the heat throughout the complete boat
its not gonna work, I think.
🙁
my thought of course , I had success with the small parts once
.

[The Boat House]

One of the first times I tried it was on a boat.
I could never get it to flow out like they do
on the beer can. I just ended up with gobs
of the stuff sitting on top. Map gas only
melted a hole in the boat. There is
defiantly a trick to getting this stuff to
stick. Once you do, building it up is easy.

[chris-p]

I have had some luck with small parts. I use it to repair chips out of the AV plates on gearcases. Never tried anything like a boat before!

I first cut the hole square.
Cut a piece to fit
bevel the mating edges
CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN, then clean again with SS brush
heat the part, not the rod. Get it hot, so that when you run the rod along the crack, the medium flows into the crack.
Keep heating and testing by running the rod along it. If it doesn’t melt, part is not hot enough yet.

[garry-in-michigan]

The heated aluminum oxidizes as soon as it is exposed to air. The secret is to cover it with molten rod then scrub with the stainless steel brush. It will then stick to the almost melted aluminum. I have fixed a few things, but have used almost as many brushes as rods. . . 😆

[Author]

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