Thread: Boat Repair and Restoration (aluminum & fiberglass)

I'm a fiberglass guy myself, but I know many have aluminum. I do not know much about it except how to weld it.

You guys that do know...or have experience with painting, polishing, redoing, etc...Lets put links to your tips, tricks, builds, etc...in here for people to find. Feel free to post pics of your projects here...just before and after please or a link to the build...please do not put your entire build in here.

Think this will be a neat resource for all the "tin boat" owners out there.

Feel free to post links to other sites or builds you have seen...or links to manufacturers of parts for aluminum boat builds and restoration.

We'll see if this takes off! :D

Thanks



Here is a link to one of the best aluminum boat restoration and modification websites I've seen. I see someone is a member there also. tinboats.net

O.K. I've got scrapes of rubber from bumping into the dock when I come in.Some of it I can scrape off but most just stays there. Any one have ideas on how to get the rest off without scratching the paint.
Thanks Dennis

Acetone will take "dock rubs" off of a fiberglass boat, but I don't think you would want to use it on painted metal...

Working on one now. 1436 circe 1980 Lowe. Tired of stumbling around over the thwarts, so I'm putting a floor in the back, and a slighty raised deck in the front. Only 36" boat, figured if I went too high with the deck I"d get tippy and go swimming. Or worse.


Lots of work to it, guys over on tinboat, and I assume a good many of them hang out here, have my admiration.

Here is a link to my build. I rebuilt the trailer and the boat. Time to treat myself to a new fishfinder/GPS unit.

TinBoats.net • View topic - '67 14' Alumacraft Shallow V and Trailer remodel.

Hanr3,
Suggestion for your boat re-do.
Place your batteries under your seats. Doesn't take up any more room than the seat.
You won't be able to use a pedestal seat but most of the area immediately around a pedestal is unused territory.
My seats are mounted on 2 supports (1 on each side) that reach from just behind the front of the seat to just before the rear of the seat. The simple ball bearing seat swivel spans the space on the top of the supports to which the seat attaches.
This leaves a space more than large enough for my battery tray and battery. Can leave the batteries in place for recharging. Have never had a problem with acid corrosion of the seat swivel being above the battery. Have had the rig for 34 years and changed out the swivels twice, due to me being a large person, not corrosion.
Hope this gives you an idea.
1perchjerker

My seats are mounted on 2 supports (1 on each side) that reach from just behind the front of the seat to just before the rear of the seat. The simple ball bearing seat swivel spans the space on the top of the supports to which the seat attaches.

You got a photo of that set-up? Can't quite picture it.

INGrandad
Will try to photograph but give me a few days. Have to get the wife to use her camera and then go about learning to post the pictures.
On second thought, a quicker way may be to draw it out, scan it and then post it.
1perchjerker

You might find some of the fiberglass boxes in a boat boneyard -
lots of older trihulls had them. Room for a battery or two underneath,
a short 6" or so pedestal on top with seat. All that I saw just mounted to
the floor with screws around the flange, be easy to put down on plywood.

Hey, I called it quits on my boat, time to go fishing. Just today I thought of how could make a frame from my leftover aluminum angle to mount a frnt Anchormate and to clamp the trolling motor onto. It's gonna have to wait, I'm tired of messing with it. Wish now I'd painted the outer hull this year, gonna be a b!tch doing it next year with the added weight now, I'll never get it off and turned over.

It's only a 1436 so I really didn't want too high of a front deck. Plus, on a weekend evening there may be 2 or 3 of us walking around in it bowfishing, so I want to maximize stability. I'll find out this weekend if I've accomplished tt. (Fingers crossed)






Old Evinrude is new to me and this boat, got a new Minn Kota Traxxis on it. New depth finder, Humminbird 565. The old livewell I converted to a battery box. Need some more storage, next winter I may have to build over the stern fuel/battery area.