I just got a 17 foot Tracker (for free). I yanked the side console off it and everything else. I Plan on making it a tiller skiff for the canals and back country here in South Florida. The previous owner really screwed this thing up. He shot screws from the bottom of the boat into the frame members. He installed a float switch and actually shot screws from inside the boat threw the bottom??? He also poured tar in the front of the boat to help seal leaks, also the drain channels!! This is a "92" and my brother-in-law has the tool for seatting the water-tite rivets, but there is a whole shit load of them.
What I am looking for is a caulk or preferably a Epoxy to seal up the keel and around rivets. Also something that can be sanded to make the hull smoother. The boat is bare aluminum, however I plan on painting the hull. Anythoughts or ideas???? I am open for suggestions.
Al
3M Marine Sealant 5200 comes in caulk tubes and can be used in applications below the waterline. I have used it on fiberglass boats but think it would work on aluminum as well. Stuff is tuff as nails. Should be around $9 a tube and they even have it at my local hardware store in a small town.
Yeah, I got a tube here at the house. I use it on my Mako. I kooked at the tube and it said for wood or fiberglass. However the previous owner used some on it and it seems to be holding up pretty well. Tooling the stuff can be a nightmare though. I have used Ice Cubes in the past to help tool and shape the stuff, works pretty good. I have a Land and Sea catalog here at the house, I will check to see if 3M makes anything specific for aluminum.
Al
Al, get some of that aluminum welding stick. seen it at shows and in cabelas. you just heat w/ a regular propane torch and it melts to the rivet. just heat the rivet and touch it to it. duck hunting buddy just did it to an old boat he got for a spot we hunt and it worked great.
Matey1, I have some of those aluminum welding sticks and tried them out and worked good with my Oxy/acet. torch. The problem is that there are a helluva lot of rivets!!! I might just use them for severe leaking rivets and 3M-5200 for the others. My question now is, jgray, you might know the answer to this, can you paint over 5200 and does it stay on and not flake off??
Al
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