Aluminum Tunnel Hull with braded seams

[BigBird]

i used jb weld on a riveted pond boat once and it did well.

[craddock1]

Thanks mark. I haven"t had it in the water yet. Old mind isn't as good as it use to be. Should have said riveted at first but all I could think of was holding the outside with a hammer and brading the inside. If it leaks bad guess I will just scrap it and sell everything seperate. I can't loose. Thanks guys.

[Mark J]

The name of the epoxy I mentioned is G-Flex made by West Systems.
it comes in tubes or bottles and is a 1 to 1 mix ratio.

I bought some myself and experimented some with it a while back by gluing aluminum to aluminum and nylon to aluminum.
It's good stuff.

2 squeeze tubes for 33 bucks or 2 quarts for 80 bucks.
It's a slightly thickened epoxy but could be made thicker by adding some cabosil (fumed silica).

Several youtube videos of it being used including patching holes in aluminum boats using glass patches.
It is a flexible product.

[Mark J]

2 quarts would be a plenty to "paint" the brads with and fill some voids in the seams.
The leftovers you would use somewhere else around the house. You'll always have something you need to glue.

[craddock1]

I decided yesterday to take the boat to the lake and just float it off the trailer to see what happens. I moved it about a foot and a tire went down. It is totally rotten so I have to get a tire on it before I can take it out. The G-flex sounds like just the trick if it leaks. Thanks guys.

[Bugsy]

Arky had it right. Use the brush/roll on bed liner stuff. Its thick, flexible and will stick to the aluminum. Guaranteed to stop any leaks. My 2 cents.

[Mark J]

If you don't mind the weight.

[Cuda]

I do not think a 1" or 2" wide seam sealer of bed liner would sink a boat. It seals and is flexible to expedition of the aluminum. I had a leaky boat like that years ago. It would not seal by hammering the rivets. I weld the whole boat all of the seams it was before bed liner. If I would of had bed liner available that is what I would have used. As there is a rubber seal in there that I burnt out when I welded the seams and rivets. The sealer made it hard to weld as it had to be burnt out before I could weld it.