Got that sinking feeling

[Dillon]

The hull I have now is getting on and over the years (before I owned it) it has split along the keel a number of times and has been re-welded. After some pretty rough water the splits seem to have re-opened as there is a lot more water in the boat than usual. the cracks are not that major as it fills at a rate of about 1cm every 2-2.5 hours.

Do you think it is worth repairing again? Or is there a limit to how many times u can weld aluminium?

Or am I looking at a new boat?

Cheers,
Dillon

[MTpockets]

Dont sound too flash mate.
Assuming the worst, Probably best to go new, BUT...
Prolly best to slip her over to a professional alloy welder or boat repairer and get some advice.
My old tinnie started to pit around the bung holes and when I got it repaired the guy told me he had to cut back into the transum to about 5". He said if it happened again, maybe cut even further out. Thats a lot of boat to replace. Not sure what damage you have but best to get professional advice.
cheers
Les

[dnej]

There is an earlier post about this subject. The bottom was replaced with plate. I will do mine eventually.Is your trailer set up correctly. It doesnt have rollers under the bottom does it? Should have skids.
David

[jethro6641]

Dillon the best thing about an alloy boat is nine times out of ten it can be repaired cheap and easy. I would be taking to a n alloy boat builder. Most of these guys will do repairs on all makes of hulls. They will probably try and tell you you should buy one of there boats but if they are worth anything they should do the right thing by you. From the amout of water you are taking on it does not sound like the crack is very big.

What sort of boat is it and what length?

Cheers,

Jamie

[Dillon]

The boat is a 15ft(I think) savage osprey c/c with a 40 hp. the trailer only has rollers but I have been trying to convince my Grandfather (joint ownership) to get the skids but he doesn’t think they do anything .

I had a look under the hull and it is not only 1 crack but many hair-line cracks that spread along the length of the hull.
I will take it to a welder when I get the time

Thanks for the help

[Mr__Bean]

Hello Dillon,

Just for my interest, are the cracks in the trailer roller area?

The reason I ask is that the cracks start from the work hardening of the aluminium, as it flexes under load it bends a little bit this way, then bends a little bit that way, and eventually goes hard and cracks.

My interest is whether this has happened at the rollers, or where the water pressure causes it to flex, or whether due to the weight of the motor.

If not in the trailer roller area, where are they on the boat.

Just interested.

- Bean.

[Dillon]

Hi Bean
the boat has an 'I' beam runing along the bottem as a keel it is about 5cm tall and all the cracks have occured around here, the boat is rated to 55hp and I only have a 40 on it , there are about3-4 cracks that I know of but they are hard to see so there may be more .

[dazza]

dnej,
haven't forgot about the pix, just haven't had the cover off of the tinney
cheers
dazza

[dnej]

Hey Dazza, tell this poster about your project. I cant find it now.
Regards David

[Mr__Bean]

Dillon,

Thanks for the drawing, are the cracks adjacent to where the keel rollers are on the trailer?

Something is causing the flex in that area.

If they are at the rollers you may have to adjust the keel rollers down a bit so that a little more load is shared by the side rollers/skids.

Does it get towed over rough terrain? Or loaded up heavily with gear when towed?

If none of this is the case, then I would agree it is probably the effect of the rough water, and it will be hard to beat if it is all going hard along that area.

- Bean

[FishFinger1977]

My boat had a lot of problems realting to Hull cracks along the welds but that was solved when the trailer got the skids on it to replace the rollers, They pinched the hull when being put on the trailer I was told, also the strigers that line the inside of the hull were about 1 cm out so they were bracing nothing, I took it back and the Marine shop that sold it to me (Northside Marine)and they fixed it much better than new, I should also say that the boat manufacterer did not want to know about it and they (Northside Marine) did it out of their own pocket, they welded the stringers to the hull all the way round and put plate on the inside to stop it happening again. Put simply my trailer was the problem and it led to another one being fixed as well so two birds with one stone i guess. Take your trailer to someone to have a look at it first, get it fixed if need be and then try the hull, maybe you will be lucky. Good luck as I lost many hours sleep over it, also it was quite embarrassing letting the bilge run for up to 5 mins to get the water out. Cheers mate