Takes a lickin' and keeps on tickin'

[BoatBucks]

Spent last week in Hells Canyon on the Oregon/Idaho border. On our way to the cabin, I was trying to give a guy who was waking a bunch of boats on the beach some room. Guess I gave him too much room and managed to hit a rock while on step and loaded down with about 2500lbs of extra stuff. Rock was just under water so it didn't read. Put another minor dent in her and gouged the crap out of it. The deep gouge is about 3/8" deep. Good thing we use a custom 1" 6061 intake mount on the jet vs the stock cast one. She leaks a little but nothing the bilge pumps can't handle until I quit fishing for a bit. Pretty much small pinhole leaks. When I hit, it lifted the back of the boat up and pushed the bow down far enough to make a nice bow splash ahead of the boat. :roll:

Ran the boat this way for 5 days so luckily it didn't ruin our trip.









The grey material is the tip of the rock embedded in the hull!



I know most on this forum run deeper water but it just goes to show why alloy boats rule and how tough they are. The worst case repair will be to cut out the intake and weld in a new one. :oops:

[JETTYWOLF]

Next time wake the boats!!

Believe me (because it's happened to me multiple times) the more boating educated, and nicest, FINISHES last.

Yep, in a "ping pong" ya would have just sunk in alittle while.

[welder]

Now that's how ya Jetty Wolf a boat . :shock:

And this is why we LOVE our Alloy.

[Jay Perrotta]

That'll buff right out!

[Illgotoo]

>>That'll buff right out!

haha. good one!

[aluminumdreamer]

Those idiots over on Bloodydecks should get a load of this, maybe that would convince em.

[IN2DEEP]

Those idiots over on Bloodydecks should get a load of this, maybe that would convince em.

No, it won't

[21ftcc]

will woodywax take that minor scratch out??

[JETTYWOLF]

Next obvious question.

How do you fix something like that. Fill in the gouge with weld??
Stack some dimes over the whole thing and be on yer way back to Rockland?

[IN2DEEP]

I"m also curious how you go about fixing the hull damage.

Is a welder able to apply a penetrating bead upside down or does the hull need to be flipped?

If you get the chance, some pictures of the repair in progress would be great!

Scott

[BoatBucks]

I"m also curious how you go about fixing the hull damage.

Is a welder able to apply a penetrating bead upside down or does the hull need to be flipped?

If you get the chance, some pictures of the repair in progress would be great!

Scott

Will do! Hope to get her to the shop in the next week or 3.

The plan is to remove the grate and re-weld the corners of the billet intake mount where it's cracked and leaking. We'll grind out the gouges and get the rock pieces out and then fill it with weld and grind it smooth. We are not planning on having to flip the boat over. That is the plan anyway. Of course once we get into it, it may change. Worst case would be to pull the jet drive, cut out the bottom around the intake, and replace it.

Tonight I'll try and find a pic of the intake mount so you can see how it's put together if there is interest. Had we used the standard cast aluminum intake mount that Hamilton Jet supplies, the out come would have been different. Probably would have had a huge leak and the week long vacation would have ended right then. The boat is built to take a hit, I just hope I'm done impact testing for a while.

Edit: added pics of the jet intake mount and structure. The intake is 1" 6061.

[BoatBucks]

Spent Saturday at the shop. Got the gouge filled in but ended up having to pull the pump as the seal around the intake was broken and the corners of the intake still leaked. Should be done today or tomorrow and I'll be good to go.

[aluminumdreamer]

Did you just fill the damaged area with weld, and then grind it smooth? Were you able to do the welding with the boat on the trailer lying on your back? I have some repairs to be done on the bottom of my boat this winter, and was just trying to plan my attack.

Nice job on the repair by the way.

Nate.

[BoatBucks]

I can't take credit for the welding. They don't let me do that.

The gouges were ground out, filled with weld, and ground smooth. All done on the trailer while laying on his back. Easy and comfortable it was not and I think I was cussed at a few time by the welder. Probably a good thing I don't understand much Vietnamese.

Pump goes back into today, water test tomorrow. Unfortunately my real job prevents me from making the 55 mile run to the shop to help with reassembly. Otherwise it would be done already. I hate it when work gets in the way of the important stuff in life.

[jrogers]

Thanks for the interesting thread. One of the nice things about aluminum is that is you want you can sand out the area where they ground it with finer and finer paper, and then polish it out where you can never tell any work was done to the boat. Of course this would be a total waste of time since it is the bottom of a river boat, but it is amazing what you can do with aluminum.

[doughnut]

Those idiots over on Bloodydecks should get a load of this, maybe that would convince em.

I'm an original Bloody Decks Member. I had my first aluminum boat in 1973.



The photos above are just further evidence of the value of an AL boat. No other material would work for that application. ( very long anyhow!



)

[mojomizer]

Doughnut, What happened?????? You seem like such a nice Intelligent guy. (kidding)

BoatBucks what a great post. Cannot wait till you get her on the water for some action photo's Please .


Mark
2325 Wa Pacificskiff

[ALUMINATOR]

Those idiots over on Bloodydecks should get a load of this, maybe that would convince em.

I'm an original Bloody Decks Member. I had my first aluminum boat in 1973.



The photos above are just further evidence of the value of an AL boat. No other material would work for that application. ( very long anyhow!



)

I better stickup for dougnut and say I also hang out over there at Bloodydecks but since I have an aluminum hull I like to read here too. LOL I haven't had a run in with any rocks yet but did hit a telephone pole (in the water) one night and only ended up with a dent and no water inside the boat!! Try that or this rock story is a glass boat and you would be calling the insurance company for a totaled boat claim.

[mojomizer]

Aluminator, Alot of us are closet BDers. Except Super Dave, he was kicked off after 1 post . We like Doughnut here. We would very much like to see your project here or link your BD post alot of East coasters would be amazed at your handy work. So when are you going to take her to PV and start catching them Cow Tuna?

Boatbucks we would like to see how you are doing?????

Regards

Mark
2325 Wa Pacificskiff

Intelligent intillegent Geeze my dyslexia is getting worse.

[ALUMINATOR]

Mark, I will start a new thread soon with some pictures.

Boat Buck, I got to fish up on your island this summer and one thing you have is a lot of rocks!!! Oh ya a lot of salmon too. We were catching over 25 a day but had to let a lot of of them go. Fun place you call home!

[BoatBucks]

Hey Guy's....Been pretty boring at my house, I Have not been fishing or had the boat wet and several weeks.

Here is a photo of what the bottom looks like now...



If the weather holds I hope to be on the water tomorrow and run the Santiam with some friends. Next Saturday (river level depending) we are supposed to be on the Clackamas River. We have several runs scheduled in the winter when there is less river traffic and a bit higher flows. I'll try and post up some photo's when I can.

Aluminator - you must of been coho fishing. It was a great year for sure. Had one day when we fished the ocean and boated 90lbs of salmon and about 150lbs of halibut for 3 of us. My buddy got one butt that was 100lbs.

My Dad and buddy Ken.

[ALUMINATOR]

Yup, Coho and Kings. It has been a lot of years since I fished salmon but it still was a blast! We fished on the west side of your island in the ocean. I used to fish Lake Michigan and have caught a lot of them but the salt water ones seem to taste better. I am now hooked on Puerto Vallarta, Mexico catching the Cow Yellowfin tuna that get well over 300 pounds!!

[JETTYWOLF]

Aluminator, Alot of us are closet BDers. Except Super Dave, he was kicked off after 1 post . We like Doughnut here. We would very much like to see your project here or link your BD post alot of East coasters would be amazed at your handy work. So when are you going to take her to PV and start catching them Cow Tuna?

Boatbucks we would like to see how you are doing?????

Regards

Mark
2325 Wa Pacificskiff

Intelligent intillegent Geeze my dyslexia is getting worse.

It runs in "the DAVE'S", Mojo.

I was run off or kicked off too. After reaching thru the computer screen and squeezing that pimple that was ripping off people on rod building....azzwipe Scott at Deepcolor rods. A BD 'noser.

Too much Ca. for me, anyhow.