Aluminum brazing?

[Winddog]

Hi all
So long story short, I had a leak at the transom brace of my Valco Westcoaster 15' boat. I had it "fixed" at a local welding shop, it was a long drawn out mess with 3-4 trips back to the shop to get it right. Well now it's like 6 months later and the repair has started to leak again. The repair consisted of a new plate being added between the transom brace & the floor. The plate has cracked right along the weld. (The black line in the pic)
I'm going to try to "braze" it up with some of this, https://www.aluminumrepair.com/land/index.asp?src=msn
Anybody used this product? Also would I drill holes at each end of the crack before brazing?
Thanks for reading.

 

[JMichael]

I've never used that product, but I don't have a lot of faith in what I call the new line of "miracle" products. But that's just me and I've never tired it so what do I know. All that aside, you need to determine what is causing the metal to crack like that and eliminate that problem before you worry too much about fixing your leak IMO. What size motor are you running and do you use a transom saver when transporting your boat?

 

[Winddog]

Thanks for the reply.
I run a 97 Honda 25hp 4 stroke. I transport it in the down position, no transom saver.
Sense having this repair done I have learned that there are alot of different aluminum alloys used in boat building, all of them requiring different filler material when welding. I'm thinking this is my problem ( Wrong material used for welding )
could this be the problem?

 

[SumDumGuy]

Same stuff, better price...

https://www.harborfreight.com/8-piece-low-temperature-aluminum-welding-rods-44810.html

.. or at least that is what I have read. I looked into this brazing stuff a bit last year. Most of the info I saw stated that the rods are all basically the same.
Let me know if this is not true.

 

[JMichael]

It's hard to tell from your pic, but is there a weld along the front edge where you have drawn the black line? As for the alloy difference, maybe one of the guys that weld professionally will weigh in on this.

 

[Winddog]

JMichael, yes there is a weld there, the crack is between the weld & the new plate.

Hi Guys & Gals
So I got some good advice here and on another site, I was directed to a guy in Yuba city Ca. who welds boats for a living, he quoted me a price I can deal with so I'm going to have him fix it up correctly.
Guess I could put the brazing rod in the box pass when it gets to me! :mrgreen:

 

[Winddog]

https://www.fishsniffer.com/forums/f28/


Here's a link to my other thread, some good info shared .

 

[minnow soaker]

Winddog » 14 Jan 2014, 17:20[/url]"]JMichael, yes there is a weld there, the crack is between the weld & the new plate.

Hi Guys & Gals
So I got some good advice here and on another site, I was directed to a guy in Yuba city Ca. who welds boats for a living, he quoted me a price I can deal with so I'm going to have him fix it up correctly.
Guess I could put the brazing rod in the box pass when it gets to me! :mrgreen:

I would take the bill back to original shop that couldn't fix it right after 3-4 try's. They should pay that bill for the other shop for doing it right.

 

[Winddog]

minnow soaker » 17 Jan 2014, 15:34[/url]"]

Winddog » 14 Jan 2014, 17:20[/url]"]JMichael, yes there is a weld there, the crack is between the weld & the new plate.

Hi Guys & Gals
So I got some good advice here and on another site, I was directed to a guy in Yuba city Ca. who welds boats for a living, he quoted me a price I can deal with so I'm going to have him fix it up correctly.
Guess I could put the brazing rod in the box pass when it gets to me! :mrgreen:

I would take the bill back to original shop that couldn't fix it right after 3-4 try's. They should pay that bill for the other shop for doing it right.

Believe me, I know i should but I'm not up for the battel that it would take.

 

[Ranchero50]

Looks more like a poor design than poor weld work. If it fatigue cracked before and fatigue cracked again, you'll have the same problem unless you figure out what is causing the flexing at that point and eliminate it. Have someone rock your engine up and down while locked in reverse to see what is moving, then get your welder to eliminate that.

You might need some larger corner caps so the transom flex is transmitted to the gunnels vs. the floor.

4 strokes are heavy and not running with a transom saver isn't a good idea.

 

[Winddog]

This should help?