flgudmusic
New member
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2016
- Messages
- 2
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Hi, I'm a newbie to the boating world w/ a 'possible free' or $50 12' flat bottom aluminum jon boat. I say 'possibly free', cuz my brother-in-law left it with me, saying, "Well go ahead and fix the leaks and THEN we'll talk about money." Hahaaa, that's NOT gonna happen. Following THAT logic, I'm thinking he's gonna sign it over to me NOW, before I put anymore time & $$$ into it, and I'll give him lifetime usage prviledges.
Anyhoo, I've got a situation that may well make some of the folks here scratch their heads, thinking, now THAT'S a first.
The boat's very old but in relatively good shape. In the past some welded repairs were made, welded rivets and a couple of 3 corner holes as well. I now see where some of the rivets are loose as well as 2 outright missing. My first issue was to find out what in heck the bottom of the hull was coated with that CRACKED, which must be removed before knocking, replacing or welding damaged rivets and then properly coating the hull with "Coat-It" and possibly painting to protect from UV damage.
The stuff was hard as a nail and BRITTLE!, explaining the cracks. After intense questioning of my b-i-l as to what in heck this wierd shtuff was, he finally admitted that long ago his now deceased brother was working for a company that did epoxy coating of concrete floors, i.e. garage floors and businesses.
BINGO!!! The light flashed on and NOW I knew where I'd seen this stuff before!!!
I've taken a wire wheel to the damaged rivet areas and got them down to bare metal and begun repairs. I've ground, wire brushed and sanded all the weakened, cracked areas to the bare metal as well and bought enough "Coat-It" to do the entire bottom.
My question is...Does anyone know a way to strip the darned 'floor epoxy', short of sanding/ brushing the entire boat, a solvent/ stripper maybe? Will "Coat-It", being an epoxy as well, possibly soften and bond to the remaining 'floor epoxy' or is there some kind of etching compound/ material that will give the present coating a sufficient 'tooth' for the proper coating?
I'm thinking, if this thing is gonna be too much more hassle and expense, he can take the 'free' boat back, pay me for all my work & supplies or just write it off and flat out keep it in lieu of repair payment.
Thanx for any ideas or info on my first boat ownership & repair.
Anyhoo, I've got a situation that may well make some of the folks here scratch their heads, thinking, now THAT'S a first.
The boat's very old but in relatively good shape. In the past some welded repairs were made, welded rivets and a couple of 3 corner holes as well. I now see where some of the rivets are loose as well as 2 outright missing. My first issue was to find out what in heck the bottom of the hull was coated with that CRACKED, which must be removed before knocking, replacing or welding damaged rivets and then properly coating the hull with "Coat-It" and possibly painting to protect from UV damage.
The stuff was hard as a nail and BRITTLE!, explaining the cracks. After intense questioning of my b-i-l as to what in heck this wierd shtuff was, he finally admitted that long ago his now deceased brother was working for a company that did epoxy coating of concrete floors, i.e. garage floors and businesses.
BINGO!!! The light flashed on and NOW I knew where I'd seen this stuff before!!!
I've taken a wire wheel to the damaged rivet areas and got them down to bare metal and begun repairs. I've ground, wire brushed and sanded all the weakened, cracked areas to the bare metal as well and bought enough "Coat-It" to do the entire bottom.
My question is...Does anyone know a way to strip the darned 'floor epoxy', short of sanding/ brushing the entire boat, a solvent/ stripper maybe? Will "Coat-It", being an epoxy as well, possibly soften and bond to the remaining 'floor epoxy' or is there some kind of etching compound/ material that will give the present coating a sufficient 'tooth' for the proper coating?
I'm thinking, if this thing is gonna be too much more hassle and expense, he can take the 'free' boat back, pay me for all my work & supplies or just write it off and flat out keep it in lieu of repair payment.
Thanx for any ideas or info on my first boat ownership & repair.