Thread: making my alicraft watertight

newtech is pretty good bog.

Ms1 is perfect for jobs like this...heck I know a engineer/mechanic/Mr fix it,who keeps agricultural machinery going with zippy ties,silage tape and tubes of the black stuff. Amazing just what ms1 will stick together and keep sealed.i do happen to know of casing of heavy truck gearbox that has a hole in top where fertilizer corroded through that got sealed up using it and three years later still all good lol

Kneadit sticks like shit to a blanket. reasonably cheap and you lasts for ages. I have some thats still doing good work keeping oil on the inside of magnesium cases on my dirt bike. Plus it bunged up a hole on the ali radiator. the stuff is magic.

I'll look into the various types of bog mentioned. I'll use them if we can't seem to get to the last leaky rivet short of replacing every last one! From experience it is a one and done sort of thing as it is painful to remove!

we have 120n more rivets so we should get there eventually

That's the spirit, only 10,000 leaks to go haha! You will get there eventually, just keep an eye on it for cracking etc as well as you have changed the tensions the hull parts are under. This is the good thing with ali riveted, a bit like timber in that regard.

I heard the old navy ships we used to have got concrete poured into the bottom of them to seal leaks

Originally Posted by No.3

That's the spirit, only 10,000 leaks to go haha! You will get there eventually, just keep an eye on it for cracking etc as well as you have changed the tensions the hull parts are under. This is the good thing with ali riveted, a bit like timber in that regard.

I can get reasonably priced ali brazing rods so I can fix them relatively easy when they occur

Originally Posted by blip

I heard the old navy ships we used to have got concrete poured into the bottom of them to seal leaks

That's correct. But it wasn't to stop leaks. It was to add stiffness to the old girls keels. The southern ocean had given them a right hammering, given that they were not specifically designed for our oceans down here.

Nothing Exciting to report however I have bolted handles onto the tinny so it is now a hell of a lot easier to man handle.

Plan tomorrow is to seal the seams in and out of the hull. Replace some pop rivets, a little more strengthening on the stern and try to brace the bow so we can stand on it.

Hopefully we can get it to be a reasonably dry boat again

Nothing noteworthy achieved today. siliconed the external seams, replaced pop rivets and that is about it.

my mate reckons the bow is too narrow a V and sharp pointed to stand on for casting so the plan tomorrow is to just make it flex less and that's it. He has lost motivation so hopefully it leaks very little and we can enjoy it rather than nagging him to break the air compressor out.

Your in a boat you shouldnt need to be doing any serious casting

You sit up front one leg either side of really must get right up there....plenty room in boat itself without doing Kate n Leonardo impersonation!!

Originally Posted by Micky Duck

You sit up front one leg either side of really must get right up there....plenty room in boat itself without doing Kate n Leonardo impersonation!!

you sure do have a vivid imagination micky!

only progress tonight is the construction of a floor for the middle and some sealant on the internal seams.

It was upcycled from some construction trash. some nearly full sheets of treated half inch ply just chucked in the skip! The holes are for bungee cording the fuel tank or chilly bin.

in 3 weeks time I won't be on call so we shall do a decent mission with it! probably rangitoto or waiheke depending on how many litres per hour it leaks.

Is it treated i.e. tanalised? If it is, seal the ply with epoxy wood sealant and paint it - the treatment can cause corrosion when in contact with ali and seawater... Should be OK if it's painted though. Other option is glue some rubber around the edges where the contact points with the ali are, that would do it too.

The closed cell foam mats from Bunnings,big interlocking squares in bottom will help keep feet warm and stop lots of knocking noise if drop stuff inside boat...tends to not be noise problem if dropped outside lol.