Leaking Alumacraft

Hi all. Some help/advice please.

Last spring, I hunted down a late 90s Alumacraft Lunker for my father to replace his 1980s vintage boat.

And, of course, I managed to buy him a leaker! B@stard that sold it to me never said anything about it it leaking, but clearly this didn’t happen overnight.

Anyway, after checking all the usual stuff, livewell drain hose, through-hull fittings etc, I finally filled the hulll with water and found out what I was afraid of. Hull leak.

It’s leaking from the center “skid” starting about 6 inches behind where the arc from the bow forms a straight line that continues to the back. From that center reinforcing “skid” (don’t know what it’s officially called) it’s leaking. The water ooozes out from the top of the skid ABOVE the rivits right where the skid meets the sheets that form the hull.

You can see the drops on the bottom of the skid in Picture 1. Picture 2 is my dad pointing to the leak so you can see where on the boat the leak is.

Any idea what I can do about this? Can I caulk or epoxy the leak or is the leak actually underneath that skid such that it can only be gotten at from inside (and of course by tearing up the floor)?

How would I fix this or who could I take this to to get it fixed?

Many thanks.

Grouse

3m scotchkote sticks on the seams on both sides of the rib will seal it right up.

there was a lot of leakers up to 2002 then they fixed the problem its a pain ive done 4 and its a night mare the best way is to pull the rivets and do it right the other way would be to take the deck off and paint the seam in the inside with a product called glove it stuff really works and the look onthe outside is clean any time u try to patch on the out side it looks like its patched I have a couple clients that i did 7yrs ago and no leaks with the glove-it West Marine has it usually in stock

I’ve got the same problem with my ’98 lunker. Going to limp it through the year, this winter I may attack the problem from the inside. What a pain!

Check this guy out. I found this on another website, when I was just looking at the boats

Aluminum boat repair and refinishing

Our work is guaranteed and prices are reasonable. For the PERFECT job trust Anchor Marine Repair. Repairing and painting boats for 40 years. Long distance pick up and delivery are available. Please contact us at 763-972-3540. To view other samples check out our website at anchormarinerepair.com

I had the same problem with my 2002 Alumacraft. I brought it to George’s Repair Center in Ham Lake. They told me that Alumacrafts were known for leaks until about the mid 2000’s and the leaks were due to corrosion…leaky gas tanks combined with some electrical current running through the boat? I understand that Alumacraft has since fixed the problem but it did not help me out any. They told me that in order to completly fix the issue, they had to take out the section of the hull that was leaking and weld a new section in. This meant taking out the gas tank, etc. They told me that I would be $800 in, at least and that the work would not be guarenteed because corrorsion may return.

My best advice, if you are going to have the boat long term, it may be worth the fix or at least bringing it into a repair shop for an estimate. I ended up selling mine (took a huge loss) with complete disclosure of the issue for the person who bought it.

Good luck.

pull the rivets.

Were it me, once I got over the mumbling and cussing part, I’d write it off as a bad experience and go buy a float switch for the bilge pump. By far and away the cheapest solution. jerr

For what it’s worth Grouse, here’s what I did when I discovered where my Lund S-16 was leaking. At the time this happened, I was so broke I couldn’t afford a down payment on a free lunch! Resigned to the fact that I had to find a way to fix it myself, I tried to to think of a way to do it as cheaply as possible. There was a crack on the bottom of my boat about an inch and a half long! It was located right over where one of the keel’s that run the full length of the boat so I couldn’t get at it from the outside. The first thing I did was put a small vertical nick at either end of the crack to prevent it from cracking any further. Then I used my Bernz-O-Matic torch to heat the area thoroughly. Next I put a liberal application of Gorilla Glue all along the crack.Then I heated that again with my torch. The Gorilla Glue really liquifie’s then and seeped into the crack. For the final touch, I applied a small amount of glue all along the crack. That was 4 year’s ago and it hasn’t leaked since. Worked for me! TGood luck with your boat! DIRTBALL2

Thanks for all the advice guys.

I’ve called a couple of places and it looks like the only reliable fix is a re-rivit job. This is very unfortunate, I’m really pissed off at the seller for neglecting to mention this little 5 gallon per hour leak, but that’s another issue.

Grouse

that is the smart way to do it do it right and it will last u I hate make shift jobs they always bite u

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that is the smart way to do it do it right and it will last u I hate make shift jobs they always bite u

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Yes, I’ve done a lot of looking on the net and it sounds like all the epoxy and other “seal the rivits” fixes are, at best, taking a chance and hoping it stays fixed. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it works for a while. Sometimes it doesn’t work for schmidt.

My luck isn’t that good. Also, thinking a few moves ahead, if I cover those rivits with layers of goop, gunk, and schlock, all that crap would have to be removed if a rivit job proved to be necessary later on. Ug! I hate undoing some @ss clown’s half-@ss fix, and I hate it even more when that @ss clown was me.

It’s headed for the shop next week. I’ll post a full report.

Grouse

Those pictures are exactly what my lunker looks like. I wish it was just 5gal an hour. I installed a bilge with a float switch. I’ve also recently put 2 cans of “Flex Seal” along the entire length of the keel. Didn’t fix the leak or even slow it down. I might add some more in a few areas where i think it didn’t quite seal the gaps.

About two years ago i had spiderwebing rivets as well as a large gash. I had those welded and they look great to this day. Re-Riveting sounds very expensive if you have to remove any flooring.

Good luck. I’m still chasing my leak.

Out of curiosity, does anyone know what alloy of aluminum they generally use in Alumacraft and Lund boats?

If they use a 6061 alloy and not a 2000 or 7000 series aluminum, I wonder why a leak along the seam, like in the pictures above, couldn’t be welded?

You could try a guy I know in New York Mills for your repair. He used to work for Lund and has been working on his own for some time now. I have personally brought my own boat to him and also a few boats from Hoots that I don’t have the right tools to fix it with. He does an excellent job and his name is Jeff Oakland. The drive might be worth the quality of work being done. It sucks people do this kind of shady selling. I see it at the shop more than enough.

Update on this post. I had taken the Alumacraft to Anchor Marine in Delano. I chose this shop because they were the only shop out of the 4 I talked to that would gaurentee their work would be leak free. Everyone else was quick to point out that they would try their best, but if it leaks after the fix, tough luck.

Got the call from Anchor Marine Repair today. My dad’s Alumacraft is done.

And the fix was UG-LY. With a capital UG.

Anchor tried re-rivitiing the keel, which they said fixes most of the Alumacraft leakers from this vintage and Anchor has the equipment to do the whole job from the outside.

They did that to my dad’s boat, filled it up with water for a final check and uh-oh. Still leaking like a sieve.

Vic the owner said that his shop foreman said, uh-oh, we got another one of “those” Alumacrafts here. And so they had to undo the whole rivit job, take the flooring out of the boat, take all the foam out, and confirm what they suspected.

The keel is sealed by a combination of caulk and rivits and on my dad’s boat, the caulk was missing for about 3 feet of the keel. No evidence it had ever been caulked, even at the factory. The shop forman said it had probably been leaking since the first day in the water.

So they took the whole hull apart, caulked her, put her back together, rivited the whole keel back on, put new foam in, put the floors back in, buff her, wax her, give her a manicure, etc, etc.

Filled her up with water and she’s leak-free. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Anyway, I’ll be taking her for a run to confirm she’s fixed this weekend.

Anchor Marine and the owner Vic has been great to work with on this and they sure seem to know what they’re doing. The whole fix took 1 week, and considering how ugly it got, I’m surprised it ONLY took a week.

Will be glad when this whole saga is over.

Grouse

That doesn’t sound cheap!

That’s good to hear

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That doesn’t sound cheap!

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It wasn’t. Luckily, I didn’t overpay for the boat, so even considering the repair, I’m probably $500 over what I’d have been willing to pay at the top end. So all things considerdered, it’s not the worst thing in the world.

Problem is I’m between a rock and a hard place on this one. Dad couldn’t use it the way it is, and I wouldn’t ever sell on a leaker like this, even disclosing it to a buyer, I still wouldn’t feel right about it.

This rig is going to P2 this weekend for a full water test and then if all is good, she goes to Canada next week.

Grouse

Good Luck