Aluminum boat cracks

[Pete]

Lots of us have boats. Who has experience with cracked aluminum? What kind of boat, what circumstances, what solutions?

Here's my tale: Alumaweld bends sheet aluminum to build the motor mount which attaches a Sport Jet in their boats. The bend is 90 degrees left, 90 degrees right, 90 degrees left ... an "S" bend. The inside seam split about 5 inches, compromising my boat. It appears that the "Lifetime Hull Warrantee" will cover the repairs. I don't know yet how the fix will be accomplished, but I assume the entire piece will be replaced since once started, the "zipper" will usually open all the way up.

[OR Coast Range]

Man, its too early.

At first I read that as Aluminum "Butt" cracks. I thought that you were talking about your "special edition" Wizzard of Oz tape!

[brshooter]

Pete,
I know your boat is in the shop. Gini and I are taking Friday and Monday off from work. Figure we needed a long fishing weekend. You're always welcome in our boat. Let me know if it fits your schedule. Don't know where yet, but we can figure it out.

[Pete]

I assume it is a total warrantee deal. The fabricator said he thought it would be. But the people who say yay or nay have not said anything yet. If it isn't covered 100% I'm going to let the world know about it!

[Backlash2]

Oh **** !!! A problem with a sportjet, even if it is the mounting bracket, I can hear Boater's footsteps approaching....... [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

Hmmm....I test aluminum for elongation(stretch) and tensile strength. It would be interesting to see what the aluminum on your boat would reveal.
Stew

[Pete]

Hey, thanks! I ought to have Humpty back from the shop this week ... report forthcoming. I may take you up on your offer if I'm not back in the water. We can tune some Alvins, practice some knots and prognosticate about the Midas Cup!

Pete,

Please tell me this is a total warranty deal?

[Pete]

Arrgh!
Two weeks in dry dock. The problem is recognized as covered by warrentee ... but is it fixed? Nope. It was patched with epoxy and I was told I'd need to reschedule a couple weeks some time in the future to get the job done right.


[ 08-31-2001: Message edited by: Pete ]

[jet]

Bummer... No Alumaglued boat for me ever, I am gettting 2 footitis and think I might get a larger boat. Never a Alumaglued

Jet~~~

[Pete]

I'd say, take the boat apart, get under the floor, before you buy it ... make sure that the support structure is completely manufactured from extruded material ... bent aluminum isn't strong enough.

[Bait O' Eggs]

Pete,
I guess Alumaweld doesnt get any free promotion from you anytime soon.

Do you think you could sue them if the epoxy broke loose and the boat sank and you had to go for a swim? [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] Might we worth just about as much as the powerball right now.

Might be a good way to get a new boat out of the deal. I bet if it sank on the line at B10 the boat may not be salvaged on a good outgoing tide.

Or you could always park it at Hammond with a big sign that says, "I cannot go fishing with the rest of you, because my ALUMAWELD has a failed hull and leaks, it is to be repaired sometime in the distant future because ALUMAWELD is to busy making other crappy boats to screw some other poor unsuspecting potential buyers."

I am sure you will find a way to turn up the heat for a real repair.

Pete,

I REFRAINED from doing this up until now!
Trade that puppy in.



[ 08-24-2001: Message edited by: ****** ]

[Pete]

Gee, 'Nook, think I can get good value for a cracked boat?

[ 08-31-2001: Message edited by: Pete ]

Have you taken this issue direct to Page? [img]images/icons/blush.gif[/img]

[Pete]

Paige was not happy to hear from me. He could not explain how epoxy would keep aluminum from continuing to crack. They keep my boat for a third week, but the epoxy will be removed, the crack will be fixed and Paige apologized for the extended delay in diagnosing the problem ... said there was "no excuse" for the 10 days my boat sat before it was looked at. No loaner, but at least it will be properly fixed.

[ 08-31-2001: Message edited by: Pete ]

[WeldcraftOwner]

I have cracked the hull of my Weldcraft 16Ft Angler and it was not under warrentey accourding to them. They say that since I modified my trailer with UHMW bunks it voided it and they wanted 1500 bucks to fix it. It cracked at a welded seam that a local boat manufacture told me the weld was over heated when it was welded. Needless to say I will not purchase another Weldcraft though.

Jason S

[WeldcraftOwner]

Wow I spell well! LOL

Wild Willie?

Are you seeing this stuff? [img]images/icons/rolleyes.gif[/img]

[Pete]

On a positive note, let me say that once the issue was brought to Paige's attention things started happening. I went in to remove my personal effects this morning so the interior of the boat could be removed to allow welding. Everyone at the shop was aware of the situation and was bending over backwards to see that I was happy. ...except they didn't offer me a loaner boat.

Cool.

Rick

[Pete]

...now if I could just find a ride in a nice blue boat ....

You lookin' to hit the upcoming long weekend hard?

[brshooter]

Going out Sunday and Monday Pete. Let me know if you need a ride.

[boater]

was the split along the outside edge of one of the bends in the aluminum ?

[Pete]

Well, I suppose it would be "outside" if you were looking at it from the outside ... it's along a 90 degree bend, starting at a welded seam. I don't know the morphology of the weld, but I suspect there is a void or some imperfection there which facilitated the split.

[boater]

could be a few things that caused it, the grain of the aluminum may be going in the wrong direction, they might have used the wrong radious die in there press when they pressed it. also they might have used to strong of tensil strength of aluminum, you can bend high strength aluminum but not the same way as the low strength stuff. and also if they didnt smooth the aluminum at the edge before they bent it that will cause it also, a tiny crack on the outside edge after the part is bent will just spread like yours did when any stress or vibration is put to it. just my 2 useless cents worth.

[Pete]

I can't tell from visual observation what the tensile strength or grain direction of the aluminum is, but I suspect the tiny crack theory is probably pretty close to the cause of the problem. There certainly is plenty of vibration from a 2 cycle, 6 cylinder motor that gets run near the top end of it's RPM range on a regular basis.

...pretty safe bet that the JB Weld solution wouldn't have done much good, so I'm glad that got 86'd. But I don't know enough about aluminum properties or the strength of aluminum welds to know if welding the crack will stop it from growing. I guess Mr. Guinea Pig will find out, huh?

[boater]

the weld wont be as strong but you`d have to think they would want to fix it correctly so they dont see you back with the same problem, good luck.

[hustlerrjim]

had a split in my 17 ft. almar, took it to Tacoma at their shop, backed in the door and rodger had 7 men on the boat in just a min; took all the floor boards out,bent a patch to fit the crack welded it on ,put every thing back together and had me on my way, all in 2 hrs.now that is service

[Hookset]

Sorry to hear about your boat problems Pete. Had my share of problems with previous Alumaweld. I've never been a fan of bent aluminum supports after what happened to me. The box girders under the floor, the major floor support both external and internal cracked 2 times, almost the entire lenght the first time. Both times the support stressed the weld along the chine, broke the welds there and the boat leaked. With no structural support I undertood why the seem cracked. Of course, Alumaweld has a limited lifetime warranty. Meaning I, the second boat owner assumed all expenses repairing the boat. I had the boat re-welded at a local boat manufacturer and they just laughed when the floor was removed. They couldn't believe the only support was 2 sections of bent sheet aluminum. After looking at their boats, I could understand why. I've mentioned this before and others simply said, as long as you have a lifetime warranty, what does it matter. Well........ it does matter. When you have to continuosly repair a boat for design flaws, it does matter.

I'm no expert here, but in my opinion, those motor mount brackets should never have been built with bent aluminum sheet material. Instead, thicker aluminum bar and tube stock welded together to form the mount. I remember seeing some very beefy mounts made in this fashion on other boats.

And the Weldcraft owner, your getting a really raw deal. That really stinks. Have a question, when you changed to UHMW, did you switch to bunks? If you only changed the material, this should never have voided your warranty. I'm assuming you changed from carpet to UHMW and the bunks were left intact. What you did actually improved the life of your boat, not shorten it. The problem with carpet is it traps salt. When using the boat around salt water, the salt remains in the carpet trapped against the hull, salt degrades aluminum. This can and does shorten the life of aluminum. The local boat builder recommends UHMW and would never sell a boat with carpeted bunks for this very reason. If anything, Weldcraft should be thanking you. You have a legitimate grip. I'd be interested to learn about thier reasoning behind voiding your warranty.

Best of luck to the both of you,

Gregg

[boater]

hook, i agree with you, it does matter if you have to deal with problems with your boat all the time but the fact is that some of these companys care more about getting the product out the door as fast as they can and have cut to many corners.

[Pete]

I think part of the problem is a management thing. If you asked a salesman whether it's harder to sell boats that need warrantee work, they'd say, "yes". If you asked the salemsmen whether it's harder to sell boats when warrantee work is difficult to get, they'd say "yes". But if you asked the service department whether they'd prefer to do paid work or warrantee work, they'd prefer paid work. Somewhere management has to connect the circle and make everyone understand that the product needs to be designed and assembled to minimize warrantee claims in order to protect the reputation of the product and encourage sales.

My warrantee claim is not a frequent one. There are a lot of Alumaweld boats out there and the problem with mine is not common ... however, it would have been better if it had been addressed properly and promptly when I first came in for repairs instead of having to run it up the chain of command to get satisfaction. I'd guess the service department will be a little more responsive to similar problems in the future.

[boater]

maybe they are trying to figure out how to get the glue off of the crack before they weld it? jk...

[onstep]

Hookset,

I believe the problem with the bunks under his trailer didn't have to do with the carpet. It has to do with the chemicals and additives in the wood used in his bunks. Copper is a product used in the laminates for pressure treated wood. The problem lies in dissimlair metals causing galvanic action. I've seen holes wore through bottoms of boats. If you own a trailer with carpeted bunks and an aluminium boat I would be checking for signs of galvanic action on the bottom. Also look under your floor boards and see if the wood floor has a barrier of some kind between the aluminum and wood itself.

[Bait O' Eggs]

I wonder how many boat dealers have a printed copy of this thread hanging on the front door of their shop?

[img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img] [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

I doubt Stevens Marine has it posted.

[Pete]

fshxtc ... call Scott Cure at the Tigard store, if he can't help, then get Paige Stevens involve. There's no excuse for bad warrantee service, especially when that seems to be the principal reason the boat costs what it does.

[boater]

wow, your lucky you didnt sink your boat, plugging those drain holes has got to rank up there with glueing the motor mounts together, they will probly say "well, the guy is new, he used to be a dish washer before we hired him as our warrentee repair man" what a disgrace to have to deal with idiots like this.

[fishnxtc]

Pete-
just got back from dealing with alumahell. i cracked my haul back in december. not the weld the actual aluminum in the front of the hual. they told me it was a design flaw. so they fix it!? thursday with high chop my fish box in the front started to fill with water and not drain. now i'm driving in to the chop with the front of my boat loaded with water and taking on more water beacuse it won't drain.. after making it back safe to chinook, i have to bail my fish box out by hand. taking a closer look they welded 3 4X4's of aluminum in the front of my boat to make it more durable. them must not be to bright beacuse they covered the hole to drain the fish box.

well, i call them on friday and say i'll bring my boat on wednesday to have the problem fix. they said no problem we will have it back to the sameday.

take my boat in today, first they say well you have to clean all the fish blood and water. well, need less to say i have been doing it for 5 day i was not about to do it again. service manager told me they would not work on it then. now i have to get the store manager involved, he say's ok well pump it out and fix it. but your boat will not be ready today, do you need tomorrow?(no i buy a boat so it can sit in your lot for a couple of days)i call inadvance to schedual to bring my boat in now it won't be ready. i ask who else can it talk to his reply was no one. i asked about paige, i was told he will just tell me to talk to store manage. my question is how did you get in contact with paige?

[Pete]

OK ... I'm a happy boater again! My leak is gone and I doubt it will be a problem again. The area that was cracked was repaired and reinforced and it looks much stronger than it did. Watch out fish!

Let me say that I found Stevens to be very responsive ... everyone I dealt with was very interested in making sure the job was done right. The added bonus for me is that I didn't have to go very far to get warrantee work done. It's a busy time of year for boat shops, things get backed up, there's pressure to get jobs finished and there isn't always the service capacity needed to address everything right away. Certainly I wish I hadn't had a problem, but I'm glad the business was there to back up their product ... and heck, my boat was detailed and looked like new when I picked it up!

[FM2]

Pete, I'm glad to hear everything worked out with Stevens on your boat. I have had good luck with them especially when they corrected a problem on my boat that resulted in a fire in my engine compartment. This was a couple of years back when I took in my 21' NW Jet to have a 4 stroke kicker and a nautamatic trolling system installed. They put a ground wire to close to the kicker fuel line and the ground apparently arc'ed and caught the fuel line on fire while I was fishing in Tillamook near the Oyster house. Fortunately I discovered this before it got real serious and put the fire out and got back to the dock with a tow from another boater. I took my boat to Stevens and met with Bob who was the head of the shop, showed him the problem and said I wasn't going to make a big deal out of it but you better revise your installation procedures. They bent over backwards to get it repaired and even threw in a couple of perks. While this could have been a potentially serious problem and I could have really made a big deal out of it I found by keeping my wits and patience, everything worked out for the better. Because of this I would go back to them with my business (except to buy an alumaweld [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img] ) because they were fair in how they handled the situation.