Anyone have any recommendation and or experiences for aluminum hull repairs ? East Texas area?
Thanks

Sell it and buy a new boat!! Once Aluminum flexes and cracks it’s weakened and will always tend to crack again. I had several cracks in my old aluminum boat and got it repaired. 3 months later they cracked right back open. The shop that repaired it covered it under warranty but said they would not repair the
Boat again. Listed her for sale that day.

What boat did you have?

Any good welding shop can repair aluminum.

Plus 1 - also If you are aggressive in finding why it happened it can be fixed and stay fixed.

Find another shop. Aluminum can be fixed but you need to know what you're doing. If they pull out a spool gun it isn't completely damning but get nervous....

Ok

I'm going thru the same process. I've been told by 2 different businesses that it can be done but will tough and could break again. I have a Tracker so they said before they'd even start I'd need to get to the spot "inside" the hull and get rid of all the flotation foam that's touching the area. Then clean it super well so nothing is around it. Then they'll prep the outside and try to get the weld to stick. They said if any flotation or foreign debris is on the inside in the area the welding stick will just just keep feeding into it. Worth a shot and I hope I can get to it with the hole I cut for the trolling motor pedal box! Cutting more holes just makes me nervous...

There is one near Longview (IIRC) but I don't know the name of it.

You could try WC Custom Boats. Not sure if they would do it or not. Located in Flint.

Have it welded and then get it sprayed with a polyuria. I just had my 1650 sprayed for $250. Sealed up the boat from any water leaks and made it tons quieter.

WC- that is quite interesting adding the spray liner! Has it affected your overall speed any? Looks like you coated the whole bottom. Wonder if I did just the front end down past the V?!?! My crack is about 14" up from the last of the V so once welded and sprayed would cover that area good.

Not sure if it’s affected the speed but I’d think that it would but I don’t worry about speed on this rig.

The problem with welding the hull is that the aluminum is so thin that it really needs to be stressed relieved or it will crack again.
I welded aluminum on my power plant job for years and my recommendation is to take a very small welding torch tip cleaner drill
and drill a hole at each end of the crack. Then clean the hell out of it. I don't mean rub it with a rag. I mean scotch brite/sand paper
until it shines, then clean it with denatured alcohol. Then use a good grade of silicone on the crack. Silicone will flex and let the hull do
what it wants to do. Its going to flex if you weld it and it will crack again.