Patch Aluminium Dinghy with Fibreglass?

How about that? Anyone know? Would it work?

The dinghy is an old Aluminium De Havilland and the seats and stiffeners were rivetted to the hull. And the keel. These are the main problems, the rivets start and seep or even fall out and create a hole to let the water in.

I have been drilling out bad rivets and filling the cleaned hole with steel reinforced epoxy resin. And I've also got some 'Sikaflex', well known to the boating fraternity. It is a polyurethane sealant much used by them. Some suspect rivets I've simply wire brushed around and then bogged with it.

The steel epoxy I saw a quick mention of in one boating forum where they said don't use it because it doesn't bond well to the aluminium. And I see at least one of my fixes seeping water today when I looked. (The boat hasn't even been back in the water yet since I started fixing leaks).

So I'm dubious about it.

The Sikaflex might be a mighty product but it is softer, more like your car windscreen sealants, and it will wear easily I feel and the hull gets dragged up the runners of the trailer every time it is in and out of the water.

So I suddenly thought of maybe fibreglassing along the whole line of rivets, right across the hull. Maybe six lines each about 70mm wide.

But I've never done any. I don't know how well it bonds to aluminium. I assume it handles water alright because there's so many fibreglass boats. How well it'll stay bonded with the flexing and movement of the substrate I don't know.

Any ideas?


Read the full thread at RenovateForum.com...