Yankemandspankem
Member
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2018
- Messages
- 10
- Reaction score
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After a full season of using my 1436 (and the most successful fishing season I've ever had), the front weld on my Alumacraft 1436 LT blew out. I bought the boat new with a warranty. After filing my claim it took Alumacraft a month to contact the dealer, then the dealer to contact me and the dealer said sorry the damage isn't covered. I was pretty pissed and sat on the broken boat for a few months. Went on craigslist and found this awesome welder who fixed it for $100. I love this boat and it'll be my small lake boat this year and my Bass Tracker will be used for the big lakes. The welder I had fix my boat said that when they manufacture these Alumacraft boats they only weld one side. He ended up welding both sides and it "feels" stronger. Got my fixed boat home, wiped the weld work with alcohol and took a can of krylon camo green, sprayed it, and whadda know its better than new. I also hit any scratches with paint and krylon camo blends right in with Alumacrafts paint. I will say this; if you buy a boat new go with Tracker if your into the warranty thing. I have a feeling if it'd been a Tracker they'd have given me a new boat. Alumacraft did nothing to help me fix my boat when its obviously a flaw in their craftsmanship (they claimed I impacted the front of the boat. It blew outt when reeling the boat in. Weak welds on a spot that will experience stress).
I had to drill out the rivets to remove the front seat to gain access to the backside of the damage. Since the rivets aren't below the water line I reattached the front seat with stainless steel bolts, washers, and loctite. This boat doesn't go in saltwater so leave your corrosion comments for someone else (my zinc hinges on my deck storage doors have zero rust). I dabbed loctite on all the bolts and used washers and nylocs to refasten. I'm not too worried about vibration on the bolts either since it'll hardly ever have a gas motor on the back anymore. Since my deck is not permanently fastened to the boat, merely velcro'd in, getting the deck off for the repair was a breeze.
I've posted my framing to help anyone out wanting to get the correct idea on how to build a wooden deck. I removed this deck by myself today and reinstalled it again by myself. It wasnt graceful but it's easily doable (even after my hernia surgery. Nothing popped out). Build it like a brick sh*thouse. Be very careful of self proclaimed YouTube experts building these decks... many have obviously never framed anything.
I had a pedestal seat on the front and a regular folding seat on the back... word of advice... leave that junk off your boat, all it does is get in the way on these small boats. When you've found a spot to cast on and the boat starts drifting it's way easier to walk around the boat without crap in your way. If you wanna dump money buy quality lucky craft or megabass jerkbaits or some cool carpet, although the home depot budget carpet does absolutely fine.
I had to drill out the rivets to remove the front seat to gain access to the backside of the damage. Since the rivets aren't below the water line I reattached the front seat with stainless steel bolts, washers, and loctite. This boat doesn't go in saltwater so leave your corrosion comments for someone else (my zinc hinges on my deck storage doors have zero rust). I dabbed loctite on all the bolts and used washers and nylocs to refasten. I'm not too worried about vibration on the bolts either since it'll hardly ever have a gas motor on the back anymore. Since my deck is not permanently fastened to the boat, merely velcro'd in, getting the deck off for the repair was a breeze.
I've posted my framing to help anyone out wanting to get the correct idea on how to build a wooden deck. I removed this deck by myself today and reinstalled it again by myself. It wasnt graceful but it's easily doable (even after my hernia surgery. Nothing popped out). Build it like a brick sh*thouse. Be very careful of self proclaimed YouTube experts building these decks... many have obviously never framed anything.
I had a pedestal seat on the front and a regular folding seat on the back... word of advice... leave that junk off your boat, all it does is get in the way on these small boats. When you've found a spot to cast on and the boat starts drifting it's way easier to walk around the boat without crap in your way. If you wanna dump money buy quality lucky craft or megabass jerkbaits or some cool carpet, although the home depot budget carpet does absolutely fine.