Do All Aluminum Boats Leak??

[REW]

Many boats leak.
Many boats are dry.

Many boats are made either of aluminum, fiberglass, plastic, steel, concrete, wood or some combination there of.

Good luck

[That Minnesota guy]

Yes, my concrete boat never leaked a drop. It was hard to plane with a 9.9 but it never leaked.

[ziemann]

Why do I have a feeling that there's more to this story than the original poster gave us?

If all you want to know is whether all aluminum boats leak, then I guess you've got your answer. If you're actually seeking help or more information, I'd suggest providing more info than just a single sentence.

Good luck.

[staylor]

Originally Posted by That Minnesota guy

Yes, my concrete boat never leaked a drop. It was hard to plane with a 9.9 but it never leaked.

REW is entirely correct- there are concrete boats and even full sized cargo ships- I recall "build it yourself" concrete boat plans you could buy during the 1950s and probably earlier. Concrete ships were in use in the mid-1800s in Europe.....and there were numerous concrete landing barges/landing craft built during World War I and II due to a lack of available shipbuilding materials.

Presently, the American Society of Civil Engineers has their national Concrete Canoe competition for civil engineering students, which although started back in the 1960s at the university level, became a national competition in the 1980s.

As for leaking aluminum boats- I've owned 4 different Starcrafts since the 1980s- with zero leaks.
Doug

[REW]

I have quite a few friends who owned aluminum boats that leaked a little or a lot.

I have quite a few friends who owned aluminum boats that never leaked a drop.

I have had some friends with glass boats that leaked. But in the case of the glass boats with the leaking issue, it was easy to find and repair the leaks permanently.

However, for the case of aluminum riveted boats that had leaks, it was much more difficult to get such a boat to be 100% free of leaks.

Conversely, if a welded aluminum boat was leaking - like a glass boat - it was pretty straight forward to repair and make a good long term repair in stopping the leaks.

Good luck

[T Mac]

Originally Posted by REW

Conversely, if a welded aluminum boat was leaking - like a glass boat - it was pretty straight forward to repair and make a good long term repair in stopping the leaks.

Actually, not so easy. The leaks are usually at a weld or right next to it.

I have personally had to deal with both ... back when I was a resort owner..on our rental boats .
We had welded Crestliners and riveted Lunds.
It was easier to fix a rivet and we could fix them on the dock with one dockboy (bucking the rivet) and myself.

--Those were simple 16 and 18' boats... but on a fancier boat w/ floor, etc....you still have to tear the insides out to fix via a weld... or to get at a loose rivet

[cabin6]

Originally Posted by ziemann

Why do I have a feeling that there's more to this story than the original poster gave us?

If all you want to know is whether all aluminum boats leak, then I guess you've got your answer. If you're actually seeking help or more information, I'd suggest providing more info than just a single sentence.

Good luck.

Long story. Bought the boat new in 2009. I only fish on big water, Erie mostly, boat for fun on larger lakes in northern Michigan. In 2013 noticed water dripping from hull while boat sat in my driveway. Took it to my dealer (good guys, didn't even buy the boat from them)). Yep they agreed it leaked. We decided they would fix it in the off season. They replaced 12 rivets. Next summer, still leaking. Talked to dealer, they contacted Lund, Lund said we want it back to fix it. Prorated charges at 50% ( cost me $1900), shipped it back in December 2014, got it back Feb 2015 (road rash issue which is another long story- filed claim with Progressive- they paid, Lund didn't). Summer/Fall 2016 boat leaking again, tired of complaining, just figured this was normal. Now in 2017 it takes on water when trolling at 1.5 mph, we move to stern to land a fish, water rolls to back, bilge kicks on, yada yada. This time it's not leaking from rivets. Filled it up with water when it's on the trailer in driveway and water leaks out of it along the keel. Is this thing becoming unsafe? Like the boat but there is ALWAYS something going wrong with it. Could it be that many miles on the trailer contributes to these problems? Really getting tired of this crap. Turning into the ultimate bad fishing experience. Any Lund reps reading this. Brian?

[MarkG]

Leaking NOT normal.
Although if you beat the crap out of one enough, over time,as others have said, some percentage may develop a leak. But NO, not all aluminum boats leak.

My current 16 year old 2001 Lund so far has never leaked.

...But my previous 1988 Lund did. Mine was a cracked keel weld near the bow. But when I first reported the problem to Lund, they already pretty much knew what caused it. They had made a mistake on that model, that year, of over rating the max HP rating (90HP). These models when maxed,which mine was, came back to them with cracked keels from over stress. They rewelded the keel, then retrofitted with twin plate re-enforcment to bring the hull to spec with the max HP rating. I Ran the snot out of that boat about 8 more years before I sold it. Had never leaked another drop. Nor had any of my other previous aluminum boats leaked, which included an even older Lund, an Alumcraft, Mirrocraft, and Starcraft.

Yes, a trailer can cause hull damage if not fitted to support the hull correctly. During discussions with Lund during my repair, though they did not suspect it to be my issue, when they returned the boat to me they wanted to make sure I was advised about proper trailering and support.

Unfortunately it sounds like Lund failed to fix your problem, whatever it was. If leaking from the keel,and lots of water coming in, very well could be that weld.

[B-man]

You said "road rash issues"?

Did the boat hit the pavement somehow?

[cabin6]

No, did not hit pavement or anything like that. The "protective" travel plastic placed on it did not go all the way around the boat and the paint got marred up and down both sides. Lund did supply new decals and I had part of it repainted. Thank you all for your input.