Hole in Starcraft - Welding an option?

[Umma Gumma]

I have a very small hole just behind the keel on a 17' Starcraft. Can this be repaired via welding? It's a big boat and I don't have immediate access to the inside where the hole is. Might be a challenge to flip it over with a 115 on the back.

The hole is about as big as 3-4 toothpicks put together. I must have punctured it when I beached the other day. I'd be fine with a welded on patch, if that's an option. Might be good to reinforce that area anyway.

If this can be done, any idea on cost and suggestions on who to contact? I'm leaving for a cabin on Wednesday so if I could get it done before that, that'd be great.

Thanks!

[toddb]

Sand the paint off and put some JB weld on it and you will be set until you can get it welded. We repaired a hole in a lower unit on an old Johnson once and it held for a long time. Unbelievably tough stuff...

[Steve Bakken]

We do alot of these type of repair. Very simple to weld up. The only thing that might present a problem would be if it's too close to the gasket that seals up the keel. Then the heat from the welding process could damage it. Then you would be stuck with something like jb weld. That being said, though, I've seen that stuff do remarkable things

[Umma Gumma]

I didn't get a chance to get it welded right away because it wouldn't dry out. I'm going to the welder tomorrow so tonight I'm sticking my shop vac way up in the bilge with a piece of flexible hose attached to make sure all the water is out. I look up with a flashlight and what do I see? Check out the picture. Took a bit of "fishing" to get it out, but finally I do. It looks to have been sitting right where my hole developed.

I'm no metal expert, but it looks to be either copper or brass. I suppose either sitting there in water is bad news. I don't know how long it's been there. I've had the boat a year and would never have used either material inside the boat. And this thing is big, 3/4 inch OD. What would something like this have been used for?

Anyway, wish me luck at the welder tomorrow. Whatever happens there, at least I won't have to worry about the corrosion coming back.

[jac714]

Looks like an outboard mounting nut

[Umma Gumma]

You're right, it does. I checked mine and they are all there. Maybe during install someone dropped one and failed to pick it up and it's been rolling around even since.

[jac714]

That would not surprise me a bit, when you think of the relative cost of a nut and the time necessary to find it it would make sense to just leave it there.

[Retro Active]

Galvanic corrosion, between the brass and aluminum if water was present (looks like it was). Maybe cheaper for the dealer to leave it there, but potentially more expensive for the owner to fix due to laziness of the dealer, if that was the case.