Albatross Alpine number 2002 restoration

[Tatra Man]

This looked suspicious:-



. . . and from the inside by the back seat you can see why:-



Even worse without the paint - revealing a slit and the back of some filler:-



One good thump later out came this:-



. . . leaving this!:-



Out with the panel hammers and dollies:-





. . . . but still a stretched panel:-



Hmmmm . . . . . . . I'd heard that shrinking hammers were pretty useless but I'd also heard of using heat to shrink metal. I read up a bit on the principles and dug out a dual-temperature heat gun on the basis that I didn't have much to lose and, a couple of hours later, ended up with this:-



I don't think that's too bad for a first time effort!

[Alacrity]

Well done that man! By the way, going back to the bent bow, I am reliably informed that the Albatross oracle Pete G uses a wooden broom head - reversed of course - & it is exactly the same shape as the inside of the bow. Mount it on something solid so you can whack seven bells out of it & it works really well so the oracle says.

[rnb]

Looks a very good job Tatra , was worried you were going to start drilling holes again ...

[Tatra Man]

Drilling holes? . . . . Moi? . . . . . Noooo!! - I was eyeing up a twelve-bore on eBay!!

[Tatra Man]

Well done that man! By the way, going back to the bent bow, I am reliably informed that the Albatross oracle Pete G uses a wooden broom head - reversed of course - & it is exactly the same shape as the inside of the bow. Mount it on something solid so you can whack seven bells out of it & it works really well so the oracle says.

Now he tells me!!!

[Sham]

This is absolutely brilliant work, congratulations!

I did not understant though, how did you close the gap/slit? Is welding possible on the alloy?
I have a couple of tiny holes (galvanic corrosion) at the bottom of my hull, around the place where the prop shaft goes through and I'd be interested by your experience.

[Tatra Man]

You're very kind - but it does show what someone with no experience of working on aluminium alloy can achieve. (All my previous experience is on steel car bodies.)

No, I haven't welded it - it's just tapped shut. You can weld aluminium alloy but some alloys weld more easily than others and, unless you're extremely good at it, you will get a lot of warping which you will have to panel-beat out using heat to accomplish the shrinking unless you can get shrinking hammers to work. You can get aluminium alloy wire for mig welders and you would use argon as a shield gas but it would be very difficult on a large panel as thin alloy is best welded clamped to a backing plate. An inexperienced welder would just end up with large holes in a warped plate whether using mig or torch.

Others with more experience than I have will be along to give better advice but I would suggest that your alternatives are:-

1. Find someone with a lot of experience to weld the panel. (Time consuming to flatten the panel afterwards?)
2. Replace the panel. (Expensive and a lot of work but best for appearance.)
3. Patch the panel. (Not pretty and difficult in some places.)
4. Use JB-Weld on the holes. (Not pretty but easy and cheap.)
5. Add an additional skin to the panel. (Not pretty and difficult in some places.)

Naturally it will all depend on where the panel is and where and how large the holes are, what stresses it takes, is it visible and what final finish will be applied. You could end up using a combination of methods.

[johnd733]

this bow looks quite bad.It might be best to cut out down to the seam and get a good TIG welder to insert a new piece,-its all painted there anyway.You could drill some small holes and use a pulling hammer ,but it looks quite badly stretched. Johnd733

[Tatra Man]

I did resort to a slide hammer, John. - Have a look at page 2 and be prepared for a good laugh!

[johnd733]

Ah I missed page two,look as if it going to work out OK. Johnd