The front seat of my Willie has issues, the tabs that fasten the seat to the side rails has cracked on both sides (one side welded once). Can anyone reccomend a fab shop that could help at a reasonable price. I'm thinking of having the tabs cut off and having a braket built of stainless or heavier gauge aluminum then bolted tothe sides of the storage/seat. I've heard this is common, anyone else seen this and what did you do.??

Mike, once you get this welded, leave your boat tied down loosely on the trailer. I think this cracking is caused by boats being tied to tight and when the trailer flexes while driving, the boat flexes too. Aluminum does not have the flexing quality steel does, and therefore fatigues and cracks. My old Willie had some welded cracks and after I was told to loosen up the tie down in the rear, it never cracked again. Also, when stored, loosen the tie down completely.

Aluminum welds are brittle and not flexible. the majority of the issue is most likely for expansion and contraction of the metal from the heat of the day to the night etc. The trailer thing makes sense as well. I would not combine steel and Al. unless it was my last option. Would rivets work?

I have to agree about the trailering problem, by the looks of the tackle stored under the seats it get extremely violent back there, in fact I've taken to leaving my boat in Forks from Dec. to Apr. to reduce wear and tear. The seat crack welds seem to be from 5 to 600 lbs of weight up front and a really bad design, not really stout enough for that much work. Incidently I'm looking for somebody in the south Seattle area.

If its just the seat slides that are broken? Then you are better off to just buy htose as they are cheap, cheaper than the shop time you would pay to have it done. I think we sell them for $8.00 a pair.

Brian, my assumption is he's talking about the side plates welded to the seat/seatbox that lay over the side trays and get bolted through. These seem to take the most abuse on boats as they are where the real structural ridgity comes from in most boat designs.

I could work out a deal either in the fab shop I supervise or in one of my employees home shop. Would you trade for a boat trip for the both of us?

I had some major alluminum work done on my boat at Stevens in Oregon. Its a drive but I will tell you what they do a great job. Most of all it was pretty inexpensive.

THe shop I supervise is in Tacoma http://www.idealmachine.org and my buddies house is in Graham. If the part you need fixed is removable I could pick it up, if the repair is in the boat you would need to drive it here. Let me know PM me.

glenn's welding is a phenomenal shop up here it's right off of 164th st and I5. they welded the cavitation plate on my outboard for around $30
http://www.gweld.com/

willy

Thanks for the offer but I'm using a local shop on the Island.

If the crack hasn't ran to far and is not affecting any load yet, you can stop it by drilling a hole at the end of it. It will disperse the load that is causing the crack along the radius of the new hole. If that doesn't work you can fill the hole in when you weld it.

I think the first place I'd contact is Willie Boats


Herm

You might also give Wooldridge Boats a call. When I was shopping for a sled I went in and toured their shop. They had a couple boats in there they were fixing for people of other brands when I was there.

THERE IS A BLACKSMITH IN WHITE CENTER,BEEN THERE FOR A LONG TIME, I BELIEVE THE PLACE IS STILL CALLED WHITE CENTER BLACKSMITH. IT'S LOCATION IS 10037 14TH AVE SW 206-767-0569. THEY HAVE TREATED ME RIGHT THE FEW TIMES I HAD THEM DO WORK