Rivets...gotta' love 'em!

[mrwillis]

I have a very nice boat, and just bought it last year. It is an older boat (mid-90's Grumman 18-foot), but in very nice condition. I have some rivets on the bottom of the boat that are loose, and letting water in throughout the day of fishing. Yes, I do have an automatic bilge switch on it, but call me crazy...A BOAT ISN'T SUPPOSED TO HAVE WATER IN IT! What is going to be the easiest way to fix this, outside of welding them? It is an bass boat style (not a jon boat), so in order for me to get to the bottom of it to "smash" them back together, it would take a TON of work. Any thoughts? I've never messed with rivets before with anything, but I'm not an idiot when it comes to being handy or being able to fix things. Just need some suggestions from people who might have an idea, or from others who have had the same thing happen.
With the weather finally "breaking" this week, I am going to get it into my garage and out from under the covers, and get it ready for the water for mid-March.

Thanks in advance!

mrwillis

[Kevin22]

Well since you cant reach the inside and don't want to weld it.. I'd say just some JB weld down the seam and around the rivets. Not sure how well it would adhere to the paint but it would be worth a shot I guess.

[Lotech Joe]

The very best liquid sealant I've ever used is called Gluvit. It's a 2-part epoxy with the consistency of spun honey, and I used a tongue depressor and applied it to all the seams and a B-B size hole on a 14 foot utility boat. It dries as hard as steel and as smooth as glass. That boat will never again leak through that B-B size hole or any of the seams. One of the bonuses of this product is that you can paint over it when it's cured. If you can't remove your decking, the best way to get it to penetrate your seams would be to turn the boat over, apply it to the external side of the seams and let it settle into place. It does puddle a bit before curing, hence the glass like finish. I hope this helps; https://www.google.com/shopping/prod...&ved=0CKsBELok

[mrwillis]

LOL...let me rephrase! I could take apart the inside of the boat if needed, but then comes carpet and other miscellaneous things that I know would have to be fixed afterwards. Second, I've never welded aluminum. I wouldn't mind taking the boat to a welder to have it welded if rivets could be welded tight. Just don't know. Like I said, I don't have the experience with this!

[Defiant]

I have fixed some leaky rivets before from the outside with some 3M 5200 sealant just smearing it around the rivet and letting it cure .its will not come off without a hammer and a chisel it dont take much either .

[usafret99]

I have fixed some leaky rivets before from the outside with some 3M 5200 sealant just smearing it around the rivet and letting it cure .its will not come off without a hammer and a chisel it dont take much either .

[BuckeyeKdog]

There are closed end pop rivets at harbor freight and a few other places which worked very well on a 20' jon boat that I reworked last summer.
Got the idea from this site http://www.traxstech.com/Boat_Repair_Rivets.html the HF route was mucho cheaper and IMO just as effective

Drilled the original rivet out with a 3/16 bit, resized the hole 1/4" bit, Squirted a bit of 3M 08300 seam sealer in the hole and on the rivet. Popped the rivet and let the repair set overnight. Replaced 44 rivets. Next day. installed the bilge plug and filled boat with water, no hull leaks after 8 hours, except the bilge plug was not fully sealing and had a drip there. All work was done from outside of the boat.

[jimfish]

Get a tube of vulcum roof patch put a dab on each rivet and smear it around and your are done take 24hrs to cure.I used it to seal around roof top ac units and never had one leak.

[Wingfixr]

Drill out the loose rivets, and install Blind rivets or "CherryMax" rivets. Dip the stem in sealant before installing them.

[Bronson]

Good post, when you decide which way to go, let us know how it comes out.