rivets leaking on crappie boat

[CrappieLips]

Bubuck the rivets first then seal as reaper and dedawg advise flexing will cause the holes to wallow out and crack sooner or later

[yankee doodler]

re-shooting the rivets is important! If the rivets remain loose, and they are covered with a sealant, they are not doing their job as far as structural integrity goes. You can use a sealant around them, then re-shoot. Snug them buggers up and you shouldn't have others coming loose due to a few loose rivets. If allowed to stay loose, you can end up having others work loose in the same area, which in turn oversizes the holes they are in. Do it right and you'll get years of service out of it. Do it wrong, and you'll be doing it again before you know it.

IS VERY IMPORTANT. YOU WILL ONLY HAVE ISSUES W/ OTHERS DOWN THE ROAD.

[WestTennCrappie]

Anything worth doing is worth doing right! So I would have to agree with those that are saying fix it right. BUT I must say that alot of these other suggestions about the various sealers,jb weld, and jb water weld (aka mighty putty from TV, which is great by the way) all work well for me in the past especially for a quick fix tha tmight last a few years. You cant go worng really with just a few leaky rivets, but again if you got the time do it right!

[Cane Pole]

I put a bilge put on my Jon. I been beating rivets over 40 years on this boat. I am gonna try sealing some next time.

[joewildlife]

We had an old boat when I worked for the DNR Fisheries Dept in Indiana that leaked all over the place due to loose rivets. We filled the boat with water when it was on the trailer one day, and used a grease pencil to mark all the rivets that were leaking. Emptied the boat, then as described earlier, held a chunk of solid steel against the rivet on one side and whacked the rivet on the other side with a ball-peen hammer. My boss chewed me out for it, said I wasn't doing something right, he was in the Air Force and knew better but never told me what I was doing wrong. The boat never leaked again!

I had a old riveted MonArk and occasionally sheared rivets off when I was running the gravel bottomed river with a jet motor. For a quick fix, I just used a stainless bolt, nut, and washers and a smidgen of JB weld. I didn't have the tools to properly set a solid aluminum rivet and pop rivets didn't do the job.

All of the above is based on the ability to get to both sides of the offending rivet, of course.

Joe

[BULLFROG-1]

Go to lowes or homedepot and get a tube of vulkeem, in the roofing dept. Clean area around rivet squeeze a little of the sealant on the rivet and smooth it out with your finger make sure the rivet is covered plus about 1/2 in around it let sit for 24hrs and you are ready to go,takes 5min. did that about 5 yrs ago and havent had a leak since.

I got a 40 yr old aluim~~~Started covering them reverts years ago with roofing tar~~~Now i use the hi tech stuff from home depot~~~~~~~~have good results and boat aint fell apart yet.:p

[boatstall]

I have a '67 model, 14 ft., made by Brewster Mfg. Monroe, La.
My wife and I have tightened rivets on this boat for most of its life. We do the same method of detecting where our leakers are, fill the boat up with water from the hose, mark the leaks by circling them with a marker. Drain the boat, she gets on the inside and we agree on which rivet by counting from an agreed upon starting point. She holds a sledge hammer on the rivet, and I whack it from the outside with another sledge hammer. Snugs them up quick, and you can hear the sound change when you take all the slack out. Retest with water, usually lasts for a year or so before we realize its time again, and its rare to have to tighten a particular rivet more than once.

I know this technique won't work for newer multi-paneled boats with unexposed rivets from the interior. Think that's why I still have a couple of the old simply built aluminum's, cause I can bang em back into shape.

My 2 cents worth.....
boatstall

[cacheriver6]

Reseat the rivets then get you some spray-on bedliner and coat the entire inside of your boat. No more leaks.

Would it hurt to spray the outside of the boat with this?

[CrappiePappy]

Would it hurt to spray the outside of the boat with this?

but, unless it went on with a smooth finish, it WILL slow your boat down a little (drag produced by rough surface). If that matters ..

... cp

[Bluegilll]

Would it hurt to spray the outside of the boat with this?

I wouldnt spray the outside,cause the outside is the side that gets all the abuse & if ever grounded would be first to get destroyed.Spray inside so you dont have to worry about hitting a rock,limb,stump etc.etc. & destroying your spray would be my opinion.