Old 14' aluminum boat?

[Crappie John]

we own a old 14' aluminum boat that has been passed down and dragged around Michigan for well over 70 years, but its age has caught up to it and now you get about an inch of water per hour because bad rivets and now it sits there neglected :sad: . Does anyone have any ideas how to seal the rivets and some of them are covered by floor ribs on the inside. Im also not sure of what ones leak? I need help cause this is going to be my first boat that i will pay for plates and boat fees and use for another 50 years. I dont wanna sell it, so any ideas? I was thinking of some (aluminum puddy :dizzy: ) on the outside? do they make this stuff?

[Brian S]

I had a boat like that.

I found the leaks after it sat in the back of my truck and filled up with rain water. The leaky rivets were then obvious. Then I mixed up some JB Weld and spread a little around the rivets (on the outside of the boat) that were leaking. Hasn't leaked again since.

Just put the boat up on a couple of sturdy workhorses, get the hose and fill up the boat, mark the leaky rivets, drain and patch.

[MSUICEMAN]

that JBWeld is some pretty hard core stuff.... should last plenty long with that sealed around the rivets. Make sure to clean any lose debris off of them. I'd wirebrush the leaky ones to get a good water break-free surface for adhesion.

steve

[jpollman]

CJ,

that JBWeld sounds like a good idea. But here's a similar product designed for just what you're looking to do.

http://store.tackletogo.com/evalepstic.html

Looks like this is just the ticket.

Good luck !

[coverdog]

How about a coat of Rhino liner. You can get it in various colors and it makes the boat quite and seals them up.

[snakebit67]

another vote for jb weld. Did it to the 12' I bought last year. Hasn't leaked since.

[trout]

I wonder if some of those aftermaket liner products would work?
I need to try them if they work.
You can get a heavy duty rivet gun and replace the worn out ones too.
Check with some local sheet metal companies and ask what htey would charge to install a few rivets.

[slowpoke]

I had one like that that I fixed. First put boat up, like on saw horses, add water, mark the riverts that leak. I took a piece of steel and drill a small dimple the size of the rivet. then put that on the head of the rivet that leak and hit the other side lightly with a hammer. It should tighten the rivet up. It will take two people. Hope that helps. :)

[Burksee]

CJ,

Although I’ve never used it that stuff JPollman suggested looks good! I've used JB weld many times in the past to patch aluminum, steel and even fiberglass. The procedure slowpoke described is good one to consider as well. Tighten the rivets first then apply the JB weld or aluminum epoxy. We've done the "rhino liner"/"duraliner" trick to a couple of my buddies boats with great success. The kit you can buy at Murray's does the job as well, although it doesn’t have the look of the spray on liner. It’s a lot cheaper though! One guy did the outside of the hull from the upper rib brace down and two years later it’s still holding up. Doing the inside works as well but does nothing to provide protection to the hull. Several of my duck hunting buddies have had the inside of there hulls sprayed to help with slippage and noise issues. The most important part before you apply anything to the hull is the preparation of the metal/hull surface, you've got to have bare, clean metal. If not no matter what you put on ain't gonna stick for long. "Anything" left on the surface your going to apply a product to will compromise the adhesion of what ever you’re trying to apply. A good sanding then an acid/naval jelly bath usually does the job. Just before I'm going to apply the product of choice I give it a wipe with acetone/lacquer thinner to eliminate any dust & oils on the surface. Good Luck!

[brdhntr]

Last year, I redid my 14' using Gluvit. Has held strong all through duck
season last year, and fishing so far this year. I completely stripped the
bottom to bare metal. Used an aluminum epoxy to fill the really bad cracks,
painted the whole bottom with Gluvit, sanded, then covered the Gluvit with
Parker duck boat paint.