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i just acquired a 10 foot alum. flat bottom (john) boat that appears to be seeping from rivets about a beercan per 15 minutes. nothing i cant live with.....however, would like to collect suggestions on how to tighten her up.
thanks in advance for any thoughts....
D.I.E.D.
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I use silicone on the bottom of the rivets. It seems to work better than doing it inside the boat. Expect to refresh every couple of years.
It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.
Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.
Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
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I have fixed these with epoxy over the rivets inside and out. It works for a couple of years.
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Take it to a good weld shop. The rivets never hold no matter what you do. It is cheaper to rivet than weld, so boat builders rivet. A good shop with a TIG should be able to weld all rivets in under an hour. Expect to pay $50-$75.
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Ambassador Field Correspondent Lunker
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found with a search: Dura-fix ---or--- last resort
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Lunker
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Has anybody here had their aluminum boat interior sprayed with the spray on truck bed liner? I thought about doing it to an old aluminum boat I found to tighten it up and make it look better. Chip
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Lunker
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Chip,
That sounds like a great idea to me....it would also reduce the sound transmitted into the water.
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I have fixed this problem on about a dozen boats. I ask several welders and each said the cost to fix by welding was not worth the cost of an inexpensive jon boat. They did not even offer a price.They said it takes special knowledge and equipment to work on aluminum boats. I have used paint on bed liner , epoxy, car repair material and a few others. Epoxy works the best so far and is cheap. It has to be low cost to make it worth while on small jon boats. I have not tried a product called liquid metal (I think) that is a mix that has an adhesive/epoxy and metal (aluminum) in it. I have also not tried a boat repair material that comes in sticks (looks like 12in. aluminum 5/8 inch rebar) that you melt over a hole with a propane torch.
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I have some rivets leaking on my 35 year old 12' jon boat as well. This last weekend I smeared a small amount of black roofing repair caulk that comes in a tube on the rivets on the bottom of the boat. It has worked so far, but I still have one or two rivets lightly leaking that need to be re-caulked, I should have waited until the bottom was dry before applying it. :rolleyes: The roofing repair caulk I used is suposed to work on both wet or dry surfaces and runs $1.80 tube at the hardware store. I have used epoxy before and it also works well too. One of these days I will get around to painting the whole jon boat inside and out.
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Ewest-- The welders you talked to evidently did not want to work. Welding Aluminum is easier than steel.I am supervisor over an aluminum weld and grind shop. I have been doing it for 13+ years. It doesn't take "special" equip. to do the job. A TIG welder is optimum, but a standard MIG will do the job. Cost is higher than epoxy or silicone, but the weld will last forever. It will be cheaper to weld than use a factory coating such as Rhino Liner. I have welded up the rivets on countless 10-12' john boats and know it can be done in an hour or less. Shop time for weld shops run $50-$75 an hour.
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Seems like you could tighten up the existing rivets with a rivet gun. Call your local aircraft mechanic. If they won't do it for a reasonable price they may be able to give direction on how to do it. Their price is about the same as a weld shop (actually our aircraft mechanic is cheaper than our weld shop he charges $50 and hour) I have a 1965 riveted boat and it doesn't leak a drop. 42 years is pretty good IMO.
"The greatest enemy of knowledge is not ignorance, it is the illusion of knowledge." Stephen W. Hawking
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I had a riveted river boat in Ak.and fixed the leaking rivets with the stick type boot repair that you melt. Heat up the rivets with a small torch and hold the stick to it to melt.This stuff held up for years with a lot of bottom dragging on sand and gravel bars. Mike
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101 ways to fix a boat leak. Nowhere but Pond Boss. I never knew how much I didn't know.
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you guys are awl right! mega dittos BMeister. so many solutions, so little time. will pick one and provide a follow up at some point.
not that i mind having to drink the beer so i have something to bail with.
my thought was to back up rivets with a metal plate on one side, and hit w/ ballpean on other side, but some of those solutions sound like less work w/ probably better results.
thanks again......
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The problem with trying to repair rivets from the inside of the boat is the seats. I can't get to a bunch of them.
It's not about the fish. It's about the pond. Take care of the pond and the fish will be fine. PB subscriber since before it was in color.
Without a sense of urgency, Nothing ever gets done.
Boy, if I say "sic em", you'd better look for something to bite. Sam Shelley Rancher and Farmer Muleshoe Texas 1892-1985 RIP
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