Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Rx for a leaky aluminum boat

I just bought a used boat trailer from a co-worker. He threw his 14' aluminum boat in for free because it had been beaten pretty badly by being trailered too many miles on very rough roads. He had most of the structural damage repaired by having some welding done on it, but there are a lot of rivets that are leaking. He tried to tighten them up by peening them a little which helped some, but didn't completely fix the problem.

I'm wondering what suggestions the brain trust here at the Campfire might have. I've already heard suggestions that I should try JB weld or something similar. As stated earlier, the boat was free, so if I can't fix it it's not a big deal, I'll just sell it for what I can with full disclosure and pick up a better boat.

So, any suggestions? Thanks.

(Work keeps me from being able to spend much time here these days, so I'll check in from time to time each day.)

How much is aluminum scrap going for these days?

Replace the rivets or have them welded. A leaky boat is nothing but a pain, and nothing else will fix it without more of the same.

...or that.

That though has crossed my mind, too.

There are ways of tightening up the rivets by peening them with a hammer.

I have an old aluminum jon boat that had the same problem. I used "roof patch" in a caulking tube to cover the rivets on the bottom side so it wouldn't leak. It doesn't look pretty but sure does work great. Cost was less than $2.00 and it took less than 15 minutes to apply.

I did just what you describe on an old 10' flat bottom boat that I have. Worked good, but I had to reapply the stuff every year. Not a big deal, but I'm hoping to find a longer lasting solution.

JB weld and trade out the bunks on the trailer so they support the entire boat lenghtwise.

I have heard good things from several different people about this stuff.

http://www.cabelas.com/boat-care-appearance-cabelas-aluminum-boat-patch-1.shtml

That cabelas epoxy works well. It held up on my dad's little $50 jonboat for a few years. This spring, he's having all the rivets replaced with larger ones and having a bunch of welding done. A friend of mine from high school is doing it for free, so I have no idea what it would cost to get done.

Be sure to "back-up" the rivet when you try peening it.

There are auto body tools that work for that (there is a name for it, but can't recall at the moment). You can also use a sledge. when you hit the rivet, try to do so in a way that will round over the edges of the head - don't just smack it flat.

before you glue anything, realize if you glue anything you may never be able to weld them shut ever due to contamination.

I'd find an AL welder and have em all welded personally. Shouldn't be all that much cost.

OF course we have a similar one for the back pond, it never leaves the farm, it has epoxy on them and easy enough to repair again. But it doesn't take a beating either.

Only way for sure if its going to be used, weld.

You can also check with local schools with ag programs... sometimes they'll weld for the experience with a tig or spool gun, just for cost of supplies basically...

BTW a small welding job is usually not as small as you think.. gas for AL isn't cheap, could be give or take 100-200 bucks depending. could be more.

+1

To do it right, you have to remove the loose rivets and put in oversize ones. Someone has to hold a buck on one side while you peen them from the other.

Welding doesn't work very well on a riveted boat. The rivets have to hold the layers together tightly.

Jerry

The family farm had in possession an old 12' or 14' jon boat when I was growing up, not sure who really owned it, it just got passed around and used by whoever. Most of the rivets were pulled through or totally missing.

My buddy and I one day bought some new pop rivets and a bucket of washers. Used the washers because the holes that had pulled through were larger than the rivets we could come up with. Riveted/washered it all back together as tight as we could, then gave a good dose of silicone caulking everywhere we could squirt it. Sea-worthy it wasn't, but we didn't get too wet while fishing for channel cat in some farm ponds.

take it in and have bedliner installed - or do it yourself - it will easily seal the bottom- after you tighten loose rivets - or bondo/epoxy each one along the seams -- adds minimal weight

I read the first few pages of reviews for this stuff. Looks like about 90% of the people are having great luck with it. Thanks for the link!

take a kid along with you and hand him a rusty bail can to bail with

That is how I was introduced to fishin'


I sluffed off on the job until I noticed how fast the old rotten wood row boat leaked, and how far we were from the shore of that ice cold Michagan lake...
back to bailin!

Long term fix- Two-man crew with a rivet gun and a bucking bar, tightening the ones that you can, and replacing the ones you can't.

Short term fix- any of the good quality epoxies, including the one from Cabela's. I've always gone with 3M ; they make very high quality products. Their 5200 is good stuff.

I've never seen it done but I always thought that truck bedliner goop would great way to seal a leaky boat. Tighten up the rivets as best you can and then cover the inside with a thin layer. It would add some weight though.

Bed liner is HEAVY....

Welding has solved many of the problems in boats here locally that were riveted so it does work. And seems to be much more permanent than re-riveting.