Rivets leaking

Hey ya'll quick question. I have a 1978 MonArk, 16' all riveted. I bought her in Missouri, refitted her in Illinois, and run her on the Potomac River in Virginia. Originally when I repainted the boat I notice a couple of loose or missing rivets. Before painting, I used JB Weld on the spots that I identified as leakers, and for about 4 years she took no water. Currently when I run the boat I very slowly accumulate water, which is minimal but which I do not like. By filling the boat a couple of inches with the hose while it's on the trailer, I can see steady drips from multiple rivets, which is what's giving me the several gallons over the course of a fishing trip. The question is:

Is there a type of paint or sealant that I could apply to the bottom over the winter which would seal things up?

1st thing would be to identify the leakers and mark them. Then clean them up with a wire brush. Once that is done rebuck them, there are videos on youtube showing how to do this. Then there are a couple products out there and the most commonly used is called Gluvit. It works very well and is applied to the inside. After applied it must be painted because it is not UV resistant.

Good luck and tight lines!

the bottom of my 1648 has SteelFlex on it and still had leaking rivets.
I identified them like Bonz described and applied 3M-5200 on them
from the outside as rebucking the loose rivets or sealing from the inside was not an option.

I don't have any leaking rivets that I know of (but I can't see under the decking). Just yesterday, while crawling under the boat for another project on the trailer, I noticed that some prior owner had smeared some 3M5200 on the center ridge's seam.

I, too, take on some water while running. I am considering taking a full tube of 3M5200 and sealing the entire length of the seams. Darn stuff is very stiff, so I am thinking about putting the tube in a vessel of hot water before starting the project.

richg99

I just recently sealed my outside hull with Coat It ( which is designed for that purpose but can be used inside also) , rebucked some rivets & primed and painted it last night and it appears to be a pretty good product , tough as nails . I will also do the inside seams and rivets before I paint and install the flotation foam and decking. Before I start on the inside I'm going to fill the hull with water and recheck for leaks just to be sure . And even if there are none I'm still sealing the inside lol
Good advice so far
1 Identify the leaks
2 Strip the area around the leaks
3 Rebuck the rivets which is pretty easy with 2 people if you have access to the inside of the hull
4 Seal the rivets and or seams hull has to be warm and clean
5 scuff the sealant (5-8 only of its already painted or you plan on painting ) but the coat it has Kevlar fibers or something and it's black after drying )
6 clean the area with acetone or similar
7 prime
8 Paint

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

REPLACE the leaking rivets?


CMOS

So I've recently replaced a few leaking rivets on my 14 ft jon boat. As gripped as I was to drill into my hull, all went well and I am leak free.

Do a search; there are many good threads already on how to do (in particular, DaleH has a post in one thread about how to drill out the old rivet that is excellent - which I had known two use two separate punches to get a well centered starting point).

I used 3M's 4000UV to coat the rivet when I inserted it and it work very well.

You'll need closed-end blind rivets (I used aluminium rivets with steel mandrels) and a heavy gauge puller (I think mine was around $25 from Amazon).

I bought 3/16 and 1/4 inch rivets; the 3/16 matched the existing rivets, the 1/4 were in case I drilled my hole too big (which did not happen).

I forget the term for the thickness of the material you will be riveting but I got rivets that were for 1/8 thickness (two sheets of 1/16 aluminum).

Again, do a search, there should be lots of good info.

Has anyone tried usung an aluminium brazing rod around said rivets?

I had about dozen or so leaking rivets and a whole bunch of loose rivets above the water line. It let the boat flex, and twist.
You may not want to try this at home....
I made myself a rebunking tool with the help of YouTube, and re-did them all. Scrubbed down the bottom with degreaser and a scratch pad. Sprayed the rivet line on the bottom of the boat " leak stopper" you know the stuff (as seen on tv).
After it dried I then rolled two good coats of 2-part epoxy for concrete floors.
That was last winter and I used it all this season and no problems. It may not be the text book way to fix leaking rivets but so far so good.
Maybe just rebunking the rivets fixed it or maybe "all the above". The paint job might fail because I didn't use the proper primer, temperatures weren't right, wrong moon phase and so forth, but no leaks so far. I'm pretty rough on it too.

I saw a Utube video several years ago about a group of men (reps from some co. which I can't rem the name of) that set off to some lake to help a woman with a leaking vintage aluminum boat. They inverted the hull and used some sort of clear liquid sealer. They would place a drop or two around the head of a rivet, then I think they heated it with a hair dryer or heat gun and the stuff would run under the rivet head and seal around the shank of the rivet. I don't recall them doing anything else to the boat and this supposedly fixed it. I've tried, but can't for the life of me find that video or what product that was that they used in the video. I'd like to do some more research on this product but can't find out what it was called. Anyone else seen this video or have a clue what that product might be?

Thanks for all of the recommendations. I do not have access to the inside deck as my boat is finished out with plywood, carpet, etc.

I will probably try the 3M 5200 from the outside first, then if things don't improve I will pull the decking....

Your solution, using 3m5200 us the right one, IMHO. richg99

Green stick from Cabelas. Heat Rivet with solder torch rub with stick no more leak.

Yeah, I saw this awhile back on the Crappie dot Com website.
I did not mention it here because IMO, I think it is only just a stick of glue
for the Hot Melt Glue Gun....... which is good for some things -
and not so good for others. Personally, I do not have much faith
in hot melt glue products on metal.
I think the general consensus here on Tin Boats is 3M-5200 100%.
https://www.crappie.com/crappie/main-crappie-fishing-forum/56570-repair-tip-aluminum-boat-leaks/