Repairing stress cracks in a riveted aluminum boat

[thill]

I think you will be glad you did, but report back as to how it worked for you.

 

[JonM]

I started repairing my boat last week and completed 2 of the 6 patches I need to make. It's not going so well, I have a few pictures I'd like to upload but the site isn't allowing me to upload them. It says "pic is too big" even after I compress the pics to under 1mb.

 

[lightflyer1]

Always easier to host them on some other server and post the links to them back here.

 

[LDUBS]

I started repairing my boat last week and completed 2 of the 6 patches I need to make. It's not going so well, I have a few pictures I'd like to upload but the site isn't allowing me to upload them. It says "pic is too big" even after I compress the pics to under 1mb.

Not my area of expertise, but I've found adjsuting the image size to 320x320 pixels (scaled proportionately) works. That is typically well under 1mb. Maybe even under 100kb, though I think you are safe with anything around 500kb.

 

[JonM]

This is repair 1 which was accessible from the inside. I did this repair with my boat tech and unfortunately we blew up the holes so I had to make washers from the scrap aluminum. I used the sheet-holders to pull everything together and riveted it. This patch seemed very sturdy, the rivets that sort of run down the center are the ones for the ribs and we added some extras outside to pull the patch edges tight to the hull. Looking back I think we should have put more rivets, I don't know if I can add some now that the 5200 has dried up and would appreciate some advice on that.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1xhO2mZp8GRnluss3PO0ha3egjZksSsYq?usp=drive_link

 

[JonM]

This is repair 2, I didn't have access to the inside. I had some help with lining up the holes in the patch but did pretty much everything else on my own. I put way too much 5200 on this one, I learned for the next ones. Some holes were slightly blown up in the boat but I was still able to pull everything tightly together with the sheet-holders and rivet it. My biggest challenge is making a template of the holes in the boat and drilling them out accurately in the patch. I've had to scrap some aluminum because I couldn't get the holes to line up. Any advice on making a good/accurate template? Also can I add rivets to patches that have already dried up? I know this one looks terrible with the 5200 everywhere but I will clean it up. I'm slowly getting the hang of this...

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1WOXJEmoUNX_JLvcZ-8RxC2bx6Wh2FVFR?usp=drive_link

 

[JonM]

Hey guys sorry to revive an old thread, I need some advice on rivets. I have a couple rivets from my repair patch start leaking because we blew the holes up. The next size are 1/4 aluminum closed end rivets but they have steel or stainless steel mandrels. I know I'm supposed to use all aluminum rivets but I can't find 1/4 inch aluminum closed end rivets with an aluminum mandrel.

 

[thill]

Use solid rivets, if you can get to the both sides. They are inexpensive and are very strong and durable.

 

[JonM]

Use solid rivets, if you can get to the both sides. They are inexpensive and are very strong and durable.

There's one that is accessible from the inside but the rest are either under the bench or under the floor and I'd have to pull the floor out. The 1/4 inch closed end rivets I found are aluminum however the mandrel is steel and I'm wondering if that will cause corrosion issues from the dissimilar metals. (I boat in saltwater) I'm also installing a zinc anode on the transom in this off season to mitigate corrosion.

 

[thill]

I've done them with steel mandrels. Just put a smear of sealant in and over the hole, and they should be fine.

 

[JonM]

I've done them with steel mandrels. Just put a smear of sealant in and over the hole, and they should be fine.

The repair worked well, I'm going to test the boat in the river tomorrow when the 5200 dries. Thanks for your advice!