boat leak

[lilwalter]

My old aluminum v-hull, duck boat sprung a leak last fall and I want to try to fix it this spring. I believe it is along the rib/rivots. Anyone have any luck with sealing these back up? How did you do it? Any luck with a sealant or like rubber roofing material? Thanks for your input.

[TruthWalleyes]

Best to get it welded. I split mine real good in several spots including rivets and ribs. It still leaks, but isn't a gusher anymore. Darn mn river logs.

Glues etc may work temporarily and maybe even long term depending on the speed your boat travels as well as hitting waves hard. The amount of force water puts on those areas at high speeds as well as the jolting from wave impact will bust up just about anything but weld.

If it's just a slough boat, then you can probably get away without welding.

[20lbSloughShark]

run calking along the crease, and if you have the money, spray the bottom of the boat with bed liner. Tough for duck hunting, and does not leak. In an old 12' I had, calking itself fixed a slow leak I had. If you can find the exact spot, J-B weld works great.

[BoxMN]

If it is a riveted boat, you just need to buck those rivets if you can't see a crack. Get/rent/use buddies air chisel with a rivet tool, put a piece of heavy steel on one side of the rivets in question, and tap-tap the other. You can do with hammer too i am sure. Easy and quick and no real cost if youhave tools. Just need access to both sides of therivets. Heck, hit each one a little bit and hte whole boat will be tight again.

Good luck.

[Down Deep]

Before you do anything major try the "green stick" Bass Pro Shops and Cabelas sell them. You need to find the rivets that are leaking then you take a propane torch, heat it up and touch and melt the stick into the rivet. I've had excellent success using these sticks. Cost is about $5.

[KidMoe]

i didn't use the "green stick" but we tried some other supposed boat repair stuff that didn't work well. Same thing, heat with a torch and touch the rod in and it's like adding welding filler. The stuff we used needed the boat to be so hot that the aluminum started warping.

J-B weld works best i've found.

[EBass]

I had my leaky rivets welded. Crystal Welding did it for me. I filled it up with water and circled the rivets that leaked. He found some more and filled in a crack on a seam. There's still a little bit that comes in. I think it's the seam, but nothing like it was.

[BoxMN]

Seriously, the easy and cheap and "real" way to fix leaking rivets is by tightening them. Go to Northern and search for this:

"Air Capital Rivet Set Kit — 5-Pc., Model# 10018" I think it is $30. Just put it into your (buddy's...) air hammer, put a steel "something" to back it (we use a heavy old SS axle, long and thin and heavy), and hit the trigger for about 3 "thumps". Don't over do it. Problem solved.

you will find that the rivets near rollers, especially near the stern of boat, is usually the culprit.

Now, if the boat is all finished off, and you canNOT get to the back side of the factory rivet, then it is tougher. For a example a completely finished prov would be hard to get to without taking the floor off.

But if you can get to both sides of the rivets, it is easy and cheap and works. Good luck!

edit - here is a vid showing the process of bucking, but on plane. Same basic process on boat, but you don't need all the measurement stuff, just need to tighten them a bit - a few "raps".