Loose Rivets

[Chugger]

I have a Lund that has had a loose rivet problem. It was covered under warranty and fixed at no labor cost back in 2002. They became loose again and the boat takes on water at not a sinking the boat rate, but an annoying run the bilge every 30 minutes rate. It will cost me a 60% labor cost to get them fixed at Lund, which is will probably be around $800. Does anyone know of a good sealant or solution to loose rivets without having to take it to Lund to incurr the costly repair work?

[BoxMN]

If they came loose again, I would suspect that there is some bracing or other problem, as rivets should not come loose for no reason, especially twice.

With that said, if you have access to them (which you probably don't since the cost is so high) you can do it yourself pretty easy with the right tools. But getting to them is probably the problem.

I guess I would pay for Lund to fix it, but definitely let them know this is your second time and they have to fix the underlying problem. They should know that, and it should never have loosened again. How old is the boat?

Good luck, but as for sealant, if you can't get to the back (inside) of the rivet to tighten them, you won't be able to seal it with any goop or other stuff either, and you definitely cant' seal it from the outside - it will simply wear off your first trip out.

With that said, before I learned to tighten rivets, we had good luck with silicone in our little alum duck boats, but we sealed the seams from the inside, in really hot weather when the silicone would just get runny and slide right into the loose areas.

[iffy]

The only way to avoid the costly repair work is to do it yourself. It will take you a few hours and you will need someone to hold a dummy block on the inside while you run the rivet gun from the outside. But cash out of pocket should be nil. Are you bouncing the boat around on big waves often, or taking long bouncy trailer trips down rough roads? If not it's funny they should be working loose. If its a design flaw of the boat, I'm amazed lund boat company wouldn't fix it free. In my experiences with them, they've been a top notch boat company and stand behind their stuff farther than they would have to.