Tightening Rivets and Painting my old Lund

[LindellProStaf]

I have an older Lund 16'fishing boat. I think it is a Pro Angler about a 1978. I keep it tied to the dock on the Rainy River here in Baudette. Well the rivetts leak and I get about 2-3" of water at the transom in a 24 hour period. Well the guy at the airport here has a rivett gun and we are going to hit each rivett and hopefully tighten them up. Well I am also thinking about painting it marsh grass brown like the Alaskans... Does anyone have suggestions as to whether I should prime and with what when I do this. Do you think it will seal the rivetts so I don't have to tighten them, just paint the boat? I would appreciate your opinion.

[DTro]

I wouldn't trust the paint to seal off any leaky rivets. On a budget and to save time, you could try silicone, that's what I did, and it helped the small leaks I had.

I put my boat on a level surface and filled it with water enough to cover the bottom. Then I waited a bit and crawled underneath and marked each leaky rivet with a sharpie marker. Then i drained the boat and put a dab on silicon on the rivet. It's not a permanent fix, but an easy one.

Here's a link to an easy paint job I did as well.

http://www.fishingminnesota.com/forum/ub...a_b#Post1044351

[sparcebag]

The air hammer works great as long as you have the correct rivet set.For rivetsets try Klassic tool Crib they cost bout 6-8 bucks each.Klassic is aircraft tools so your friend probably has the correct sets which are most likly Brazier or modified brazier 3/16s

[LindellProStaf]

Hey thanks. I will make sure he has that size of set.

[propster]

Dtro, did you find the silicone held up going off/on the trailer, up on shore occasionally, etc?

[chris63]

One thing to keep in mind is where the loose rivets are.You may possibly have to disassemble part or parts of the vessel in order to get at the loose rivets.Sometimes you can go up in size(diameter)to repair the rivets.They are most likely elongated holes if you've been pounding around on Rainy for any length of time.Happy riveting!c63

[LindellProStaf]

Good point. I will take out the floor and hopefully will get them all. I am wondering about the ones where the strakes or smaller keels whatever they are called.

[sparcebag]

If your buddy has the tools and does aircraft,He should have rivets on hand or know where to get solid aluminum rivets.I'm sure he most likly knows the best method to repair it.

For a chart of rivets and recommended legnths try Hansonrivet there is a chart with all ya need.

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[Eskimoman]

dtro how is your paint job lasting? How much sanding did you do to it befor? Did you take off all the old paint or just rough it up good?

[BobT]

Check with your Lund dealer. One of the selling points when I bought mine back in 1991 was that they were guaranteed for life not to leak. Yours may have the same guarantee.

Bob

[DTro]

dtro how is your paint job lasting? How much sanding did you do to it befor? Did you take off all the old paint or just rough it up good?

The paint is holding up real well. I have a couple of small spots that rubbed off from some rocks.

I didn't sand off much at all, just roughed up the surface for the paint to grab.

[Eskimoman]

think I will be giving that a try this spring. Thanks!