Rivet Repair

[eyesonly]

My old Lund Tyee must have popped a couple of rivets at the end of the year last year- They are not there and the empty hole is spider webbed- If I replace the rivets what Is the best thing to do with the cracks around them to keep it from leaking ? any Ideas would be great. Thanks

[Nate McVey]

This worked on a 1950's 12 ft. aluminum Starcraft, but we took an old street sign (not stolen) and cut a square out of it big enough to cover the missing rivets. We covered the backside with silicone, stuck it to the boat and put pop rivets in each corner. That was in 1985 or 1986 and it is still holding strong. It's not the most "eye pleasing" fix, but it was cheap and it works.

[Down Deep]

You could have them welded. Another cheaper option is the green stick. It is available from boat dealers and the big catalogues. It is a stick made out of some sort of plastic. You take a torch and heat up the area you want to seal and melt the stick. It makes a watertight seal. I used it on a canoe and an old Lund I had with good results.

You don't say where the rivets are, but the popped rivets could be signaling a larger structural problem with your boat. It might be wise to have someone in the know take a look at it.

[BoxMN]

If the spiderwebbing is not that far out from the hole, I would suggest drilling them out larger and using larger "real" rivots. The kind you use an air hammer with the "rivot" tool, and you back up the rivot and attach it. It is easier than it sounds even. You just need access to both side of the rivot.

If you don't drill a hole in the end of the spiderweb, it will most likely keep going. Might take a long time.

With a crack on on old boat, we did like Shiner mentioned, but we drilled the ends of the crack so the crack "ended" before slapping two alum sheets (inside and outside, with liquid gasket) and them using real rivots. Been holding up for years, and we use it into ice season duck hunting.