I have some leaking rivets on my aluminum 16’ Starcraft. Recommendations for what you have had success with to fix, adhesive, epoxy? Thanks for all advise.
Boats & Motors
Leaking rivets
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Oh man that was back in high school, I'm not sure what brand epoxy we used. All I know is it was a marine epoxy not your standard epoxy (couldn't tell you the difference though). I believe it came in a kit with the resin and hardener. A quick google search brings up a bunch of options. The video posted below is probably something similar, I didn't watch it though.
He sold the boat a couple years later and it wasn't leaking at that point. Last I heard the guy he sold it to gave it to his kid and he's still using it. Not sure if he ever needed to do more work to it or not though. Even if you only get 5 years out of it, it's simple enough to repeat as needed.
https://www.hansonrivet.com/rivets/blind-pop-advel-rivets/closed-end-blind-rivets/
Pop rivets can be applied from one side. Just be sure to get the solid ones, as standard pop rivets have holes through them.
The ones sold in the link above are advertised as 'self-sealing' - I'd still put a dab of silicone on it before applying.
We used epoxy on my dad's old v-bottom. We skipped the filling the boat part and epoxy'ed all the rivets since it's so simple and quick. The epoxy adheres to aluminum remarkably well as long as you let it set correctly.
Replacing the rivets = more work, but fixes the problem
Sealing the rivets = easy, no more leak, but doesn't fix the underlying issue
If you have a rivet tool....
Put boat on trailer. Put in plug. Fill boat with water above rivet level. Get under trailer with a magic marker, circle leaky rivets.
This is key here, take plug out.
Drill out leaky rivets. Replace, apply a smear of marine silicone to the rivet before placing.
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