96' Islander Rivet Problem

[will w.]

Found a deal I could not pass up. I have wanted an Islander for quite some time. Well, my son found this one on facebook of all places. The price was right. It came with electric riggers, big water tackle, spools of leadcore including 4 linecounter rod reel combos and 2 Penn downrigger combos. I have 3 Starcrafts sitting here and the Admiral is not impressed with my MBS, says one has got to go. The Holiday will be going to my Bro-inlaw and the SFM will stay. Good thing my son claims the 14ft Cadillac as being his.:lie::tape2:

I found this rivet before purchase, but it did not deter me as everything else looks clean and tight. It appears as though the bunk is the sole cause. The front end of the bunks end midway between two crossmembers and ride tight along this strake. Not sure how the boat survived this long like this unless the PO shortened the bunks.

Is it possible to get a good bite with a closed end blind and 5200?

Any thoughts on what to do with these bunks? Is it possible that the boat could be moved ahead 6" so the vbunk will land on a crossbrace? The boat is extremely tongue light IMO.



Here's the rivet. only popped the head.


Front end of Bunk




Rear of bunk.

 

[GA_Boater]

Move the boat forward until the transom is in front of the end of the bunk, not as much as shown in red, but so the transom is supported.. This also increases tongue weight. If it's still light, move the axle back a hole if it's adjustable.




Does the trailer have any keel rollers? The bunks are tearing off the rivet heads because of weight and keel rollers will help carry some of the weight until the boat is fully on the trailer. The worn heads in front of the bunks show the weight load on the rivet heads.

 

[will w.]

Thanks GA,Never thought about that. So this may be happening while loading? As the trailer is being pulled from the water its settling on the bow area of the hull first? And also while the boat makes contact floating it on the trailer, its likely dragging across the front area of bunk boards? Where would I add Keel rollers so that the keel doesn't make contact when the boat is at rest, yet offer support while being loaded?

 

[laurentide]

The keel rollers will go on each of your trailer cross braces. Weight should be evenly distributed between the rollers and bunks. Look at photos of some trailers of similar length, that'll give you an idea of where to put the rollers.

A LOT of people on this sub-forum will disagree with this, but I think a closed end blind rivet will do the job there with some 5200. It looks to be a strake rivet, not structural.

 

[GA_Boater]

I would look at keel rollers on every crossmember. Hard to tell, but it looks you have 2 crossmembers.

The rollers and bunks share the load, so the bunks will have less drag as the boat is winched up to the bow stop.

Speaking of bow stops, I don't see a safety chain.


Yeah - A closed end blind rivet is a good fix for a single beheaded rivet. And no need to tear the deck up to fix it.

 

[jbcurt00]

Also looks like a whole lotta boat for just 2 shortish bunks, esp w no keel rollers.....

18ftr?

Rob just finished his 18ft SS build, which is a lighter boat then your Islander. His not quite finished, rebuilt trailer

 

[will w.]

Chemicalwire, i do believe it is only a strake rivet and not structural.

Ga, one cross brace in the rear and one upfront. Good eye on the safety chain. It didn't have one.

Jbcurt00, Its a 19fter. Having a cuddy, I thought only two bunks was a bit on the lite side. Thinking I should add a bunk and atleast one keel roller at the front brace.

Thanks for the good advice fellas.

On the rivet. I have read to use a size f drill bit and a 1/4" rivet when using close end blinds in this type of application. I was thinking it might be better to go with a 3/16 rivet incase I have future problems and need to get at it with a 1/4" solid. Any thoughts?

 

[laurentide]

Uh, sorry, I tried to copy/paste an image and I broke the edit feature. Could one of you super awesome mod dudes help me out :cold:

 

[jbcurt00]

Uh, sorry, I tried to copy/paste an image and I broke the edit feature. Could one of you super awesome mod dudes help me out :cold:

Deleted 10,000 character EDIT oops.

 

[laurentide]

Deleted 10,000 character EDIT oops.

Ha! Thanks! Yeah, that breaks the page on chrome for me. My bad.

 

[GA_Boater]

I would add a keel roller to both crossmembers. One on the rear xmember saves the bow from hitting that xmember and helps support the rear of the boat. My trailer for the 16 footer in my sig has 3 - a fixed roller up front, adjustable on the center and rear xmembers.

Hey Chem - One picture is worth 10,000 words! :lol:

 

[Watermann]

Hey will, I didn't go snooping about the SC upper level for new threads until this morning. You have a serious issue here... with MBS that is :lol:

So my advice on the broken rivet on the strake. The weight has to be removed from the area before you can repair it properly and the bunk issue has to be resolved. If you look the AL is bowed under the weight and that blind head will pop right off if it has to take any of the load. I agree a blind can be used but be aware that many of the solid rivets that hold the strake on also go through the ribs. I can tell this one does not, or appears to not be through a rib due to that bow in the sheet AL, If a rib was behind it it wouldn't bow in like that. The rivets that are through ribs are circled in the pic above.

This sort of area is about the only place I would say use a closed blind due to it being on the strake it would not be in a position to take an impact from an object. Blinds are fragile when compared to a solid rivet and personally I would use an all SS blind rivet for this repair since you'll be using 5200 to seal the deal tehre should be no issues down the road.

Stern heavy IOs need 4 bunks to carry the load and a keel roller up front too. This is how I set up my Chief chariot and I had to add the forward cross member to achieve proper bow support and take weight off the bow stop roller.

 

[will w.]

Thanks fellas for the the advise. Nice work on that trailer Watermann. You are correct Rob, the bowed aluminum is between two ribs. I,m putting a list together now. Stainless rivets, keel rollers, bunk brackets and carpet. Oh, and something to change the oil. Excited to get her in the water. I have only ran this rig on the hose for 20 minutes before bringing it home. I want to take it out on a local lake before hitting Saginaw Bay for eye's.

 

[Watermann]

I added a oil drain hose that goes into the pan drain plug hole and then all you do is take out the bilge plug, poke the hose out the hole. remove the cap and drain the oil into a pan. [h=1]GM Standard Oil Drain Kit[/h]