Blind Rivets?

[hertel11]

Slow leak in my aluminum bass boat, 1997 Sea Nymph TX175. Thought it was just a couple leaky rivets so I filled her up with water to find the culprit(s). Turns out there are about 20+ rivets that are leaky, some worse than others. My question is this; will pop rivets be okay to use or is it absolutely necessary to pull the carpet and deck? I'd really like to avoid having to remove everything. I've never installed a rivet in my life and truthfully have no idea what I'm doing but videos make it seem easy enough...Pulling and reinstalling carpet and decks seems like a much bigger project than I'm looking for right now. My original plan was to just seal them with JB-Marine Weld but that was before I realized the extent of the problem. Also, can anyone recommend me or send a link to a good manual rivet tool? Thanks.

 

[Scott Danforth]

pop rivets wont work

why not simply re-buck the existing rivets. I do it about once every 20 years on my old fishing boat.

 

[hertel11]

Okay, this may sound dumb but I don't really know what re-buck means or how to do it. Can you elaborate?

 

[hertel11]

It doesn't seem very simple. It would require ripping out the whole interior, correct? And two people, one on either side?

 

[H20Rat]

Never tried it, but there are special watertight pop rivets. Claim they hold up to 100 PSI.

https://www.stanleyengineeredfastening.com/fasteners/rivets/pop-closed-end

 

[Scott Danforth]

rebucking usually takes two people and two hammers. your simply mashing the existing rivets a bit more.

 

[roffey]

Not sure if this works or not but you can braze aluminum. Same sort of thing as soldering a brass pipe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2yLEGtj2c8

Must be true, its on YouTube, lol. Seriously, it might be worth a try before you start ripping your boat apart. I found this brazing rods in a number of places.

 

[oldrem]

Here's the sticky by Watermann regarding rivets and tools https://forums.iboats.com/forum/own...-boats/10435722-rivets-rivets-and-more-rivets

 

[roscoe]

Many boats have been rebuilt and repaired using closed end blind rivets. Basically a pop river with a sealed end Drill out the old. Dip rivet in a little 3 m 5200. Insert and pop it with the tool. Then put a dab of 5200 on the outside for piece of mind. I put 200 in my current boat. Dry as can be now.

 

[hertel11]

Thanks Roscoe, I think I'll try the closed end blind rivets and if they don't work out I'm ion no worse shape than I am in now. I just really want to avoid tearing all the interior out. Can you recommend the rivets that you used? I want to go ahead and order so I can get this project in the works. Thanks

 

[Watermann]

Why are there 20 leaking rivets is the first question that needs answered. I've seen numerous SN threads as well as my own where ribs have cracked in SN boats causing the solid rivets to leak. Replacing solid rivets with blind rivets for structural elements is not a good idea. First off blind rivets have a fragile head that will not take structural stress or impact which is a big problem if used on the bottom of a boat.

If you use blinds to replace solids just know it's a bandaid not a proper repair and you should be sure to have an operational bilge pump.

 

[hertel11]

I think the rivets are leaking due to the boat being over 21 years old. I'm not sure if there's any other reasons other than normal wear and tear