leaky rivets.....an after thought

[kalninm]

Alright, other than that thoughts? look ok?

 

[DaleH]

Alright, other than that thoughts? look ok?

Yes, looks good!

 

[CedarRiverScooter]

Looks plenty strong.

It should outlast your ownership!

 

[kalninm]

If I had to redo that every year I'd be ok with it as long as the water doesn't come in anymore lol

 

[kalninm]

Soooooo...... update time on my leaky friend quickly turning foe.....

Aside from the issue with the motor and trailer still she is still leaking....a lot....
My patches worked great no problems but looking closer now I believe it is my keel that is the problem. So I did a little looking around on here and pretty much it seems like I either clean off the whole keel area as best I can and use gluvit down it......or redo all the rivet with closed end blind rivets and 5200? Looking for any other options here. From previous owners there is a thick coat of bedliner and then flex seal on top of that down the length of the keel.
The front and back of the keel leak a lot, so while my bilge pumps do plenty to keep up its annoying and a waste of battery when they run for 15 seconds every 2 minutes. So once again my arrogance is your opportunity to be my savior lol Help me out guys!
Thanks

 

[CedarRiverScooter]

If you can ID where the worst leaks are (filling inside with water, for example), then you could just 5200 them & live with it for the rest of the summer. Maybe carry a bucket along in case pump fails.

Fall is a great time to take motor off, flip the boat & strip it down so you can do a permanent fix.

 

[darrellswyatt]

Sounds like you have the same problem I have with a 95 pro 17 tracker I just bought. A leak test in the drive show that there was substantial leak from the keel area in several places. Mine was covered in all kinds of goop from end to end. Caulk, epoxy, and what looks like auto undercoating or bed liner and maybe seal flex. I just spent 5 days wire brushing all of that crap off. In the process I discovered that the keel shield does not actually seal to the bottom of the boat it is open at the rear. My initial plan was to seal all the rivet heads and then run a bead around the keel shield. After removing all the crap and seeing how its actually made, that would have been a waste on would not have fixed the leaks. The rivets are there to hold the keel to the bottom. Now my plan is to drill out all of the leaking rivets and replace with closed end blind rivets buttered with 5200. I think this will take care of it. I am also planning to removed the insides this winter and replacing the floatation foam and replace the blind rivets with solids. I am upping the rivet size to 1/4 as I figure the rivet hole are worn out larger than the 3/16 originals.
I may be in error in doing this but thats what it looks like to me.

 

[kalninm]

Thats a lot like what mine looks like too lol. Think I'll start taking the wire brush to it today and I'm thinking i'll try the roll on flexseal and see if that seals it up. If it does then maybe I'll coat it back over with bedliner to give it a little more durability. Easiest and cheapest solution to try first then we'll go from there I guess