PGRChaplain
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- Jul 28, 2013
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I have a 1979 Grumman 4.4. Its Riveted (some only 3/4" apart). Never had any leaks. Grumman built Thousands of Fighter Planes for WWII.
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Riveted Boats - Pros/Cons Leaky?
- Thread starter Tin Man
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gogittum
Well-known member
I've talked about my 16 ft Starcraft Seafarer V hull several times on here. Hard to picture a more versatile or useful boat and is perfect for my needs....and it's riveted. I have learned. 
When I bought it, looked it over and it was almost pristine - paint wasn't even worn off the floor, so I bought it - $1,000 on a trailer and with a '83 Johnson 15 hp. Don't remember offhand, but think it's a '96 model. It's a light boat - I think 276# bare hull, but the little 15 drove it to 22 mph. Gauge of metal is quite heavy and the boat is stiff.
It's a big boat for its' size - 16 ft LOA, with 63" beam (measured) and 20" freeboard. (measured) I love that deep freeboard. I won't look for trouble, but if I do get caught out in a thunderboomer, I firmly believe that boat will bring me thru it.
Look For: when I put it in the water, it had several oozing leaks. I run 2 bilge pumps for backup - try bailing a tiller boat while running at speed one time. Then, 9 miles out in the bay, I suddenly got a fountain of water from a rivet, so came on home.
Crawled under it and found that a rivet had completely failed and I had a 5/32" hole. OK, I'm a great believer in sealed end pop rivets with steel shanks, so coated one with 5200 and stuck it in there. Those things are a flyin' ***** to pop and the little sheet metal pullers don't work for beans.
HF sells a really nice 17" 2 handed heavy duty tool that makes it easy....and less than $20. It even has a little plastic jar to catch the popped ends. Buy one.
Now, the bitter bit: while under there I noticed that many of the rivet heads were corroded away and just the shank showing. "Apparently" someone had left it sitting on a saltwater beach for a long time. I pulled it off the trailer and turned it over.....and my stomach turned over. Damage was erratic. There'd be 2 or 3 good rivets, then a dozen bad ones. Almost all in the rear 1/3 of the hull, but some as far as 1/2 way. Well, I had it to do, sooo......
When the smoke cleared and I was satisfied, I'd replaced 170 rivets. Lesson learned - it's difficult to exactly drill a rivet out, even using a smaller, very sharp new drill bit as a pilot. I drilled them out to 3/16" and was very pleased with the result. COAT EACH RIVET THOROUGHLY WITH 5200.
Put it in the water and I'd missed installing rivets in a couple of places I'd drilled out old ones. My bad. Took care of that problem and still had some oozing. I put about 8" of water inside the hull after blocking the transom to support the weight on the trailer and found where several rivets hadn't sealed properly - maybe didn't get the 5200 evenly or something, so smeared some over them - on the outside - and let them dry. Drained the water.
Next time I put it in the water, it was bone dry....uh....almost. The drain plug sits 1/2" above the bottom and there was some residual rain water in there. After a couple of hours of putzing around in the river at various speeds and beaching it a couple of times, there had been no additional leakage. Bueno.
The boat looked pristine on the trailer, so didn't think to crawl underneath. After all said and done, I still think it was a good deal for a very good boat and the extra riveting only took a day. I'd do it again.
When I bought it, looked it over and it was almost pristine - paint wasn't even worn off the floor, so I bought it - $1,000 on a trailer and with a '83 Johnson 15 hp. Don't remember offhand, but think it's a '96 model. It's a light boat - I think 276# bare hull, but the little 15 drove it to 22 mph. Gauge of metal is quite heavy and the boat is stiff.
It's a big boat for its' size - 16 ft LOA, with 63" beam (measured) and 20" freeboard. (measured) I love that deep freeboard. I won't look for trouble, but if I do get caught out in a thunderboomer, I firmly believe that boat will bring me thru it.
Look For: when I put it in the water, it had several oozing leaks. I run 2 bilge pumps for backup - try bailing a tiller boat while running at speed one time. Then, 9 miles out in the bay, I suddenly got a fountain of water from a rivet, so came on home.
Crawled under it and found that a rivet had completely failed and I had a 5/32" hole. OK, I'm a great believer in sealed end pop rivets with steel shanks, so coated one with 5200 and stuck it in there. Those things are a flyin' ***** to pop and the little sheet metal pullers don't work for beans.
HF sells a really nice 17" 2 handed heavy duty tool that makes it easy....and less than $20. It even has a little plastic jar to catch the popped ends. Buy one.
Now, the bitter bit: while under there I noticed that many of the rivet heads were corroded away and just the shank showing. "Apparently" someone had left it sitting on a saltwater beach for a long time. I pulled it off the trailer and turned it over.....and my stomach turned over. Damage was erratic. There'd be 2 or 3 good rivets, then a dozen bad ones. Almost all in the rear 1/3 of the hull, but some as far as 1/2 way. Well, I had it to do, sooo......
When the smoke cleared and I was satisfied, I'd replaced 170 rivets. Lesson learned - it's difficult to exactly drill a rivet out, even using a smaller, very sharp new drill bit as a pilot. I drilled them out to 3/16" and was very pleased with the result. COAT EACH RIVET THOROUGHLY WITH 5200.
Put it in the water and I'd missed installing rivets in a couple of places I'd drilled out old ones. My bad. Took care of that problem and still had some oozing. I put about 8" of water inside the hull after blocking the transom to support the weight on the trailer and found where several rivets hadn't sealed properly - maybe didn't get the 5200 evenly or something, so smeared some over them - on the outside - and let them dry. Drained the water.
Next time I put it in the water, it was bone dry....uh....almost. The drain plug sits 1/2" above the bottom and there was some residual rain water in there. After a couple of hours of putzing around in the river at various speeds and beaching it a couple of times, there had been no additional leakage. Bueno.
The boat looked pristine on the trailer, so didn't think to crawl underneath. After all said and done, I still think it was a good deal for a very good boat and the extra riveting only took a day. I'd do it again.
Macintosh
Well-known member
My $.02, I've owned or worked in 10 different aluminum boats ranging from small 1970's jon boats and v-hulls to a big lund fishing boat, that's certainly not an exhaustive experience, but as far as I can tell based on what I have seen personally the whole welded vs riveted debate is missing the point. Get a cheap or overly light version or "friday afternoon special" of either and you'll be sorry eventually. Get a quality version of either, and you'll swear they are indestructible and be a convert for life. And, for every primo example of quality riveted, you'll find one of similar design and quality that's welded. And for every horror story about leaking rivets you'll find the same sob story about cracked welds. My first jon boat leaked like a sieve from just about every rivet. My next welded hull was an almost new 14' version and cracked 2 different seams under pretty light use. Fast forward, I had a 17' lund (riveted) that spent much of its life pounding waves on Lake Oahe, then I pounded waves on lake champlain with it for several years. 40+ mph for a dozen miles at a go in 2-3 foot breaking waves beats the snot out of any boat and that one never leaked a drop, any water was what came over the stern or the bow. I sold that boat in 2014, and as far as i know it's pounding waves on Lake Erie to this day, probably still not leaking after 19 years of hard use--along with thousands of other riveted and welded boats with bone-dry bilges. Pick a quality brand and know what to look for when looking at a used one of either type, treat it reasonably without babying it, and you'll be fine. Any shortcomings of either are not the fault of the technology used to put them together.
