leaky rivits in aluminum/flex seal?

G

GaryRI

Active member
A buddy just gave me an aluminum Sears jon boat. It of course has leaky rivits.

Anyone tried something like flexseal/spray on rubber to get by for a month or so?
 
Jeff

Next year for sure but right now I'm trying to get by.

Naturally the leaky rivits are weeping & not easy to identify.
 
Hi Gary- JB weld works great. Also where you get more flex in the boat i suggest using 3m 5200/overnight cure type. To find the leaks in my boat i filled it with water and marked the drips on the outside with a felt tip pen. 5200 has to be applied in temps above 40 degrees. I patched a crack in my boat three years ago with 5200 and it's still flexiable and water tight. Good stuff!

Greg
 
I did the same thing as Greg, fill er up, marked the outside. I was lazy since I knew (like you) I would be re riveting a bunch of the boat, I just threw in some goop, might have even been gutter and siding stuff. Not much was really going to do a great job since I had 40 years worth of crap in the bilge I knew no googe was really going to stick despite the prep job. All I needed was to "slow" the egress of water to a min so the bilge could keep up and make me feel like I was not going to sink. 50 or so rivets later I was in bizness next spring.
 
Until you can redo the rivits this off season flex seal is one of the greatest inventions ever!!! I sealed my buddy's 2 man layout with it and it works great. I used it on my 16 footer where some rivits were leaking and it is now tight as well.
Jim/Fowlfishing
 
3M Rubberized undercoating works very well for this as well. Similar to the product you see advertised on TV that seals a screen door boat, Make sure you get the one that IS NOT environmentally safe.

Mark W
 
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Just remember that a quick fix now can mean a messy clean up later. Not sure how easy the flex stuff comes off but the JB weld may have to be cleaned up with a grinder if you are anal like me.
 
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