Aluminum boat leaking problem

[curt7mm]

I have a minor leak in my aluminum boat and was wondering if there is a spray or paint on material that I can apply to the bottom of the boat over the rivets. Has anyone ever used the stuff that you spray on boxliners? I may go have a look at Home Depot. Ice will soon be off the lakes so I better get the boat ready now.

[35 whelen]

hi yes there is something we used to paint on our camp boats on rivets and seems ,just cant remember what it was called ,talk to boat dealer,lund allumarine ,good luck ,p.s. it worked great ,

[Shmag]

I just seen a product at the "Seen on tv" store at kingsway mall. It was a rubber compound in a spray can. Said for sealing all kinds of leaks, i was wondering how it would work for something like that. They had a med and large can....might be worth a try, if your in the city...guessing it would dry and harder like the box liner stuff

[waterninja]

two products come to mind. one is ROOFPATCH available at home depot. it comes in clear and i used it last year to seal rivets and small cracks, worked great. apply with scrapper evenly on warm day (or inside garage) and let dry 24hr. worked great. another product is ROCKGAURD available at home hdw. mainly used for vehicle wheel wells. similar to the stuff they spray boxliners with. im thinking of of getting a couple cans this year to spray the canoe to really seal it

[BBJTKLE&FISHINGADVENTURES]

Change your plug first , if it's old and cracked it will put a little water in your boat . After that if still issues with leaking flipper over give it a cleaning to remove lake scum off , and use a little JB Weld on rivets . Then sand the spots down paint and your good to go .

[HunterDave]

I restored an aluminum boat last year. None of the rivets looked damaged or cracked but I decided to do a little preventative maintenance just in case. I stripped the bottom of the boat, put a dab of UV4000 on each rivet and along the seams, primer, rockguard, primer and then paint. I'm pretty sure that it won't leak but I'll have to see how it holds up.

[kronk]

I just seen a product at the "Seen on tv" store at kingsway mall. It was a rubber compound in a spray can. Said for sealing all kinds of leaks, i was wondering how it would work for something like that. They had a med and large can....might be worth a try, if your in the city...guessing it would dry and harder like the box liner stuff

In the commercial, they cut a hole big enough for a screen door in the floor of an aluminum boat, installed said screen door, sprayed the screen, and went out on a lake... Held up...in tv land...

I'm wondering how good this stuff works too... Might be worth doing the inside aswell, so the first time you bring er to shore, you don't scrape off all the rubber stuff.

[curt7mm]

Some possibilities out there then. I will definitely look into the spray on applications. I don't want it to scrape off the first time you drag the boat onto shore, so I will continue to research it. Thanks guys.

[pikergolf]

If it's a minor leak chances are it's only a rivet. Put the boat up on saw horses and fill with a little water about 2" should do it, then locate the leaky rivet buy watching wear the water starts beading up on the outside of the boat, get your buddy to hold a fairly heavy hammer on the rivet on the inside of the boat then tap the rivet from the outside to tighten it. What you are trying to do is to cause the rivet to expand just a little bit and tighten up. Beats putting goop all over your boat to fix a rivet.

[HunterDave]

I restored an aluminum boat last year. None of the rivets looked damaged or cracked but I decided to do a little preventative maintenance just in case. I stripped the bottom of the boat, put a dab of UV4000 on each rivet and along the seams, primer, rockguard, primer and then paint. I'm pretty sure that it won't leak but I'll have to see how it holds up.

Close up of the final product. It's not as noticeable as what it appears in the first photo. GL.

http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx79/lifetimepassion/Boat1.jpg

http://i743.photobucket.com/albums/xx79/lifetimepassion/Boat.jpg

[curtis_rak]

Ducan TopCote (Home Depot)
http://www.ducan.com/deck-coating/catalogue.php

I coated the entire inside of my old aluminum boat with this stuff for about $50. It was a nice tan/sand color and has a non-slip and durable surface. Its thick enough that it seals all small leaks in the riveting etc.

[Drewski Canuck]

Comes in a green stick. Clean the surface very well (use CLR to get oxidization off around leak0, heat with a propane torch the area around the leak, melt boat patch around, let cool, and its good for years.

Drewski