10' Aluminum Jon Boat Repair Flat Bottom, How do I????

[AMassey08873]

Hello all, My name is Anthony. I need some help repairing my new (used) Jon Boat. There's no name or numbers on the boat. Or else I'd list it. One of the problems I trying to fix is a small hidden leak. I believe its leaking from where the bench seats are attached to the floor. I'm not sure if these things are rivets holding the seats to the floor or what. Its just a 1half" strip of aluminum that comes off the seats that attach it to the floor. Half of the rivets (If thats what they are) arent even secure. Half of them are pulled off. Any one know how to fix this. I have a small 90amp Flux wire welder from Harbor Freight but I don't think it'll weld aluminum.
I thought I got a good deal on this thing, Only paying $100 for the boat and another $100 for the electric engine. I had no idea how much more it'd cost to get this thing in the water. From renting a truck to pick the boat up, then buying a trailer, hitch, and harness.....not to mention the trailer jack, wench, safety equip, equip...... I had no idea...lol
The worst part is the guy swore up and down the boat didn't leak. But I figured at worst I could repair it if it did.
And here I am. I don't mind working on the boat....matter of fact I quite enjoy it. I've only got a pic of the boat itself and yess that is Quick Seal on the bottom...lol...hey if they can put a screen door in the bottom of one, I figured it should take care of a couple small leaks...lol I'll work on getting pics of excatly what i'm looking to fix. Thanks for your time.
Anthony.
Very excited to be part of this world, its been a long time coming. Our family loves fishing and with two young boys this should be one heck of a summer. ......with your help of course..."-)

 

[jigngrub]

Re: 10' Aluminum Jon Boat Repair Flat Bottom, How do I????

So the Quick Seal didn't work?

 

[erwinner]

Re: 10' Aluminum Jon Boat Repair Flat Bottom, How do I????

I never believe anything the previous owner says! The Starcraft I bought a couple months ago was said to have been on the water last summer and didn't leak a bit. Uh huh... I'll believe it when I see it. Hopefully I'll be healed up from recent medical issues soon and be able to find out how tall of a tale the PO was telling me.
As for your leaky and missing rivets, don't bother with welding, just replace the rivets. A two handed rivet gun like this will make the job much easier.

Make sure to use blind, closed end rivets and put a dab of 3M 5200 marine adhesive on the rivet before you put it in.
To be sure, you may want to apply a coating of Gluvit to the rivets, but if you water test and there aren't any leaks, you don't have to.
If you do, it needs to be painted, as it will deteriorate due to UV rays.
Have fun boating!

 

[AMassey08873]

Re: 10' Aluminum Jon Boat Repair Flat Bottom, How do I????

I never believe anything the previous owner says! !

Ewinner Thank You SO Much!! You gave me exactly what I needed. When I joined this forum I was hoping to find similar great members as I have with the coin forum I belong to. http://www.coincommunity.com Thank You for clearing some of the confusion I was having. I had a feeling they were rivets but though Ohh god what if there put in with a hot gun or something....lol Its good to know this tool (Once I get the hang of it) Will get the job done. I'll be sure to follow your instructions even adding the glovet. I actually wrote a reply back to you that took over an Hr and a half but when i tried post it, something went wrong and it all got erased. I seriously can't thank you enough! You even linked the tool which I see is sold at my favorite store Harbor Freight. lol I'm always picking something up from them. Thats where I picked the trailer up from. Its there boat trailer, it might not of come with a all the bolts but they did send a full replacement bag of all bolts and I told them the one wheel had a dent in it so they sent me another wheel as well, so now I've got a spare.:-} And the trailers pretty good quality, No problem handling my little jon boat. I do love me some Harbor Freight..... The only store that I've come to like more is Grizzly. If you've never heard of them check them out http://www.grizly.com
I never knew about them until I found them on Amazon. After receiving a couple of there products.

I ordered a 10" Hybrid Cabinet Saw from them. Its amazing & for less then $800. Quite pleased with the quality! Might not be as low of a price but quality sure makes up for it.

How should I go about removing the rivets? Should I just grind the one side off and use a punch to punch it through? Can't wait to fix this bad boy up. She only leaks slightly in a couple spots. Most of what I've fixed with $60 worth of Truck Bed Sealer/ Protector, Plastic Dip, Rustolem's version of Quick Seal. Thought I would skip ordering the Quick Seal cause I couldn't part with the $20 a can with Shipping. Little did I know I'd whine up spending three times that amount. lol and When I let my Mother know what I was doing and the issues I was having, she surprised me with two bottles of Quick Seal. She said "I want to make sure you stay on top of the water." lol

Jigngrub the Quick Seal works perfect, its just some of the rivets are lose so the products not made to withstand the pressure of a rivet when someone's standing on it. It just popped through. But some that aren't that lose are holding you can see a little bubble where the rivets moving around. I recommend it hands down. Even Rustolem's version of QS is good. A little messy but good.... at least when you first start using a can. They say it doesn't bubble up as much or come out in chunks splattering after you use it for a little while. Just in the beginning it does this. I have't used but a little bit to hold the bolts on the Transom from leaking.
The bolts were lose so I figured I tighten them up sure enough the wood needs to be replaced too, cause ccrraacckk the head of some of the bolts started to go right through the wood. But a spritz of that sealer left it leak free.

Hope your health issues turn out ok for you erwinner. I'm facing some of my own. One of the craziest things is I'm constanly getting bit bye spiders. Lately they've only been semi poisonous only effecting me for a few days....weeks. But a couple of summers ago I got bit bye a Brown Recluse right on the top of my ft. It turned all black and rotted a half dollar size chunk out of my ft. Gave me an infection I nearly died of. Its crazy cause if I beating the other problems these F#*UR( spiders get me. lol One bit right around the arch of my foot(TOp Part) must of got caught in the tongue of my boot. Well alll of a sudden I started not being able to move my foot without it hurting then extreme pain, this lasted for 4 days. You could see where the little sucker started biting me and moved his way around my ft as it was probably trying to get free. Sorry to go a little off topic here. Can't thank you enough for your help.
Anthony

 

[jigngrub]

Re: 10' Aluminum Jon Boat Repair Flat Bottom, How do I????

Jigngrub the Quick Seal works perfect, its just some of the rivets are lose so the products not made to withstand the pressure of a rivet when someone's standing on it. It just popped through. But some that aren't that lose are holding you can see a little bubble where the rivets moving around. I recommend it hands down. Even Rustolem's version of QS is good. A little messy but good.... at least when you first start using a can. They say it doesn't bubble up as much or come out in chunks splattering after you use it for a little while. Just in the beginning it does this. I have't used but a little bit to hold the bolts on the Transom from leaking.
The bolts were lose so I figured I tighten them up sure enough the wood needs to be replaced too, cause ccrraacckk the head of some of the bolts started to go right through the wood. But a spritz of that sealer left it leak free.

This is why I always recommend fixing all leaks before applying any kind of sealant. paint, or other kind of goop. Sealant, paint, and goop are temporary fixes at best... you'll see.

Your leak problem will be ongoing, even after you fix the ones that're leaking. This is because the rivets that're just a little loose and aren't leaking through the sealant right now will get looser and leak later.

I recommend you remove all of the sealant you've applied and fix all leaks permanantly, then you can reseal if you want. You're going to have to remove that stuff where the known leaks are now anyway, might as well take it all off and start fresh.

 

[smitty153]

I had the same issue with my first boat. It was just like the boat in the picture. Mine had a 1 inch hole in the bottom. I simply used a piece of hard cardboard on the outside, and then put gorilla glue over the hole and let it dry. I removed the cardboard and sanded the surfaces down and it lasted until I sold it five years later. I just recently bought a fixer-upper like yours. I’m going to do the same. I just not work for me.

 

[smitty153]

I forgot to mention my use of primer and paint over the gorilla glue. I was really broke at the time and didn’t have many options. But I never had a problem with it.

 

[smitty153]

Smitty153 I just posted about repairing a flat bottom Johnny boat made of aluminum, with gorilla glue. I forgot to put my name at the beginning of my posts. This is the first forum I’ve ever joined.