vintageglass
Petty Officer 3rd Class
- Joined
- Nov 22, 2010
- Messages
- 80
In 1994 I bought a brand new 1994 aluminum Grumman 14SS, I used it for about a month before buying a larger boat, thinking that it may come in handy some day I stored it rather than selling it.
Its sat in my shop upside down atop of one of the pallet racks every since. Having found a good used 10hp motor decided to pull it down and put it back in use. Keep in mind this boat was 4 to 5 weeks old and in mint shape when I put it away.
I hung the motor, to my surprise the transom wood was like paper, it crumbled just by touch.
I figured no big deal, I cut and glued up two new 3/4" panels, drilled, rebolted everything and sealed all bolts with 5200 Sealer. I take the thing down to the nearest lake and slide it in, to my surprise it leaks like a sieve. The seam around the transom leaks severely, it leaks right down the keel from the bow eye to where the one piece aluminum hull starts, and it leaks at about a half dozen rivets. The transom seam is loose, there's some sort of rubber in between the panels, that rubber looks like thin foam, and its turned to dust. The same I guess for the front seam that forms the V bow. The transom panel has one single row of rivets, about 2/3rds of them are below the water line. I also noticed after pulling the boat back out that about 30 rivet head popped off.
At this point I'm in shock, the boat has never seen salt, I bought it in PA years ago, I only recently moved to NJ and worse yet, the boat don't have 40 hours of float time on it. It never leaked a drop back when it was new.
What is the proper fix for that seam? What I notice is that the gap between the transom panel and the hull isn't even, the gap is greater around the corners than along the bottom and sides. I tried putting a bolt and washers in a few holes to draw the panels closer but its not happening.
What is the proper fix? There's about 150 rivets in all if I were to have to replace every one in the transom, not to mention the loose and missing rivets up front. The boat was stored indoors, dry, in a heated building atop of warehouse shelving.
The rivets look corroded, there's white chalky stuff all in between the panels. The rest of the boat looks new.
How do I support and buck rivets that are under severe tension? If I try to compress the panels on the transom to close the gap, the rivets will be under severe stress, and only a few of them at that. On the transom seam, there's 7 rivets loose on the right side, 3 missing, on the bottom there's 5 missing, and on the left side there's 4 missing and all below the water line are loose. Even the rivets for the bow eye popped off, the heads just popped off, but the bow eye stayed in place anchored by the remaining parts of the rivets due to the angle. When I released rope tension on the winch the bow eye fell to the floor. The boat has never been used with a big motor, it never had more than a 28lb trust trolling motor. What would make a hull or the rivets and rubber between the seams degrade like this? I've got another much older boat that never leaked a drop in 30 years. Having an aluminum boat pop all these rivets all at once is a new one to me.
I am about a 50 lbs heavier these days but the boat can handle over three times my weight, and this trip, I didn't get past sitting down in the boat to realize it was taking on water in a big way.
Its sat in my shop upside down atop of one of the pallet racks every since. Having found a good used 10hp motor decided to pull it down and put it back in use. Keep in mind this boat was 4 to 5 weeks old and in mint shape when I put it away.
I hung the motor, to my surprise the transom wood was like paper, it crumbled just by touch.
I figured no big deal, I cut and glued up two new 3/4" panels, drilled, rebolted everything and sealed all bolts with 5200 Sealer. I take the thing down to the nearest lake and slide it in, to my surprise it leaks like a sieve. The seam around the transom leaks severely, it leaks right down the keel from the bow eye to where the one piece aluminum hull starts, and it leaks at about a half dozen rivets. The transom seam is loose, there's some sort of rubber in between the panels, that rubber looks like thin foam, and its turned to dust. The same I guess for the front seam that forms the V bow. The transom panel has one single row of rivets, about 2/3rds of them are below the water line. I also noticed after pulling the boat back out that about 30 rivet head popped off.
At this point I'm in shock, the boat has never seen salt, I bought it in PA years ago, I only recently moved to NJ and worse yet, the boat don't have 40 hours of float time on it. It never leaked a drop back when it was new.
What is the proper fix for that seam? What I notice is that the gap between the transom panel and the hull isn't even, the gap is greater around the corners than along the bottom and sides. I tried putting a bolt and washers in a few holes to draw the panels closer but its not happening.
What is the proper fix? There's about 150 rivets in all if I were to have to replace every one in the transom, not to mention the loose and missing rivets up front. The boat was stored indoors, dry, in a heated building atop of warehouse shelving.
The rivets look corroded, there's white chalky stuff all in between the panels. The rest of the boat looks new.
How do I support and buck rivets that are under severe tension? If I try to compress the panels on the transom to close the gap, the rivets will be under severe stress, and only a few of them at that. On the transom seam, there's 7 rivets loose on the right side, 3 missing, on the bottom there's 5 missing, and on the left side there's 4 missing and all below the water line are loose. Even the rivets for the bow eye popped off, the heads just popped off, but the bow eye stayed in place anchored by the remaining parts of the rivets due to the angle. When I released rope tension on the winch the bow eye fell to the floor. The boat has never been used with a big motor, it never had more than a 28lb trust trolling motor. What would make a hull or the rivets and rubber between the seams degrade like this? I've got another much older boat that never leaked a drop in 30 years. Having an aluminum boat pop all these rivets all at once is a new one to me.
I am about a 50 lbs heavier these days but the boat can handle over three times my weight, and this trip, I didn't get past sitting down in the boat to realize it was taking on water in a big way.
