Top to bottom of boat?

[play2win]

Any suggestions on what to use to join top half of boat to bottom. I know I have to use rivets. Just have to figure out where to steal a rivet gun from.....and oh yeah, one slight problem, boat doesnt fit back on top. Missing by 1/2 inch from bow to stern and top is also around 2 inches too wide.

 

[quantumleap]

Re: Top to bottom of boat?

Did you re-glass your stringers?? You might try jacking up bow tip and transom and letting the middle hang for a while. this will bring the sides of the hull out a bit and shorten the over-all length. If you have full-length stringers that you re-glassed then you're in a little trouble as the hull distorted during glassing.

 

[JasonJ]

Re: Top to bottom of boat?

My top sat funky when I put mine on too. What I did was use C-clamps and worked my way from the transom to the bow, alternating back and forth. I lined up the flanges and clamped them. I only needed to clamp every few feet or so. By the time I got to the bow, everything was aligned for the most part. When drilling and riveting, I used visegrips to clamp adjacent to the rivet site for final alignment. Rivet guns are cheap, buy you one and a mess of rivets, it is a handy tool to have around. Good luck....

 

[12Footer]

Re: Top to bottom of boat?

Ask your fiberglass supplier about a product called "Methacrylate adhesive" (meth-ak-ril-ate).<br />It is used for bonding laminated surfaces like the caps or gunwhales to boat hulls, or the instalation of composite decking sheets to the sub structure.<br />It can be purchased in bulk, or in convieniant calking-gun tubes.<br />It aint cheap. But it is the stuff to use, IMHO.