Tinny seat question!

[Coldtrain_1]

I have just begun remodeling an old 1442 aluminum can. I have replaced the transom so far, and am about to start on the leaky rivets (which is almost all of them). So this being said, I have two questions.

1. With this many rivets leaking, what is the cheapest, easiest, and best thing to fix them?

2. What are the disadvantages, if any, of removing the foam core from the seats? I am wanting to cut holes in the tops of the benches out and just overlay the whole bench with carpet covered plywood on hinges. I would like to use the middle bench for storage of batteries and the back one for life jackets, spotlight, etc. What is everyone's opinion, concerns on doing this?

 

[Bondo]

Re: Tinny seat question!

1. With this many rivets leaking, what is the cheapest, easiest, and best thing to fix them?

2. What are the disadvantages, if any, of removing the foam core from the seats?

Ayuh,.... #1,.. rebuck 'em,+ seal with Glu-vit...
#2,... If swamped, your boat'll Sink...

 

[lckstckn2smknbrls]

Re: Tinny seat question!

Check out a product called Steelflex.
Take a look a www.tinboats.net

 

[fishrdan]

Re: Tinny seat question!

Don't remove the foam and not put foam back in,,, or as BondO said, you'll have a sinker on your hands.

However, on my jon boat I cut open the seat bulkheads and lined them with foam which left plenty of room for storage. The trick is putting back as much foam as you removed,, which was pretty easy on my boat since the foam blocks were not that big. If you want the tops of the seat bulkheads to feel stable, you need to roll the edge of the opening to a 90* angle. I rolled over a 1" lip, 2" away from the side of the bulkhead so I could slide 2" foam between the lip and sides of bulkhead, worked perfect,,, but it was a PITA rolling the rounded corners over without the aluminum splitting, have to work slowly and evenly.