every one i talk to tells me that riveted boats leak some..is there any thing people know about these type of boats that can stop the leaking or atleast slow it down. and how much is to much of a leak that the boat should have..any info that any one can offer on this subject would be awsome. i would like to find a product that i could maybe spray on the bottom to seal it up some.  simalar to the spay liner for the bed of trucks.

There are a gazillion ways to fix a leaky jon boat. If it is the actual rivet, there are 2 or 3 specific treatments that are painless, cheap and quick.

My favorite is to use a tapered head bolt (stainless of course) with a dab of 5200 marine adhesive/sealant on the thread. Drill out old rivet and replace with bolt from bottom.

Bed liner has it's +'s and -'s

I think you just gave me a good idea for a new article.

not a jon boat is a 96  17 ft deep v tracker ..how can u tell which rivets are leaking .

Start filling it with water, water leak out just as good as it leaks in.   Just be careful not to overload the trailer, you can add a lot of weight, real quick.  May find that is not a rivet leaking, might just be a livelwell, or hose to it or one of the pumps.

first...not ALL riveted boats leak. Mine does, but that is not really the point.

in investigating my boats leak here is what I was told...( some of it I agree with some of it I do not)

rivets boats leak when they are mishandled. too rough of water, not being secured to the trailer properly, bumps and jumps is what makes them leak in the first place. I can see this, bit I kinda think there are probably a handful of gingerly handled riveted boats that leak. This explanation came from a manufactuer representitive who I am sure thought I was calling to get them to do something for me or to pay for something...which is why I got a sales rep when I asked for someone in engineering. (I wanted a drawing/blueprint of the stringer layout.)

as far as the leak goes...my favorite answer was given to me by a mechanic with a sarcastic sense of humor...and I am paraphrasing...

"well these days they have come along with a huge variety of neat little gadgets and gidgets to fix problems like this. The most recent invention, and probably the coolest thing I have seen in all my years fixin boats is...the Bilge pump."

HA HA HA!!!!

I was told by quite a few guys that so long as you are not leaking fast enough to sink it...just run the bilge. Which is an option I suppose, but was not a good enough option for my obsessive personality.

the hardest thing is that for most of the repairs you have to pull the decks out, which, while not technically difficult, is still alot of work. If you do not want to pull the decks, you are left with an exterior repair.

I did find some industrial strength aluminum blind rivets, breaking strength of 2200 pounds or something, which is stronger than the original rivets, but without being able to see the stringer underneath I was worried about not grabbing it when I drilled out the old and replaced it...and I had to buy the rivet gun which was expensive for a handful of rivets.

All four of the welded rivets ( previous owner had them welded) were leaking like a friggin siv...so I would not choose that option in the future.

the 5200 marine epxoy mentioned previously does a wonderful job at patching individual leaky rivets. It is great stuff, the hardest part about using it is getting the aluminum clean which takes about all of 45 seconds with a good grinder and wire wheel.

truck bed liner works but holey crap is that a terrible job. I would not do it again. that laying under the boat working over my head for three days ( one to grind the baot clean and chem wash it...one to prime it with a acceptable primer...and one more to wash it again and put on the bed liner)  was not fun...and the bed liner gets everywhere, regardless of how careful you are, and it is terrible stuff...soaks through your cloths and you walk around speckled for two weeks.

I went through all of that...and still had a leak...turn out to be the transom fitting for the livewell intake...so check that first.

the 5200 marine epxoy mentioned previously does a wonderful job at patching individual leaky rivets. It is great stuff, the hardest part about using it is getting the aluminum clean which takes about all of 45 seconds with a good grinder and wire wheel.

yep, I just did my rivered boat with "Gluv-it"... so far, it is working great! now getting to the hole bottom of the boat, that was a trick...

Here's another thread from a while back:

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1150810501/4#4

If it is the rivets that are leaking the simple fix is get a buddy and turn the boat upside down on a couple of saw horses, 2 medium size ball pein hammers, one on the inside holds the hammer head against the rivet and one on the outside taps the same rivet a few times, this will tighten the ribs and swell the rivet in the hole. Don't beat the rivet flat, just swell it a little. Should only take an hour or two to do all the rivets. I have done or helped with at least half a dozen boats and all were dry afterwards. Two pet pieves for me are leaky boats and trailer lights that don't work properly.

not a jon boat is a 96 17 ft deep v tracker ...

Doesn't matter, all these suggestions still apply.

I recently bought an '89 Tracker 17' and when I was looking at it I noticed sealer along the rivets and seams. I was ready to walk away from the deal since I figured it had leaks. The owner told me that it didn't leak and never did, he just couldn't figure out why he was getting water in the boat after he bought it and started putting sealer on all the rivets.

Turns out he was just stopping too fast and water was backwashing over the transom. I only have about 20 hours on the water with it and the only water I ever picked up was from messing around with the livewell. It has some leaky fittings inside the tank and they might just need tightening. In fact I'm going to do that now.

I agree with > "not all rivit boats leak"  > My rivit utility boat from 1958 is still serving me every outing (Every Saturday)  @ a rate of 7 months a year. It was out 12 weekends a year till 2004 and now its on the water over 25 times a year (lakes and saltwater bays). (12ft boat)

Boatnik-Got a pic?  I have a '64 12 ft alum.jon.  

We can start an antique club,lol