Leaky Jon Rivet Help

Hi,
I've recently bought an old 14 foot jon.

I named it the SS Cheese because it has more holes than a big block of Swiss.
Actually most isn't holes, just leaking rivets.

I need to drill out the old rivets and install new ones.
Can you suggest a size and maybe part number from somewhere like Ace Hardware or maybe Fastenal? I'm open for suggestions. Please tell me what size bit to use and what rivets to get.

I have a hand manually operated rivet gun (arrow I think) from Home Depot I think it was. Is this going to do the job? what is the best way to make sure the rivets seal up well?

Thank you in advance for your help. This is a project I'm dreading. Hopefully it wont be as bad as I anticipate.

robertm said:

Hi,
I've recently bought an old 14 foot jon.

I named it the SS Cheese because it has more holes than a big block of Swiss.
Actually most isn't holes, just leaking rivets.

I need to drill out the old rivets and install new ones.
Can you suggest a size and maybe part number from somewhere like Ace Hardware or maybe Fastenal? I'm open for suggestions. Please tell me what size bit to use and what rivets to get.

I have a hand manually operated rivet gun (arrow I think) from Home Depot I think it was. Is this going to do the job? what is the best way to make sure the rivets seal up well?

Thank you in advance for your help. This is a project I'm dreading. Hopefully it wont be as bad as I anticipate.

Click to expand...

Greetings RobertM,

I'm a newbie to this site but I can share some good information to help you out.

Since you said you have leaky rivets have you been able to identify all of them? If you didn't know, you could put the plug in your boat and fill it up with a little bit of water and then use a marker to mark any leak. Don't go overboard filling it up and use the trailer to tilt it up or down to move the water and check for leaks.

You'll have to determine what diameter rivets you have. 3/16" or 1/4". Your boat may be 3/16 but in my situation I had 1/4" brazier rivets. You might could get away with just having someone use a large mallet or block of steel to "buck" the head of the leaky rivets while you hit the tail end with a hammer. If that doesn't work you could drill out the leaky rivet and replace it. I bought my rivets from https://www.mcmaster.com/ and even bought the rivet setter bit. In my case I had to drill out 40 rivets to remove knee braces in order to get at and replace the rotted transom. After we bucked the new rivets I tested for leaks, to my surprise, there were no leaks. I have added some additional insurance to leaky rivets by using a product called "Glovit". It seems to be a marine epoxy resin that will seal up any leaks as well as add that additional insurance against future leaks.

McMaster-Carr Rivet Setter: https://www.mcmaster.com/#rivet-installation-tools/=biv1xb Click Air Powered Hammers and look at Item "T"
McMaster-Carr Solid Rivets: https://www.mcmaster.com/#rivets/=biv03p *You'll likely have aluminum, it's just a matter of determining the rivet diameter and wether it's regular head or brazier head (wider). As far as length I went with 1/2" but you may only need 3/8" if a 3/16" rivet.

Hopefully I was able to give you some useful information.

*Also, does your pneumatic air hammer have a quick change chuck or does it have the spring styled retainer? Depending on what kind of retainer it is you may not be able to use a rivet setter for it. After I got my rivet setter bit from McMaster-Carr I quickly found out if you don't have a "air hammer" (as described on their site) the bit will not work. So I was able to get an air hammer with the quick change chuck for $50 from Lowes. More cost effective than some of those Aircraft sets.

Most leaking rivets can be cured by rebucking them.

crkdltr thanks for your help.

To start, the only rivet gun I have is the manual arrow rivet gun as of right now. I dont have the air hammer.

I haven't filled it up to locate the leaky rivets yet. While I've been sitting in the boat fishing it has appeared that most of them were leaking.


I just went out and measured the rivets as best I can with a caliper. What I mean is I measured the bump of the rivet that I can reach rather than what is actually through the hull. I came up with .233 in Based on that, looks like I need 1/4 rivets. correct??

I have to "buck" the new rivets after they are installed to ensure they are watertight????

The rivet heads measured .412 in or 1.093mm Would that be the brazier head?

Am I best off to try to borrow an air rivet gun? or use my little tool I already have? I know it will take longer to use the hand tool, but not sure if it's going to seal them tight enough.

Your little hand rivet gun cant do anything with solid rives. They have to be bucked. Harbor Freight sells a hammer with rivet bucking bits for I think around 80 bucks if you cant find a friend that has one to loan. You probably dont need to replace the rivets. Just rebuck the ones that are there and then seal the bottom of the boat with Steelflex.

here are pics to explain how and what I was measuring.

I believe the pics were of all original rivets rather than some that has been redone already.
Rivet in the floor


Rivet on the sidewall


Pic of a sidewall rivet on outside of the boat to try to determine head



THANKS AGAIN!!!

Okay, so it costs a little more than what I thought but heres what you need.

https://www.harborfreight.com/catalogsearch/result?category=&q=air+hammer+rivet

You'll also need a bucking bar or a chunk of steel. Some people have used the head of a small sledge.

Do a search, there have been a couple tutorials posted of how to properly buck rivets.

You're measuring rivets that have already been bucked so that tail end you're measuring has been expanded. If it's expanded and measures 1/4" "roughly" then I would venture to say you probably have 3/16" rivets.


Do what crazymanme2 and robertm have suggested and rebuck them. Get a sledge hammer to act as the buck on the head and hammer the tail end. Just give them a couple of hits and retest them for leaks. Worst case scenario is to use SteelFlex or some other kind of epoxy resin, like Glovit, to seal them from the outside.

Either way will be cheaper and less time consuming than drilling them out and getting the tools you need to replace them.

Good luck!

robert,

When you get a chance, finish completing your profile with your location. You might have a fellow TinBoater nearby that has the tools.

profile updated.