Cracked Ribs???

I have completely gutted my early 80's sea nymph bass attacker and found 3 cracked ribs in the bottom. The cracks are right at rivets and my question is should I drill the rivets out and put new ones in before welding up the cracks and rivets? Im afraid if I drill them out and then let them weld the cracks there will be an uneven hole or surface to put the rivets back in. Maybe they should weld up the crack and the hole entirely and then I move over a quarter inch and put in a new hole and rivet?

A couple pictures would make a relevant answer much easier [-o<

Heres a couple of pics

If its not leaking from the rivets I would leave them alone and weld it up. Maybe add some additional aluminum across the face of the rib for some more support.

Its leaking...

If its not leaking from the rivets I would leave them alone and weld it up. Maybe add some additional aluminum across the face of the rib for some more support.

Click to expand...

I agree & just re-buck the rivet that's leaking

Where in the hull is that rib? Have you asked yourself why it cracked out? Fish plate welded over the rib is probably a good start but is there another underlying issue?

Jamie

Its in the dead middle of the boat and there appears to be a number of issues. The bass attackers have aluminum skeletons for the front and rear for decking but nothing in the middle which probably isnt that uncommon. The boat has been well used and could have been hit there plus the darn trailer rides a roller there that is too high in my opinion. I completely redoing the boat and will be adding additional bracing to the middle, as well as new drive on trailer with no rollers that Im redoing. I'm afraid if I just rebuck the rivets and let him weld with the rivets in place then there will still be a small cracked area on both sides of the rivet. It would be small but still a point to where the crack could form again. I guess Ive answered my own question. Im going to drill the rivets out, weld the cracks completely, redrill, and put new rivets in. Then add my additional bracing. I have the proper brazier rivets and the proper bits for doing rivets right.

Roller makes sense since usually taking the boat to the water is much harder than being on the water.

By the way Ranchero, you have one of the coolest builds I've ever seen on this site. Very nice work.