Leaking Keel on 16' Sylvan

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Matt193

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A year ago I bought a '95 16' Sylvan Sport Troller that needed the interior redone. When I had it torn apart, I flooded the boat looking for leaks and found that the keel dripped one or two drops every 30 seconds. After cleaning the interior of the hull and redoing the interior, I've got a fast drip coming out of a few rivets and the gasket between the hull and keel on one side. I'm assuming the years of gunk was helping to plug the leak.

After doing some research, it looks like my best option would be to try and tighten up the rivets and see if it stops the leak, but the "gasket" material looks a little iffy in that area. The material that they used is a black pliable material, similar to tar. Does anyone know what it is? If I can find the same material, would it be a good idea to try and dig a little bit of it out and replace it, or should I just try and tighten the rivets and hope whatever existing material fills any voids?

I do have excellent access to the inside of the hull, so I suppose I could put some Gluvit on the inside, but I would rather do it the right way before I try using epoxy or the like.

Any suggestions?
 

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I usually try tightening the offending rivet first and sometimes put a drop of super glue over said rivet.

Sent from my CLT-L04 using Tapatalk

 
DSCF6910.JPG

See what looks like a white line on the seam between the boat side and bottom.

That is a bead of 3M5200 to seal and reinforce the sealing material between the two sheets of aluminium.

I cleaned the surface with ammonia water (1 cup to a gallon) and a small brush, then rinsed it thoroughly with fresh water.

Allowed it to dry for a couple days.

Lined both sides with blue painters tape. Then applies the bead of 5200.

I used 5200 because of its slow dry time, which allowed it to slump into the voids.

I removed the tape as soon as I had finished applying the bead.

It looks good and has now been on the boat for a couple years without incident.
 
It is a special vinyl sealing tape that is listed in the rebuild of my 16' Starcraft boat. But you will NOT be able to use that, as you need clear access to both pieces ... so you'd need to de-rivet most of the hull.

I'd rebuck them first, then if using an epoxy (from the inside), go with West Systems G-Flex 650 over Gluvit, as the GF-650 is malleable and can flex/bend. Any epoxy product MUST be painted or over-coated - if exposed to the sun - with a finish product else it deteriorates from UV exposure. A G-FLex kit is $20 or so, enough for your lifetime on a tin boat!

There's also no way, no how that any one-part polyurethane goop like 3M 5200 is going to penetrate any further than where you can mechanically place it; it doesn't creep or weep one bit. From the outside, personally I'd use LifeCaulk by BoatLife, as the tubes last 2-3 times as long as 3M's 5200 before going hard and the product is just as good; if not better, as because it lasts - it is a much better value for the dollar.
 
Thanks for the info, guys. Who would have thought that the gasket material was actually a closed cell foam!

I'm going to order a rivet setting kit and see if I can tighten them up; otherwise I'll give some epoxy a try. Does this look like a decent set?

I'm not really sure if I'm going to keep this boat long term or dump it. The success of this repair will definitely help me make up my mind.
 
Matt193 said:
I'm going to order a rivet setting kit and see if I can tighten them up; otherwise I'll give some epoxy a try. Does this look like a decent set?
No, do not buy that set, you only need one Brazier head tool, $10-$13, see this link = https://forum.tinboats.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=41248&p=419799&hilit=Rivet+head+tool#p419799

How’s this? You don’t even need to buy rivets, I have a bunch of 3/16” diameter, just tell me what length you need and I’ll send them all to you; just PM me your address. Instead of that $20 bucking tool shown in that post (which is a darn useful one for the money) you would just use a block a metal.

Any questions and I’ll walk you through it! Heck, if you lived close enough, just drop it off in my driveway and I’d fix it right for you.
 
DaleH said:
Matt193 said:
I'm going to order a rivet setting kit and see if I can tighten them up; otherwise I'll give some epoxy a try. Does this look like a decent set?
No, do not buy that set, you only need one Brazier head tool, $10-$13, see this link = https://forum.tinboats.net/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=41248&p=419799&hilit=Rivet+head+tool#p419799

How’s this? You don’t even need to buy rivets, I have a bunch of 3/16” diameter, just tell me what length you need and I’ll send them all to you; just PM me your address. Instead of that $20 bucking tool shown in that post (which is a darn useful one for the money) you would just use a block a metal.

Any questions and I’ll walk you through it! Heck, if you lived close enough, just drop it off in my driveway and I’d fix it right for you.

That's a very generous offer! Unfortunately/fortunately, I'm from Wisconsin, so I'm not very close to you. I'm going to order the setter and try to tighten them up before I deal with replacing them. The cheapest I could find that setter from Ajax is $16 shipped, so not a big savings over the Chinese set, but you're probably right, I'll likely never use the other ones. I'm not going to buy a bucking tool since I have a few different heavy pieces of steel that should work fine since I have really good access to the back of the rivets.

Once I get the tool and have a chance to tighten them, I'll report back.
 
orrr you could use some regular jb weld in there.. would fix the leak for years .. i did it for my old alumacraft around some leaky rivits and seems and it worked perfectly... its amazing stuff
 
I was able to get some help today and tightening the rivets worked great. No more leaks! Thanks for everyone's input.
 
Matt193 said:
I was able to get some help today and tightening the rivets worked great. No more leaks! Thanks for everyone's input.

Wow, that is fantastic. The gap in your original pic's looked pretty bad to me. I have a new respect for what can be done with riveted seams.
 
I tightened them a little bit first and then leak tested, and it still leaked. I hit it gently with a hammer to close the gap slightly and tightened them a little more, which was enough. I had my doubts, but it worked great!
 

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