Holy bottoms

[Holy bottoms]

I am currently restoring a 14 ft. 1957 Crestliner Seaman. I have removed the wood on the transom inside and out and am redoing the wood with a real hard wood. The problem I am having is Crestliner has a funny little drain in the hull floor. I got a new on and am going to replace the old broken model. It will need to be riveted. I am concerned about using pop rivets and am thinking about having a local company rivet this thing back on for me! However you would think that living in the Pacific North West you could find a place but so far no luck. Does anyone think using pop rivets is ok as long as sealed well?? Thanks for the advise Ric:joyous:

 

[crackedglass]

Re: Holy bottoms

Try a place that repairs heavy trucks and trailers, big trailers are riveted the same way. I've got a few nearby me that do lots of rivet work. Bucking a few rivets in a boat shouldn't be a big deal for a shop like that. The guy here even gave me a handful of rivets and an old rivet driver for my air hammer.

 

[Chris1956]

Re: Holy bottoms

Why not just bolt it with nylon locknuts and brass or stainless steel bolts?

My 1960 Crestliner's hull was two pieces of glass with a core of balsa wood. The wood got wet and turned into mush. What a mess. Hopefully you do not have that issue.

 

[ondarvr]

Re: Holy bottoms

You should move this to the reapir and restoration section, you will get more answers. Before going to hardwood do some reading there, plywood is typically a better choice.

 

[jbcurt00]

Re: Holy bottoms

TIN boat, right?

For the bilge drain, you can use blind closed end rivets. If the drain is the ONLY rivets you'll need to install, replace, etc, you can probably use a typical hand pop riveter. BUT the closed end blind rivets are much harder to 'pop' then normal rivets, some hand pop riveters aren't up to the task.

Because they're closed end, there is no thru hole. Dip the rivet in some 5200 before installation. The rivet head would be on the bottom, so once installed, you can fill the mandrel hole w/ 5200 too.

May need to shop for the closed end blind rivets online.

HarborFreight has a larger hand riveter for @$22:


Most of the tin resto's that require LOTS of rivet work, buy an air riveter, also @HarborFreight @$45:

If you & a really, really good friend are up for the challenge & the noise, bucking solid rivets would be even better. A substantial sledge hammer could be used as the bucking bar against the head of the solid rivet.

What motor & what hardwood are you planning to use? As Ondarvr mentioned, plywood would be a better choice. Many tin boats of this vintage had a nice piece of wood on the exterior of the transom, and you could replace it w/ similar. W/ a smallish 10hp +/- motor hanging off the transom, many have used similar as the interior structural transom wood too. Your boat is rated for an 8hp, so I too would consider sealing up a really nice piece of wood on either (both even) sides of the transom.

Pix of your Seaman would be great!

 

[bigmcgiv]

Re: Holy bottoms

i like that air riveter. i will have to pick one up.