Sealing aluminum hull.

[Rayzor]

I have a 12 Valco aluminum riveted boat. It gets water on the floor about 1 inch deep after planing for about 20 minutes. Its not coming over the sides the best I can tell. I was thinking of having one of those truck bed liners sprayed in it to seal it up. Is this a bad idea? what are my options. Thanks

 

[GA_Boater]

Re: Sealing aluminum hull.

Fill the hull with water, just enough so you can tilt and tip the boat to see where it's leaking. Might be a loose rivet or two. Another thing you can do is use Glu-vit to seal all the rivets from the inside. It needs paint to protect from UV. There are some other sealants that are similar. Check in the Starcraft restoration threads, loads of info there. Good luck.

 

[kfa4303]

Re: Sealing aluminum hull.

yup. Gluvit is the way to go. 1 qt. should be enough to do your whole boat.

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Sealing aluminum hull.

Bad idea IMO. The bedliner will be a quick fix and more than likely won't last. Then when it starts leaking again you're going to have to remove that bedliner junk to fix it right. Fix it right in the first place and you won't have to worry about it.

You probably just have a couple of leaking rivets. If you have a trailer for your boat, put a garden hose in the boat and fill it with water up to the waterline, then look on the outside of the hull for drips and leaks. Mark them with a marker when you find them.

Replace your leaking rivets and apply Gluvit to the inside seams and rivets.

This is the easiest way to replace rivets in a boat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0MA1-5NXjs&feature=related

 

[Rayzor]

Re: Sealing aluminum hull.

ok, bed liner is bad idea, That gluvit is cheaper then anyway. I will try filling it with water and see what shows up. Thanks for the advice.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Sealing aluminum hull.

Forget filling it with water. Just use the gluvit in all the seams and rivets. It is usually better to visually inspect the rivets and re-buck ones that even look like they are not seated properly.

Rebuck the rivets, sand the areas inside the hull and apply the gluvit and your leaks should vanish.

 

[kfa4303]

Re: Sealing aluminum hull.

I agree. You could look for leaks, but you may as well just coat all of the rivets from the inside and be done with it. Make sure you have a nice clean surface to apply the gluvit to, paint it on and voila!

 

[Star]

Re: Sealing aluminum hull.

Stop! Don't fill your boat with water you will bend your trailer axels! 5 0r 6" should do it. P.S. You have a pretty big hole in your boat to get 1" 20 minutes. Some alum hulls crack from flexing!!!
Please do a close examination. All in all I love my 14' starcraft, light, durable, and little maint. Good Luck!