Canoe needs patching

[SMcCord]

My parents have an old aluminum canoe that has leaks. Does anyone
know of anyone who can fix or patch the leaks. They only use it rarely on a lake in Lakewood, NLR, and don't really want to get a new one.
Thanks. Stacey

[Charlie Ford]

I think the folks at moore outdoors on the piney patch boats. Just have to check and see.

[Steve S]

Stacey, is the leak at a rivet, from a crack in the aluminum, or on a seam? If there is a crack in the aluminum, a patch can be brazed on to the aluminum at low temperature. If the leak is at a rivet or seam, you can probably fix it yourself with supplies obtained at Home Depot or Lowes.

[SMcCord]

I think at the rivets.

[Jim Krueger]

Stacey,

I have tightened the rivets in my uncle's old homemade boat thusly;
First I positioned the boat upright on saw horses and filled the boat partially with water, you can then see the rivits that are leaking and circle each one of them with a pencil. After all the leaking ones are identified, empty the boat of water.
The next part of the job requires a homemade 'bucking bar' of sorts with a rather pointed and dimpled end so it centers on the rivet head. I made one I could use by myself (a picture would be worth a thousand words here)
At any rate, I would position the bar on the rivet below the boat while leaving my hands free to use a coorosponding steel punch and hammer from above, inside the boat. The net result is that each loose rivet just takes a blow or two to recompress. Just have to be careful not to let either tool slip out of place. This job is certainly made easier with two people but can be done by one. Hope this helps.


Best Regards
Jim

[Jim Krueger]

Stacey,
If you decide you would like to fix the canoe yourself, I should be going down to the farm in the next week and I think I can locate that bucking bar.
Marlo and I are due to have a picknic the following weekend with a friend who also lives in Lakeview, I think he lives on the lower of the lakes, closest to JFK BLVD. At any rate, I would be glad to send the necessary tools home with him if you should like to try. It's a fairly straight-forward procedure but again, it just takes a little care and patience, the main thing is identifying the places that are leaking, setting up so the repair work can be comfortable and efficient, and taking some time. There is little that bothers old aluminum canoes that can't be put right, short of being taken on the Big Piney...


Best Regards
Jim

[coolhand]

I have used JB Weld on aluminum boats, and it works wonders.

[Eric Esche]

Just a couple of extra tricks here -I've bucked rivits helping my father-in-law on his John boats and other folks on airplanes. You can make a bucking bars by drilling a dimple of the right size (a dimple not a hole) in a piece of flat stock steel and then backing it with a large hammer or sledge hammer. Bending the flat stock steel in a vice helps to shape it to the curvature of the pieces to be bucked for a more cosmetic job. Bucking rivits is usually a two person job, and some how I usually get stuck with being the one on bottom to buck the rivits. When faced with a desire to do a job by myself due to time or help constraints, I have placed a canoe or john boat on 2x6's with the bar underneath the canoe on the rivit, which is then filled with enough water to weigh it down on the bar, rivit, and board, while I hammered on a dimpled spike from above. You get sort of wet doing it this way, but if it is hot outside, the cool water is not bad - just don't slip and hit something you didn't want to. When leak stops, you've got it tight. You can also drill a hole in a piece of flat stock to make a guide and protective mask over and around the rivit for the top side when using a long bolt and a hammer from the top side to flare and tighten the rivit if you have a third set of hands to help and the room to use it. Doing it by myself was slow due to all the repositioning, but the satisfaction of having the job done when your help comes back and them trying to figure out how you did it solo was worth it. Those rivits never did leak again. I also cheated and smeared some mixed epoxy up in the joint and then covered it with duct tape before filling the boat with water and tightening the rivits. If rivits are missing or too thin to tighten and have to be drilled or ground out, this techique also works for new rivits. Good for thin aluminum where you are concerned with cosmetics and strength and no further damage.

I've also used JB weld from both sides and not had it leak for over 20+ years on a john boat. Helps to clean and brush up the spot you are patching before you apply it. Better for seam and rivit leaks than cracks which usually need either aluminum welding or a rivited patch. JB weld also works well at smoothing over and sealing those rivited patches so nothing leaks or hangs on them.

Good luck. Read the instructions on JB Weld and it seems to work for anyone like Duct tape. Tongue depressors sold in the pharmacy or a crafts shop make good spreading tools and are disposable so you don't have to clean them like you would with screw drivers and spatulas.

Eric

[SMcCord]

Thanks for the suggestions. I am going to check out the canoe in detail this weekend. Jim-- thanks for your offer for me to borrow your bucking bar. Let me see what I got first and I may get back to you. Stacey

[fortner]

The rivets can also be drilled out and replaced with new ones... very simple job with the proper equipment, depending on how many are leaking...

Just a thought....

James