rivet holes

hobson · #1 02-10-2007, 09:59 PM

Im in the process of cleaning up the hull and trying to decide what to do with the hundreds of rivet holes from where the liner was taken out and the rubrail was removed. I was thinking about taking a dremel tool with a counter sink bit and slightly boring them out. Then mixing up some cabosil and resin into a paste and filing the holes. After it kicks sanding in smooth and taking some 3" or 4" fiberglass tape and wrapping it over the top edge of the hull. Any opinions or help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Bryan A. · #2 02-10-2007, 10:09 PM

The tape may make it harder to fair. Its hard to say without a picture. Can you get at the backside at all?

hobson · #3 02-11-2007, 12:37 AM

I can get to both sides of the hull, it has no cap or liner on it if that helps. I will take some pics tomorrow and post. Thanks.

strick · #4 02-11-2007, 01:54 AM

I would not do anything that may possibly make it harder to get the cap back on. Wrapping tape over the top edge may do exactly that. Are there really hundreds of them? What I did was once I placed the cap back on I then glassed the cap to the hull from the backside. If you are worried about thickness and something for the rivets to grab onto you can put several layers of glass. As for the rivet holes on the cap once it's back in place I'd just sand lightly and then wipe some cabosil over the holes and be done with it. You are gong to want to drill new holes anyway when you re-rivet. The rub rail will cover it all up. No one will ever see it. The hull to cap joint has been called "Every boat builders dirty little secret"

strick

WillyC · #5 02-12-2007, 10:36 PM

I filled in several hundred holes on my 20' sf. What I did was 1)reem out hole with drill bit 2)use countersink bit to smooth out outer surface and to give the epoxy a little more surface area to bite to 3)back inner surface with duck tape 4)fill holes with thickened epoxy 5)remove duck tape after epoxy cured. This worked pretty good but was a major pain in the ass due to all the holes. There must have been 3 or 4 different rub rails installed over the last 30 years.

65Bowrider · #6 02-14-2007, 09:31 AM

We did a similiar thing as Will for filling in cockpit holes. On the 'finished' side, placed seran wrap, taped into position, clamped wood on finished side for extra security, then filled in hole from underside. All the mess was on the underside and the 'finished' side was smooth...resulting in very little sanding.
If doing lots of little holes, maybe put the duck tape on the 'finished' side and again, fill in from the underside. I was going to try shipping tape...that's clear so you could see & make sure your holes were completely filled & no air pockets. I don't like sanding & avoid whenever possible.

1bayouboy · #7 02-14-2007, 11:09 AM

I like the shipping tape thought....I think you could cut a small piece of shipping tape big enough to cover the hole, then stick it glue side to glue side on a bigger piece and then tape it over the hole.....that would be like taping plastic wrap over the hole.

VirginIslander · #8 02-14-2007, 11:06 PM

Quote:

I like the shipping tape thought....I think you could cut a small piece of shipping tape big enough to cover the hole, then stick it glue side to glue side on a bigger piece and then tape it over the hole.....that would be like taping plastic wrap over the hole.

I use the clear "shipping" tape to cover holes and then use thickened epoxy to fill them. Works great!

You don't have to go to the trouble of sticking one smaller piece to a bigger piece. Just stick a piece of tape over the hole and smush the poxy in from the other side. A quick wipe with acetone or goo-gone takes the stick'm off if there is any after the tape is peeled. ... Just be sure to clean out the hole and counter sink one side (a little on the second side is even better) for the poxy to get a good bite on.

Darlene