Whaler Central - Boston Whaler Boat Information and Photos

Posted by sdespop on 07/28/10 - 7:53 AM

I just turned over my 1976 Sport 15 to do some hull repair and found that the rivets holding the rub rail receiver are all pulled at the bow. I figure I need to remove the whole thing so I can fill and redrill the holes. My question is, if I drill off the rest of the rivet heads to remove the receiver, how do I remove the old rivets completely so I can pop in new ones? All I can figure is to oversize all the holes & pick the rivets out, then fill & redrill. Is there an easier way? I did a search and found nothing addressing this issue.

Posted by tyno22 on 07/28/10 - 8:21 AM

I just recenlty pulled off the old channel that the rub rail inserts into and put on new channel. I cut off any rivets with a snippers (cut partly one way, then turn the snips and finish the cut); this way the cut of the rivet will be flush to the boat as possible. After that we took a hammer and tapped on them until they were flush with the hole. Some we pulled out, but then you have a bigger hole. We cauked any remaining holes with a marine cauk. Make sure the rivets are flush so the new channel will fit up nice, and not be pushed out by any remaining rivet head. Once all the rivets were cut, and cleaned up to allow the new channel to go on; we put the new channel on. One person holding the role of channel, one person with a drill, and one person holding the channel down tightly to the boat when we were drilling. We then drilled new holes into the boat of which I really didn't want to do; but was the only real way of putting the new channel on, because matching the holes would have been difficult. We used #10 stainless screws; hex head. We checked on this; some say rivets are better; others say to use screws. I liked the way the screws went in. Boston whaler said they they install their rub rail channel by using these #10 screws and that have an epoxy on them. I would have liked to have these, but I neeed the screws the same day I called Whaler on this, so I couldn't wait for them by mail. I went downtown and bought 100 of #10 SS screws for about $30. I was told that you can get the epoxy coated ones from your BW dealer.

Posted by gilgotes on 07/30/10 - 12:19 PM

Went through this with my whaler. Whether you pull the rivets out, or push them in, I don't think is as important as not trying to use the same holes. The holes should be filled in (injected) with a structural epoxy (eg. WestSystems Six10), not a flexible marine adhesive/caulk like 3M 5200 (IMHO). It will cure in less than a day and you can sand the edge smooth and install the new rubrail with screws or rivets without trying to hit the existing holes.

Mike

Edited by gilgotes on 07/30/10 - 12:19 PM

Posted by DWinter on 07/31/10 - 4:31 PM

I recommend filling the screw holes with thickened epoxy paste or even marine tex. You should also chamfer/bevel the edges of all new holes anytime you drill into gel to prevent spider cracks. Another benefit, you can control/shorten the amount of curing time of the epoxy vs. waiting overnite with silicone.

Whatever you do, don't use 5200 for sealing the screws. If it ever has to come off again, you'll end up wringing off half the screws heads. 4200, life caulk or plain old marine silicone will seal the screws. If you are using the black flexable rubrail let it sit in the sun to soften, it makes it easier to work with