exposed interior rivets

H

haakebecks

New member
So, on this Venture 26 we just bought, I noticed that literally all of the rivets attaching the rub rail to the boat were exposed. I know that in every other C-Dory I have seen, these have been either glassed over and/or covered with epoxy. I am assuming that leaving these exposed is just asking for problems.

What is the best solution for covering them up? Just mix up some epoxy and slather it on? Use a glass patch then epoxy/epoxy paint over it?

Should I just leave it be?
 
haakebecks":p8pxc50e said:
I know that in every other C-Dory I have seen, these have been either glassed over and/or covered with epoxy.
Click to expand...

Just as a data point, it appears that the inboard side of the rub-rail rivets in my 22 (and the others I have looked at) are covered with a mound of rubbery, caulking type compound (I'd guess a polyurethane (such as 5200 or 4200) and then the interior gelcoat sprayed on.
 
Many have had an epoxy build up over the rivet. I would get some of the semi solid epoxy sticks, which are in two parts, --in a light color if possible, then cut off small pieces and mold them around the exposed rivet. You can spray on some paint if you wish. I would grind off the glass with a small dremel tool around the rivet to get a better adherence.
 
Home depot or Lowes will have the epoxy sticks, as does Ace and other hardware stores. JB weld produces some--but there are some by DuPont and most glue manufactures.
 
My 26' ProAngler CD had the same problem with the rivets as well as having quite a few of them pop loose from the hull on both sides along the cockpit area.
I pulled the rubber rubrail insert out all the way around the boat. Then drilled a hole through each rivet an replaced it with a no.8 bolt SS bolt with a small fender washer and SS nyloc nut inside. Then reinserted the rubber rail insert. THat was the hardest part but I got it done. One needs to put it back w/o any tension as you will have left over rubber at the rear end. Spraying silicone on it helps getting it inserted.
The washers/nuts are not the prettiest thing but it is a fishing boat and I like it just fine.
 
I ended up simply mixing up some thickened epoxy (colloidal silica only) and covering up all of the exposed rivets. That mixture is almost a cloudy opaque color and blends into the splatter gelcoat pretty well.
 
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