I've recently aquired a 12' riveted aluminum boat. It seemed more than sea worthy at first, but after the first full day of fishing I discovered some seepage. I'd like to ultimatley hurculine the sucker but first want to make sure all the rivets and seams are sealed. Has anyone used the aluminum boat patching epoxy sold at cabelas. (blue sticks) I haven't used either product ever and would like to hear what you guys and gals think of these products.

I've used the stuff and it does work pretty well, but it's not intended for large areas- more like a small area where you have a bad rivet etc. In general you're better off, if you can get to both the front and back of the rivet, to just tighten it up with a hammer and anvil.

If it's an older boat and has sat out of the water for a while you may find that it'll stop leaking now that it's been wetted. Some boats had oakum or other gasket material between the aluminum layers and it would shrink a bit when it dried out.

It's not a bad idea to put a few inches of water in the boat on the trailer and see where the leaks are so you can better decide how to fix them. Don't fill it too much or you'll squash the trailer!

Pretty much the exact words of the tech guy at tracker. I Wound up yesterday for 3 hours with my brother in the boat with an body dolly and me outside with the hammer. I had to drill out and replace 1 un-salvagable rivet but after I borrowed a rivet gun from a buddy, I was only out of pocket 4 bucks on rivets.....cheaper than the epoxy and I have extras to spare. Not sure how long the expoxy takes, but 4 hours start to finish to do it the right way seemed unbeatable. Thanks again for the knowledgeable info starfish....I'm getting the feeling the forum needs to change it's name to awesome advice from Starfish or AskStarfish.com.