Froggigger1
I have replaced polymer on a bunch of aluminum boats. There are 2 schools of thought about it.
One says weld up the old holes and drill new ones, because the old ones are now enlarged and won't seal with the new rivets.
The other says use the existing holes, the rivets are soft enough to spread and seal them just fine.
All of my experience says to use the existing holes. Never had one leak on me so far.
How to remove the old rivets? We made a heavy tool out of thick flat plate steel that looked like a hoe blade but was strait out and welded into a heavy pipe handle. We ground a sharp wdge on one sidee only. Used it to wedge between the rivets and chop them off.
Another way if you have air tools is to just use an air chisel to chop them off.
Hearing and eye protection is a must for the job when you start re riventing it in.
Be sure to keep the new sheet alligned at ALL times or it will skew off center as you add new rivets back in. There is no easy way but it sure helps to have some extra hands around to help.
Hope this helps
Scotty
