12 foot aluminum row boat leaking

[darryl w]

i recently purchased an old 12 foot aluminum boat. it has a flat bottom and riveted seams. i put it into water and found that it was leaking, found that where keel meets floor near bow of boat had some kind of plug to stop water from entering boat through the runner that continues to the transom. Does anyone know what plug is made from??

[old man]

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[old man]

Sorry,just being a richard. Shouldn’t be hard to patch a leak like that. Good luck sir


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[carhartt123]

On my older boats I always used a marine epoxy putty. Not very pretty but the stuff hardens like steel. Nice thing is you can get it at a lowes or home depot for like $5.
A bunch of different brands any of them should work.

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[darryl w]

I am thinking that I should remove the old plug that is leaking as this boat was surely built in the seventies or before. It used to have a round id tag riveted to the gunnel had red painted sides, full aluminum seats. Now it has become a project as it had backed into something and the transom was pushed in and needed some straightening. When i found leak I also found that transom needs to be re-enforced, thinking that having a stronger piece of aluminum welded in or onto back of transom and putting in  stronger re-enforcement's from gunnel to transom?. I am running a yamaha 8 hp 4 stroke short leg and finding that i should have some kind of ballast in bow to offset motor and me weight , any easy suggestions would be appreciated.