Walked past the old shipyard in Sturgeon Bay and saw the rivet gangs' work, made me rethink my torch setup

Zara Harris · 2026-09-11T08:15:05.900643+00:00

I was up in Sturgeon Bay last week visiting family and took a walk past the old shipyard where they used to build Navy ships back in WWII. What caught my eye was a display of riveted plate work, and the rows were so tight and even it almost looked machine made. Some of those guys were working with nothing but a torch and a bucket of rivets, and the joints held up for 80 years. Meanwhile I'm over here fighting warped seams on a 1/4 inch tank because I got impatient with the preheat. I've been using a rosebud tip and moving too fast, and now I'm wondering if I should slow down and do smaller sections. Any of you old hands got a trick for keeping long seams from pulling when you're on a big job?

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Walked past the old shipyard in Sturgeon Bay and saw the rivet gangs' work, made me rethink my torch setup | Boilermakers - The Community Guide