Which rivets dont rust and look nice. Newbie..

[Paterson00]

Hey all,

I am in the process of doing up my first boat and like your first car I am loving the process. Holding my screens in place are a bunch of rusty old nuts and bolts which leave a rust trail everywhere and it looks horrble. A friend suggested drilling them all out and replacing them with rivets to improve the look and tidy it up a bit and I cant think of any reason why not. If I do decide to do this which tyoe of rivets are available to me to use and what would be best to use. I assume Aluminum would be fine but is there something that would look better? Also is there a good method of removing the old rust marks?

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Which rivets dont rust and look nice. Newbie..

Go with stainless steel bolts....... easy and you will have the ability to take things apart in the future. It's obvious someone used the wrong ones before.

Remove rust marks with some fine steel wool.

 

[Grub54891]

Re: Which rivets dont rust and look nice. Newbie..

Agreed,but use nylock nuts,they will not come loose over time.
Grub

 

[jayhanig]

Re: Which rivets dont rust and look nice. Newbie..

Agreed,but use nylock nuts,they will not come loose over time.
Grub

On the subject of nylock nuts: can they be reused or is it best to always use new ones?

 

[Grub54891]

Re: Which rivets dont rust and look nice. Newbie..

They can be reused, you should be able to tell when removing/ reinstalling them by the " feel" when they are wearing out.
Grub

 

[EddiePetty]

Re: Which rivets dont rust and look nice. Newbie..

Remove rust marks with some fine steel wool.

Oh, No, No, No!!! You'll NEVER be able to keep up with all the little broken off steel wool hairs...and they WILL leave their rust marks! ( don't even ask)

Use the appropriate grade of Scotch-brite to remove the rust steaks.

 

[EddiePetty]

Re: Which rivets dont rust and look nice. Newbie..

Not trying to be a spoil-sport.........

How old are those young fellows in the second picture?

From the Washington Boat Safety Manual:

"All children under 12 years of age traveling in a boat that is 19 feet long or shorter must wear a life jacket at all times."

 

[NYBo]

Re: Which rivets dont rust and look nice. Newbie..

Not trying to be a spoil-sport.........

How old are those young fellows in the second picture?

From the Washington Boat Safety Manual:

"All children under 12 years of age traveling in a boat that is 19 feet long or shorter must wear a life jacket at all times."

Maybe the laws are different in Australia, which is where he's from.:redface:

 

[EddiePetty]

Re: Which rivets dont rust and look nice. Newbie..

Maybe the laws are different in Australia, which is where he's from.:redface:

Dugh ME!!!

I reckon Mandurah WA 'taint in WAshington state!

My sincere apologies for speed reading and posting too quickly. :redface:

 

[90stingray]

Re: Which rivets dont rust and look nice. Newbie..

Aluminum pop rivets would look nice. But they are not the strongest. Dont use aluminum cherrymax rivets as the center stem is steel. You could use monel cherrymax rivets but they are a beach to pull by hand. And as mentioned earlier, some scotchbrite works good on heavier stains... or a light polishing compound on a rag should polish minor stains right off.

 

[Paterson00]

Re: Which rivets dont rust and look nice. Newbie..

Hi again,

the laws in my area state that kids under 10 must wear the life jackets and at the time I didnt know this. I was not the skipper on my boat that day as I hadnt passed out yet now I have I know and have bought two good life jackets PFD1's. Thanks for the tips, I now have a buffer and have also found that as you said, T-cut works a treat on the stains. Boat is a lot shinier now. I now need to sand back where some of the spray paint has flaked off and then re-apply to make it look a lot better.

 

[H20Rat]

Re: Which rivets dont rust and look nice. Newbie..

On the subject of nylock nuts: can they be reused or is it best to always use new ones?

If its a life and limb situation, the official rule is never re-use nylocs. (et, things like suspension/drivetrain parts on a car often have nylocs, which the factory service manuals say you should never re-use) For most things on a boat, i wouldn't have any problem at all using nylocs. You don't have the high frequency vibration or temperature extremes that a car will see. (especially on the low end of the temperature scale where the nylocs are more likely to come loose)

 

[jigngrub]

Re: Which rivets dont rust and look nice. Newbie..

Those look like just sheet metal screws without nuts.

Closed end blind rivets are the strongest and they make them in all stainless or all aluminum for no rust worries. The stainless will probably look the best but are about 3x more $$$ than the aluminum.

Aluminum will be much easier to remove than stainless should you ever want/need to replace your glass. Aluminum rivets drill out for removal easily, stainless will drill out... but require more effort and time.

 

[EddiePetty]

Re: Which rivets dont rust and look nice. Newbie..

.......and speaking of rivets:

I agree that stainless would look the best, be rust-free and are quite strong...but...if you are installing more than just a couple, a pneumatic pop rivet gun will be your best friend, unless you have the grip of a gorilla!