Screws all stripped and backing gone

[Tim Powell]

The correct size rivets are 5/32" and there is plenty of room for the protruding heads. Some of the less stripped (tighter) holes in the fiberglass need to be drilled with a 5/32" bit and then you get a nice tight fit with the rivet blank. There are stainless available but only in large expensive lots so I went with aluminum. When I do the rest of them I might go with some thin plastic spacers and/or dielectric grease to prevent galvanic corrosion. The itial fit is very tight. We will see if this approach holds up to the rigors of use but there is not much lost because they can be drilled out and then I would be right back looking into internal repair/backing for screws. If it works it saved a lot of repair work. I will reinstall tomorrow and see what we have.

View attachment 23597

Thanks for the suggestions.

George

where did you see or find the stainless rivets.

 

[Cricket]

Will be interesting to see how well they stay fastened to the backside of the edge.
Hopefully the glass is strong enough to keep everything tight.
Btw, McMaster Carr has a good selection of stainless pop rivets, not to pricey either, $13 for 50 rivets.
They even have something called a "flush-mount blind rivet", back of the head is tapered like a screw to fit flush in a countersunk hole, unfortunately not in 5/32.
Learn something everyday.

 

[Reefgeorge]

I finally found a decent price for 5/32" x 1/4" stainless rivets made in the USA online at Albany County Fasteners.

The whole assembly is a box so the edge that I am grabbing is pretty locked in. I'll have to keep an eye on it an bail if I see stress cracks starting up or the rivets pulling out.

George