What type of rivets to use?

Edchris177 wrote:
I plan on placing a stainless washer on each rivet, on the inside, as th eholes are probably a little loose now.
My question is what type of rivets to use? The tramp tracks are only aluminum, can you use aluminum rivets, or are they something else, monel maybe? They don't appear to be SS rivets.

Could you get aluminum washers? That way with aluminum rivets you wouldn't have a steel/aluminum electrolysis situation. Aluminum rivets should be plenty strong with the washers considering the original factory build just riveted directly to the fiberglass and aluminum should be stronger than glass. I'm assuming the track is also aluminum.

Chris, you could probably get away with blind rivetting using stainless rivets inside those stainless rivet casing's Murray's sells. That way they are sealed and the casings make up for any ovalling that the rivets popping out may have caused. I'm not sure that electrolysis is a big concern for you considering you only sail in fresh water. Add salt to the mix and that type of corrosion becomes much more of a problem.

If you are putting in a port anyway and can reach all the rivets your idea sound like the best course of action.

Could you get aluminum washers? That way with aluminum rivets you wouldn't have a steel/aluminum electrolysis situation. Aluminum rivets should be plenty strong with the washers considering the original factory build just riveted directly to the fiberglass and aluminum should be stronger than glass. I'm assuming the track is also aluminum.

Good point. I can get aluminum washers, & yes the tracks are aluminum.

If you are putting in a port anyway and can reach all the rivets your idea sound like the best course of action.

I wanted a port Dave mostly for ease of draining. The skeg hull boats have quite a rise along the bottom of the hull in the last 3 feet. My lawn/shoreline is very flat, I have to get the boat on nearly a 45* angle to drain all the water, which is a pain. Originally I though I could insert a small tube through those 1" pressure relief ports that are near the inside top rear of each hull, but I can't feed the tubing though the bulkhead that is built just around the rear beam area. There is a drain hole in the bottom of the bulkhead, but without access I can't get the tubing to do the contortions required.
With a small port I can use a small float pump ,(a hand operated pump we used to pump water out of compartments on floatplanes) to suck the water out, or a sponge.

to suck the water out

I'm waiting for Andrew to jump on me for that faux pas:-D

I ended up using aluminum rivets, as that is what the originals were. They drilled out REALLY easy.
I held the track down with a piece of 2x4, & pulled the first rivet. It seemed to hold fast, so I drilled & pulled the rest. It all seems solid after pulling the tramp tight, so we are sailing tomorrow.
Didn't bother with the hatches yet, as I could not get ones with the curved surface.

Could you get aluminum washers?

As an update,Damon, I found aluminum washers are easy to come by, & cheap. They are sold in blister packs of 30, by Arrow, the same people who make all the staples for those heavy duty staple guns.