# Marine Rivets & Rivet Gun



## mechanicworkman (Jun 7, 2011)

Ok, I have been reading through posts and many people seem to state that marine rivets have some sort of a sealed center and thereby won’t leak like traditional rivets.
1. Where do I buy both the rivets & the gun to install these?
2. What size rivets are the best to get?
If I am going to go through the trouble and expense of getting a rivet gun I want to ensure that I get a good enough one that will last and not break halfway through a project. I prefer to buy most of the stuff before beginning project so I don’t have to run to the store 200 times going ohh crap I forgot this and must have it. I understand there will be minor things that I will have to do it but want to avoid as much as possible.


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## mechanicworkman (Jun 7, 2011)

What Material are the rivets made out of that people are using? I have looked on ebay and most seem to be stainless steel! Since my boat is aluminum do i need aluminum rivets?


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## popoeye (Jun 7, 2011)

I am curious about this too. I am getting ready to start to replace rivets and I can't find these marine rivets. Can I just use regular rivets and then gluvit over. Any help would be great thanks.


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## gouran01 (Jun 8, 2011)

depends on what the rivets are going through. either way, for interior the 3/16 hold about everything, if it's something small and non-structural on the exterior the same rivets from home depot will work (ie, transducer) just a lil silicone before putting the rivet in and a lil on after to seal the lil hole. zero leakes on my end using this method


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## JFDBasser (Jun 8, 2011)

I just had to replace a bout 25 rivets in the bottom of my hull. I used closed ended pop rivets. They work better than the ones you will find at home depot because they wont let water leak through the rivets. I installed mine with some 5200 sealant around each rivet before I popped it....worked great.


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## popoeye (Jun 9, 2011)

Thanks for the advice if I didn't put 5200 on them should I re do them or will the gluvit get in there


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## Troutman3000 (Jun 9, 2011)

JFDBasser said:


> I just had to replace a bout 25 rivets in the bottom of my hull. I used closed ended pop rivets. They work better than the ones you will find at home depot because they wont let water leak through the rivets. I installed mine with some 5200 sealant around each rivet before I popped it....worked great.


Where did you find these. I have a boat that I am about to start working on.


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## BassBlaster (Jun 10, 2011)

Im not sure what you guys mean about marine rivets. I havnt seen them. I guess that dosnt mean they dont exist.

Boats are built with the same kinda rivets a semi truck or an aircraft are made with. They are just a solid rivet made out of aluminum. They are put in with an air hammer with a special bit and a bucking bar. If you only have a couple I guess you could just use a couple hammers to get the job done. When installed properly, they are water tight and dont require any sealant. If you do a search there has been a couple tutorials posted on installing solid rivets.

Edit: Just Googled and found there are some pop rivets that are considered marine grade. Regardless, the manufactuer uses solid rivets for a reason so I'll be replaceing mine with those.


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## JFDBasser (Jun 10, 2011)

I found the closed ended rivets a few places online. I ended up ordering mine off of Amazon...don't remember the seller though. I would think that the gluvit would seal them just fine. I am going to steelflex my hull...I just did the 5200 as added insurance so to speak.


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## Mojo^ (Jun 10, 2011)

I ordered closed-end pop rivets from https://www.nutsandbolts.com . They sell them in quantities of 25. Good folks to deal with and fast shipping. https://www.nutsandbolts.com/rivets-closed-end-blind-pop-rivets-c-249_429.html

I also ordered some larger 1/4" from jay-cee sales at https://www.rivetsinstock.com/rivet61.htm . Minimum quantity is 100 but their prices are decent.


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## mechanicworkman (Jun 11, 2011)

I have used regular rivets just i guess not the solid kind! I am not to sure when pickin out rivets off the internet that they will be what i wanted! I jsut dont knwo that much about picking the right lenth of rivet for the medal i have to go through. I was looking at napa and it seemed easy enough to get them from there and a rivet gun from harbor freight. SSo i guess i will go that route most likely.


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## JFDBasser (Jun 11, 2011)

I used regular rivets the first time I replaced them for the same reason. I had no idea what size etc. I needed. I quickly found out that the regular rivets from the hardware store leak......badly. I ended up order closed ended rivets in the same size as the ones I used the first time....sure i ended up wasting money on the first set of rivets, but they are only like 7 bucks per 100 at home depot.....I figure I'll blow that on something else anyway.


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## Troutman3000 (Jun 12, 2011)

JFDBasser said:


> I used regular rivets the first time I replaced them for the same reason. I had no idea what size etc. I needed. I quickly found out that the regular rivets from the hardware store leak......badly. I ended up order closed ended rivets in the same size as the ones I used the first time....sure i ended up wasting money on the first set of rivets, but they are only like 7 bucks per 100 at home depot.....I figure I'll blow that on something else anyway.




Got any Pictures? Im not sure what size I need. Do you measure the size of the whole that you are filling? And how long should they be?


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## PlainBassCrazy (Jun 12, 2011)

ive been using aluminum closed end pop rivets they are common used mostly on aircraft but seem to work on boats too. just put some silicon on the flange and pop away pun intended.


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