using rivets to fill holes

I'm restoring an old Duracraft runabout that has a number of small holes where previous owners had attached accessories over the years. I would like to use rivets to fill them in, but is it practical to install the rivets by having one guy bang on it while someone else holds it from the other side? Isn't that how it's done? Thanks for any advice.

Jim Brizzolara said:

I'm restoring an old Duracraft runabout that has a number of small holes where previous owners had attached accessories over the years. I would like to use rivets to fill them in, but is it practical to install the rivets by having one guy bang on it while someone else holds it from the other side? Isn't that how it's done? Thanks for any advice.

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Yep. That's the gist of it. Everything from aircraft to bridges and older buildings have been done that way.

Welcome to the boards, by the way.

wouldn't you be able to use in this case alumminum pop rivits :?:

I have the same problem, I have a few small hoes to repair from where the previous owner installed rod holders that I remvoed. I was going to use JBWeld, but the rivet idea sounds like it would be easier. Would you use pop rivets?

I thought about using pop rivets, but when they're installed a hole is left in the center. Plus I'd need to find some that are large enough to cover the holes. Maybe I'm getting too picky. It would be easier to use pop rivets than to talk my wife into going out to the shed in 15 degree weather to help me bang in regular rivets. By the way, this is a great site, and thanks for the help. I thought that I was the only one that liked aluninum boats versus fiberglass. The Duracraft that I'm working on was made in 1954 and the hull is in great shape. If it was fiberglass it might be a different story, plus I wouldn't have been able to drag it into the shed by myself.

Welcome to the site Jim.

I suspect that the solid rivet is the best choice, for both cosmetics (if you're picky) and function in that application, but several people have used pop rivets with a dab of 3m 5200 on the head with success. You can also make an aluminum patch like bassboy1 did in his Yazoo build for bigger holes, or if you're trying to cover more than one hole at once.

blind rivets work best

no way do blind (pop) rivets work better then solid rivets. A solid rivet will be flat with a nice head on both sides. A pop is going to have a hole in the middle on the "nice" looking side and a floppy slightly bent male appendage on the other. Blind rivets should only be used when you don't see the blind side of them. Unless you just don't care. In that case use bailing wire.

Huh huh... Huh huh... He said floppy male appendage.
On a serious note tho, solid is definitely the way to do it.

Hey guys, sorry if that was offensive... I don't know what happenned, Beavis and Butthead just happened to appear when I was reading that line...