Tips for removing solid rivets?

I have a ton of solid rivets I need to remove... I've been doing this by grinding the rounded head off and then using a punch to drive the core out. The problems with this technique are:

1) I tend to grind a little bit of the boat
2) Once you grind the head flush with the boat, it's hard to see where the little core hole is to hit it with a punch. I found, though, if I rap the boat nearby with a hammer, then I can see it, if things move.
3) Takes a while to carefully grind the head down.

Anyway, is there a better way? I figure you could drill them out, but it seems that it is hard to center the bit on the rounded head or even on the flat back. And then if you're off a little, you'd enlarge the hole in the boat, which would maybe be bad when you go to replace it?

Surely I'm just missing something obvious...

Thanks!!

I used some heavy duty snips and cut off the flat interior side and punched out with punch and hammer. Found it to be an effective technique.

The obvious for me was always drilling them out and it's worked 95% the first time. Just try it and see if it's not easier than you think. I know it can be scary putting a drill perpendicular to your hull, but a drill will make a clean hole, and if you get the bit size matched a perfect hole. Much bigger risk of creating weak spots if you grind them out I think. The round seat for the drill bit actually keeps it on a perfect line through. The rivet should just fall away in halves. Goes quick.

use a center punch on the center of the rivet first and then you won't have any trouble keeping the drill aligned

Good ideas, thanks... I'll try these out this weekend and see how it goes.

acabtp said:

use a center punch on the center of the rivet first and then you won't have any trouble keeping the drill aligned

Click to expand...

This is exactly what we did on the bottom of my boat when we had to replace the transom. Had to remove the knee braces and they were riveted in. Replaced them with stove bolts, rubber washers, silicone, and lock nuts.

Have not had 1 problem with them yet.

I just tried again, using these ideas and some I found watching some youtube videos (and the comments on them from people saying "that's not how you do it, you idiot" instead of posting something constructive like "here's a better way").

1) Use a center punch to mark the center of the rivet head.
2) Using a drill bit the same size as the hole in the boat that the rivet went through, drill a hole in the head of the rivet just as deep as the head.
3) Hit the side of the rivet head with a chisel using a hammer and the rivet head pops right off.
4) Use a punch slightly smaller than the rivet hole and and tap the body of the rivet out and through.

This works pretty good, nothing hardly even touches or scratches the boat. The only one problem I had was one rivet I got a little off center and drilled a little too far in (past the head) and enlarged the hole in the boat a little bit on one side.

I had to remove a bunch more, and I found that an air chisel pops the head right off, then use a punch to knock out the plug. Works great in areas that aren't too fragile.