Rivet Gun for Casita?

[Hambone]

Replaced my rivits with nuts/bolts also, just dont tighten them so much that you pull the skin concave

[Donna D.]

I don't care whether you use rivets, SS bolts, VHB tape, glue, OR SILICONE! I know what I USE/like ... the rest of you stay away from my trailer

[Perry J]

Originally Posted by fusedlight

As in "they are designed to fail"? In my book, that's a "bug" not a "feature". Is it that the trailer flexes enough that a rivet will fail and not grunge up the skin of the trailer as the bolt fails. I'd just as soon use nice bolts, too.

Let the flame war begin!

I have just replaced every rivet in a 13" Scamp I'm refurbishing
Not because they failed but because they didn't have any snap caps on them.
I resealed and reriveted all of the aluminum windows and the nasty looking bolted on awning rails.
I even removed and polished the belly band.
About 175 rivets total.
Not one had FAILED and the trailer is a well used 32 years old.
I've refurbished 8 or 9 eggs since I retired and replaced many rivets.

The only hull patching I have ever had to do was where rivets had been replaced with bolts and the hull was crushed.

No flames, just my experience over the last 8 years.
John

[Perry J]

Originally Posted by Francesca Knowles

Fergit the rivets AND the bolts!

VHB tape is where it's at...

Francesca

My last 3 solar installations have been with VHB tape.
It's great.

John

[Byron Kinnaman]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

I don't care whether you use rivets, SS bolts, VHB tape, glue, OR SILICONE! I know what I USE/like ... the rest of you stay away from my trailer

Do you use a Casita or a Scamp rivet gun?

[GMike A]

I looked all over my package Byron and I cant tell if its Casita or Scamp. It only says Made in China. Inquiring minds want to know.

[fusedlight]

OK... rivets it is! I have NEVER used a rivet gun... any hints? Videos? Wanna come over and do it for me?

[GMike A]

Here you go

Rivet Gun - How to use a Rivet Gun - YouTube

HOW TO: Hang Things on RV Walls using Pop Rivets - YouTube

[fusedlight]

Thanks, Mike. What a fun tool! Two questions:

1) Do you rivet from the inside out, or outside in?

2) Is there some sort of grommet gizmo you put into the hole before putting in the rivet to prevent any leaks?

Thanks!

[GMike A]

Depends if you are pulling my leg. If you are then you wait til a full moon to rivet. If not then you rivet from the outside in using a snap cap and a sealer.(sorry for the disclaimer, but we have lots of good-hearted pranksters on the forum- myself included) Regardless Donna will tell you to never put silicone onto fiberglass. Most times its recommended to use two people, one to use the gun and the other on the inside to insert a correctly sized washer on the rivet head. If you use the Google search engine at the top you will find tons of rivet threads.

http://www.fiberglassrv.com/forums/m...q=rivets&sa=Go

[fusedlight]

Me, Be in Jest? Surely you Jest! (Just don't call me Shirley!)

[Francesca Knowles]

The rivet itself forms the seal- if properly inserted/sized for the hole no washers or compounds are used unless strengthening for the load, which is sometimes done by use of a backwasher. A better alternative for heavier loads is a bigger rivet.

Caps are strictly decorative, and the loss of one only a cosmetic issue.

Francesca

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by Donna D.

I don't care whether you use rivets, SS bolts, VHB tape, glue, OR SILICONE! I know what I USE/like ... the rest of you stay away from my trailer

Me Too! it goes like this "Please step away from my trailer!

In my old trailer I have had a number of old rivets snap and one of them has snapped more than once in the past 5 years due to its location and what its holding and the rough roads I have been known to travel on - actually had one fairly new rivet snap in southern Cal last winter and in that case the road could have used a repaving thats for sure but not overly rough - just miles and miles of the trailer being bounced a bit more than normal.

Suspect my choice is simply based on having been around fiberglass boats long enough to know what happens when fiberglass and SS bolts meet and one of them needs to give for whatever reason.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by fusedlight

Thanks, Mike. What a fun tool! Two questions:

1) Do you rivet from the inside out, or outside in?

2) Is there some sort of grommet gizmo you put into the hole before putting in the rivet to prevent any leaks?

Thanks!

Normally you rivet from the outside to the inside. On your Scamp you will see that most of main rivets used to go through the exterior that attach to the cabinets have acorn nuts on them. Those are much easier to do if you have someone on the inside holding the acorn nut.

No grommet gizmo but some will argue that the plastic cap holder that Scamp uses does act as a bit of a cushioning washer and helps to have them if for some reason the hole the rivet is going through has been "slightly" enlarged for what ever reason. Donna now needs to close her ears but it isnt unheard of for a few folks here to put a very "tiny" dap of Marine Polyurethane type caulking (such as a 3M 4200 which is removable) on the bottom(trailer side) of the cap holder to seal it to the fiberglass and in doing so taking care of any problems there may be with the hole size.

[fusedlight]

Is that acorn nut held in by the rivet as it forms its flange?

Oh... and talk about targeting... the display ad at the top of the page is for JayCe rivets!

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by fusedlight

Is that acorn nut held in by the rivet as it forms its flange?

Yes it is.

[GMike A]

I cant do a search anywhere on Google or Yahoo or I cant buy anything on Amazon and if I go to any forum or my FB, Twitter, etc on any page I am bombarded with widgets that I was looking at just ten minutes ago. No one is safe from the evil eye.

[Carol H]

Originally Posted by GMike A

I cant do a search anywhere on Google or Yahoo or I cant buy anything on Amazon and if I go to any forum or my FB, Twitter, etc on any page I am bombarded with widgets that I was looking at just ten minutes ago. No one is safe from the evil eye.

Have you tried turning on your pop up blocker? or looking a bit deeper into your web surfing apps security settings. I switched to Google Chrome some time back as I got to frustrated using Microsoft's IE.

[RogerDat]

Clear your cookies google delete cookies for {your browser} These small files allow adverts to know what "you" have been looking at elsewhere if the ad company has any affiliation with any site you went to. Or had ads on any site you went to. Sigh.

On rivets I'm in the camp of drill the head with sharp bit just a tiny amount larger than shank. Most of the time the shank will push right through after the head spins off. Nice to have someone on inside to hold rivet with pliers if it starts to spin or when installing to hold things in place, like acorn nuts.

I would add that I pad the sides of my rivet gun with tape to help prevent scratches if the head jumps when the rivet snaps. Just a few layers of masking tape.

I did put a really thin layer of buytl tape under my snap cap washers. Warmed by rolling into little ball I can press it thin on the back. Remove any that comes out around the sides with a toothpick. I know it won't stick or be hard to clean off later and does sort of squish into the openings.

[GMike A]

I gave up on IE years ago and only use FF. Also I think that I am gravitating to just a tad bit of buytl under the cap also. It wont hurt and to me it will displace any water that wants to use capillary action and suck under the cap. IMO