Rivet questions on exterior 13' Scamp

[DennisM]

I'm restoring my '83 Scamp. I have removed everything on the interior and had to drill out all of the rivets. For the 3/16" rivets Scamp sells the rivets with the plastic collar to make them waterproof. But, for the 1/8" rivets they don't sell the collars. My question is how do I make all those 1/8" holes waterproof. Dennis

[Bill K]

When I picked up my Scamp from the factory last year I asked for some extra collars and caps. They gave me TWO different sizes. I do not know what sizes they are for.

Bill K

I'm restoring my '83 Scamp. I have removed everything on the interior and had to drill out all of the rivets. For the 3/16" rivets Scamp sells the rivets with the plastic collar to make them waterproof. But, for the 1/8" rivets they don't sell the collars. My question is how do I make all those 1/8" holes waterproof. Dennis

[DennisM]

Thanks Bill. I didn't find them on their website so I will call them. Glad that they make them. I don't want to do all this work and end up with a leak. Dennis

[Dave Bese]

Use these

[Robert Johans]

Have you considered using stainless steel fasteners instead of rivets? I replaced all of my rivets with ss nuts and bolts, using plastic washers AND butyl putty. Over time vibration caused my rivets to open up the original mounting holes. To remedy this I used a countersink on all holes to create a "bowl" — into which the butyl putty was pushed to help seal the threads of the bolts.

[Donna D.]

Since you removed everything out of the interior, have you considered fiberglassing in blocks to reattach the cabinetry and sealing up the holes on the outside. NO MORE THROUGH RIVETS. And in case you're wondering, I think that's a good thing!

[Raya]

Actually, if one were going to eliminate the fasteners, you could just tab the cabinets right to the shell, with no blocks.

The thing is, if you have blocks (or pre-formed tabs), then you would need fasteners going through the visible faces of the cabinets to attach to them (not on the flanges where the holes are now). But if you tab directly to the shell you don't need any new fasteners or holes (and can eliminate the ones that are there now).

Granted, the benches already do fasten to blocks glassed to the shell, but on those the cushions cover up the exposed fasteners.

As a side bonus, tabbing in the cabinetry makes for a stronger structure with less flexing. It would also be less expensive than stainless fasteners. OTOH, it would be messier.

The one disadvantage I could see is that you would have to cut the tabbing (and later re-tab) if you wanted to remove the cabinets. OTOH, that probably does not happen too often, and maybe it's not any harder than removing and re-installing dozens of fasteners.

I have give this some thought as I may tab in my cabinetry when the time comes; at least I'm considering it.

[Donna D.]

The thing is, if you have blocks (or pre-formed tabs), then you would need fasteners going through the visible faces of the cabinets to attach to them (not on the flanges where the holes are now). But if you tab directly to the shell you don't need any new fasteners or holes (and can eliminate the ones that are there now).

I'm confused about this. In my Scamp there are blocks inside the cabinets and the rivets run from these blocks to the outside. If someone was to add blocks to the body, why couldn't they screw the cabinetry right to the blocks rather than through the face of the cabinets? Granted I have an all wood interior. Do fiberglass cabinets have the tabs (blocks) on the exterior around the edge?

[Raya]

Hi Donna,

Yes, I think the wooden interior Scamps have completely different cabinetry attachment.

The ones with fiberglass cabinetry seem to be like my Boler. That is, the fiberglass cabinets are molded with a lip or flange that rolls out into the trailer from the cabinet, but along the wall or the roof. Then the rivets go through that lip and to the outside. So, if one were to attach blocks or make separate fiberglass lips, then it would require new/different holes through the faces/sides of the cabinets to attach them to the blocks. Not that that can't be done but on the other hand if one were to tab the cabinets right to the shell then you would not need new holes, and could even fill in the current ones.

I'll see if I can scare up a photo to add here.

Okay, here we go: If you look at the back of the kitchen counter and at the front/top of the upper cabinet, you can see the lips I am talking about. The fasteners go straight through them to the outside of the camper, so there is really no way to use those holes with blocks or etc. You could 'glass a block or fiberglass angle inside the cabinet in the corner, but then you would need a new fastener/hole through the face of the cabinet on the main body of it, not on the existing lip.

The benches are fastened more like how you are thinking, with blocks inside and fasteners through the "body" of the bench, but of course they are covered up by the cushions.





Here's one more that maybe shows the fasteners a bit more clearly:



Raya

[Donna D.]

Thanks for the good explanation and pictures Raya. Helps me a lot, hopefully will help someone else too. Now I know why Escape uses a wood interior and Burro molded the cabinetry in!

[Raya]

Many ways to make an egg. Actually, I believe that at least some of the 1980's Boler 13's did have all the fiberglass cabinetry tabbed in (and no rivets). If I were to change mine in any way that's what I would do. It would not be difficult and all of the new work would be in locations that do not show, so it would not need to be cosmetically artful. Most of it would be re-covered by the Ensolite *and* inside the cabinets.

One nice thing about the Boler design is that it allows people to get a bit creative with their re-dos. That's always fun to see. But of course the original intent of the rivets (as with many things on our eggs) was to allow mass production at a reasonable price.

Raya