Rivet sizes?

[Parker Buckley]

I'm about to change some of the rivets and caps on the Scamps. To save me from coming home from Lowes with a collection of rivets, does anyone happen to know the most common sizes to pull into the 1/4-20 acorn nuts?

By the way, has anyone ever tried using the rivet caps inside also, pulling the rivet into a washer in the base of the cap instead of using the acorn nuts? We're going to sell the Scamp this spring, so I'm not going to experiment with it, but I think if we were keeping the Scamp, I'd give it a try.

Parker

[Roy in TO]

The Scamp website has rivets listed for sale with caps in various configurations.

Rivets:
http://shop.scamptrailers.com/c-13-rivets.aspx
Caps and washers:
http://shop.scamptrailers.com/c-15-snap-ca...ic-washers.aspx

[Parker Buckley]

The Scamp website has rivets listed for sale with caps in various configurations.

Hi Roy. I went ahead and drilled out a couple of rivets on the roof and have since found a local source for 3/16" aluminum rivets up to 3/4" grip length. That's works for most of the roof-top rivets, but came up short (literally) for a couple that hold the forward overhead storage unit. So I called Scamp and have some of their longer rivets on the way. When I said I wanted to order one of their kits of rivets and snap caps, they said they sell by the piece, rather than the kit. So I ordered a few, plus a couple of even longer ones not listed there. Apparrently they have some longer ones on hand to accommodate thicker areas of fiberglass during production.

Thanks for getting back to me. I was planning to answer myself at some point!

Parker

[Parker Buckley]

By the way, has anyone ever tried using the rivet caps inside also, pulling the rivet into a washer in the base of the cap instead of using the acorn nuts? We're going to sell the Scamp this spring, so I'm not going to experiment with it, but I think if we were keeping the Scamp, I'd give it a try.

Answering myself....I've since decided this is probably a bad idea. Expanding the rivet into the walls of the 1/4-20 acorn nuts limits the amount of tension in the rivet. I think if the rivet was pulled into a washer on the back side, it would be way too tight; maybe even enough to damage the fiberglass, and would likely cause premature rivet failures.

Parker

[peterh]

Last time I was at the trailer storage place I looked at the rivets I have on-hand for emergency repairs for our Scamp. They are 1-1/4" long and fit into #20 acorn nuts.

[Parker Buckley]

Last time I was at the trailer storage place I looked at the rivets I have on-hand for emergency repairs for our Scamp. They are 1-1/4" long and fit into #20 acorn nuts.

I found some locally that worked well except they were a little short for holding the forward overhead bin. I ordered some from Scamp which were longer. They're described as 6-14 rivets, meaning 3/16" dia, .751-.875 grip and 1.065 body length. They're actually a little long for most of our roof-top rivets, which explains why the acorn nuts never quite seemed tight on the inside. The locally purchased 6-12 rivets (.626-.750 grip, .940 body) worked much better. Maybe newer Scamps have a thicker roof. I suspect someone had replaced ours with ones from Scamp at some point (and put an ugly bit of caulking around each). All replaced now, looking much better.

Parker