Rivet Help??

Been fishing out of my little 10ft boat for years now and it has gotten in such disrepair it isn't even water worthy anymore due to leaks. I am new to fixing up metal boats and need some help.

1. How do you drill out a rivet. (From which end do you do the drilling?) The head (rounded side)
or the side inside the boat?

2. When installing a new rivet, which end to you pound on and which to place the "anvil" on?

3. What do you do when the rivet has pulled through the seat and ripped a hole to big to put the standard size rivet back in? (seat not attached to floor in some places)

I already orderd the flex-steel (learned from lurcking) but I want all the rivets squared away before I put it on. any and all help would be great. Sorry for the "green horn" questions but I really have no Idea. Thanks to all in advance.

I am no expert but have replaced a few rivets.

1. I drill mine out from the inside or flat side. Be careful that you do not go through the boat, you may even use a grinder and grind some of the head off. I will use a nail or nail set to finish driving them out alot of times.
2. I hold my anvil on the outside or rounded side and hit with a hammer on the inside. Rivets are not that hard to brad, just take your time and hit it square so it brads evenly instead of lopsided.
3. If it has pulled through and made a bigger hole, I would want to use a longer rivet and aluminum or stainless washer that fits the rivet, just like you would use a washer with a nut and bolt. I posted some pictures of where I was installing some new seat supports in a old Sea King V bottom a couple of weeks ago.

Hope this helps.
Flintcreek

I have drilled them out from both sides depending on where I could get my drill into. The inside is definatly easier b/c of it being flat and not having to drill a pilot hole to keep the bit center.

You pound on the flat side.
You need a bucker on the Rounded side. He needs a heavy piece of metal, with a rounded concave place to hold the rivet head in place, without contacting the boat.

You use a Punch, of some soft metal, but just harder than the rivet.

You want to mushroom the rivet slowly. So it fills the hole first and then rounds over on the inside.
Look at the rounded head and make sure you don't have any blights, that its flush all the way around. Tap Tap tap tap tap.....etc. No pounding!

DONT! hammer on the rivet until the inside (Flat part) develops cracks. If you do, pull it out and replace it with another try.

Dont squish out the Boat metal around the hole. Just enough is correct. Too much is a bad mess.
It will be water proof. You wont need any sealant under the rivet head.

Thanks for the help!! That cleared some things up for me. I'm still a little confused about the drilling part. I was thrown for a loop when you said don't drill all the way through. Do you just drill to flush with the floor. Also what size bit would you use in relationship to the rivet? Thanks again for the help.

Normally...what your supposed to do is; Center punch the Head (round part) of the Rivet. That's your best shot at hitting the center of the rivet shaft.
Drill only to the depth of the head of the rivet. I use a larger drill for that.
That way you cut the top of the rivet off with that drill. Stop there so your drill don't enlarge the hole in the boat.
Then you punch out the bottom.

Ok guys, I'm ready to get this thing fixed. I drilled out a bunch of rivets today. Very easy, knock on wood so far.

The problem I'm having is finding rivets. I did the google search and talked to a bunch of people on the phone. Seems like they are all manufactures and only sell large quantities for comercial perposes. Where do ya'll buy your rivets from? I called two different fastenal stores and they were unable to help me either. Here is what I need...

5/32-1/4..........100

3/16-1/4.........100

1/4-5/16.........25

There are different sizes because I don't think I'm the first person to replace rivets in this thing.

Some pics of what I'm doing. these are the ones that are pulled through. These pics were taken before I drilled any thing.

I buy rivets here in town from a locally owned store called Metal Fastner, but I know you can order them in quantities of 100 from Grainger. Grainger has them listed on-line....Good Luck....Flintcreek.