Re: Yet another rivet question
Having talked to some pretty good custom boat builders, the general concensious is that pop rivets are ok for replacing a couple of rivets when you can't get access to the other side without major decontstruction. That's why the true name for them is a blind rivet.
Needing to replace as many rivets as you state indicates to me that a solid rivet is your best bet and possibly just tightening the ones that are there now might be all that is needed.
The reasoning behind this is that pop or blind rivets do not have the tensil strength of a solid rivet and if your boat is that loose, odds are that the pops will begin to loosen after a very short period of time.
Solid rivets are only more difficult because of the deconstruction and the need for another person to hold against the rivet while it is set. It is not difficult to make a good solid rivet hold properly.
There is another method where you would use truss head stainless steel machine screws but that also takes two people and requires deconstruction.
