Michael the novice
Recruit
- Joined
- Dec 15, 2021
- Messages
- 1
At work we have an old G3 boat. It's not actually a lot of years old, but enough for all the electrics to be shot, particularly the previous owner's shoddy modifications. I'm the most generally handy person in the office, so I have been tasked with fixing it. I do have some experience with DC electrics, and much of it has been a fun challenge. Anyway, I need to replace some wires that run under a panel to the side of the deck. It's aluminum sheet, riveted onto aluminum ribs that are attached to the hull, and some to other aluminum sheet parts. I'm new to riveting. I drilled them out and lifted the panel, but when I put it back, I'm trying to figure out what kind of rivets to use: sealed or open. Everything I can find on google about boat rivets is about sealing hull rivets, so not what I'm looking for. All the boating things I can find say to use only sealed rivets, but I think those are for different applications than this. I don't know if there is a problem with water getting through the panel or deck. It is definitely not well sealed in general. It's just aluminum under there and there are other places where water can get in. I think it would eventually drain to the bilge pump area, and I don't imagine these things could permit much volume in any case. I'm thinking regular open rivets. My boss says to get them from Harbor Freight. What do you think?
