rivets or screws??

[martinw]

Ive just bought a pair of carrying handles for my ocean kayak yak board, the same as what are on the prowlers. they say in the instructions that you rivet them in but the ones on the prowlers are screwed in.

has anyone ever fitted these carrying handles to a kayak?? surely the stainless screws are the way to go? wouldn't rivets rust with the salt water?

[stitch]

Hi Martin
I have fitted a sliva compass between the hatch and the foot wells using rivets and eyes. I used silicone bathroom sealant putting it between every surface, hole, and edge of the eyes and rivets to assure as water tight seal as possible. I cant tell you what type of rivets they are as they came with the order but must assume they are salt water resistant. If you go the way of the screw make sure they have a course thread other wise a fine thread might pull out of the plastic thus chewing it up. ;D ;D ;D

John

[richi]

When you say screws do you mean like a self tapper? if so I don't think that would be suitable as bieng used as a carrying handle fixing it wouldn't withstand the weight.If you mean stainless bolts with nylok nuts,yes they would take the strain but you probably won't be able to get to the other side to tighten them. That leaves you with 2 alternatives-either rivets or wellnuts

[hatter3]

hi martin i am a steel fab who who works at David Williams in llandudno when i get my prower this week i will be using one or two ways to fix bits on to my yak stainless steel blind rivets grade A4 or to use a aluminum rivet that has a thread in it so you can use a stainless steel round head bolt in it you see these used in Aluminum doors frames to hing the door off so they have to be a good fixing
if you want to gang heads together p.m me and i will give you my number

[chrisp]

If you mix Stainless and Aluminium you will find the Aluminium disolves in the presence of sea water. The product of the corrosion Aluminium chloride occupies about 4 times the space of the original metal so it could enlarge the holes in your yack. It will cetainly cause the fixture to fail.

Done a bit of fixing to the type of plastics you have and would recomend either Nutserts in stainless which require a special tool to set them, information here: www.prifast.co.uk/nutserts.htm The only problem is they take a lot of pressure to set them and depending on the thickness of plastic can squash it and pull through before they gt a firm fix.

I prefer to use Dodge Inserts which are unfortunately only available in brass so you would need to use brass bolts, but they are types that do not require a special tool to set them. information here: www.emhart.com/products/dodge.html

If you use the A4 stainless rivets are they the closed type www.prifast.co.uk/rivets%20sealed.htm if not you will have an anoying leak

Hope this helps a bit

[shootist]

you are asking for seized up nuts and bolts mixing ally with stainless like chrisp says. ally will oxidize and bind to the stainless. you will never get them apart. take it from 2 who know.

[basscatcher]

Aren't these the things to use? I have heard a lot of other advice saying these are easiest and very solid without all that disimilar metal stuff.

www.rivetwise.co.uk/productrange/wellnut.htm

[georgieb]

When i recently repaired rod holders on my prowler, the fixings Ocean used looked like the 'Wellnut' that Gilbo mentions. They look the business because they create like a rubber grommet arrangement between top & bottom of the plastic, making an essentially waterproof seal and a pretty good fix - but i did manage to dislodge them in a tumble in the surf - nothings perfect.

[martinw]

A lot of advice there, thanks to everyone, its a big bad world of bolts and screws ;D ;D I might go with the "wellnut" that gilbo mentioned, and also like georgie b mentioned that seems to be what ocean kayak use, and even better if they form a seal around the hole when tightened. might even have a go at unscrewing the handles off my prowler and see what they've done there.

[martinw]

The carrying handles i wanted have arrived, got them from deva marine on anglesea, cant believe they only cost me £1.69 for a pair of genuine ocean kayak carrying handles and all the fittings ;D surely they have charged me wrong, everyone else seems to be doing them for £15. Bonus!! Anyway they come with screws or rivets, the rivets have like a rubber seal that expands when the rivet is applied, they look to be good quality rivets so i might just use them, the kayak isnt that heavy so it shouldn't cause any problems, will keep you all posted on how i get on ;D ;D

[zebra]

hay martin
can we have a photo of the rivets with the rubber inserts .had a good talk with kevin last week and he may be able to order some for us from a picture .the ones with a thread he told us all about sound very handy
terry

[martinw]

hi terry ive taken a couple of pics, this is the complete kit, handles, rivets and screws, the screws can only be used if you have the inserts for them in you kayak, so the instructions say!!

heres a close up pic of the rivets, dont know if you can make it out well enough?

under the black plastic hood of the rivet is a small rubber "o" ring. they should do the trick

[zebra]

what a great kit .i know this kit is £15.00 . wonder if they got anymore bargain price ones left ??
great photos thanks martin

[martinw]

just looked and they have. look at www.devadirect.com go to kayaking accessories on the left hand side then click on transport an leashes, they're going for £1.99 + vat +p+p i paid just under a fiver for my kit. happy days ;D ;D ;D

[zebra]

thanks martin im on to it now
terry

i got 2 sets