BWCA Need advice on replacing rivets in Wenonah imbedded plates Boundary Waters Gear Forum
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dcandta2014
member (33)member
  
05/17/2019 09:40PM   (Thread Older Than 3 Years)
I need some advice from anyone who has experience in removing and replacing rivets in Wenonah canoes that use the imbedded aluminum plates. I assume you might use a bit stop to prevent drilling through the outside when removing the old rivets? Is the remaining rivet body left in the foam core or removed?

What grip range do you use?

Any experience you can share with this project would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much.

 
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nooneuno
distinguished member(633)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
05/18/2019 04:47PM  
Those could be ground off flush with a dremel tool and just make new holes for the replacement bracket.
 
05/19/2019 09:59PM  
At Spring Creek they usually replaced with stainless rivets. You need to size to whatever hole you make.
 
bwcasolo
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05/20/2019 06:45AM  
must be your foot brace,could you use the same holes with larger diameter rivets?
wenonah canoe would be helpful.
 
airmorse
distinguished member(3420)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
05/20/2019 06:56AM  
dcandta2014: "I need some advice from anyone who has experience in removing and replacing rivets in Wenonah canoes that use the imbedded aluminum plates. I assume you might use a bit stop to prevent drilling through the outside when removing the old rivets? Is the remaining rivet body left in the foam core or removed?

What grip range do you use?

Any experience you can share with this project would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you very much.

"


I would contact Wenonah and ask them. Speak to customer service. They have been very helpful with my current project.

Good Luck.
 
airmorse
distinguished member(3420)distinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished memberdistinguished member
  
05/20/2019 06:57AM  
That should be an easy fix. It looks like that aluminum bracket is revited to an embedded piece of metal.

IF they are the same size rivets they should be 3/16 in size.

So you'll need a new bracket and some 3/16 rivets.
 
ORNonprophet
member (8)member
  
05/20/2019 11:55PM  
I just today upgraded my footbraces on my '95 Prism. Wenonah uses aluminum rivets for almost all of their riveting on their canoes (black annodized when needed to match), both for weight minimization and cost control I'm sure. I'd suggest keeping with the aluminum rivets because having dissimilar metals like stainless and aluminum touching can create problems with corrosion--if you really want to use stainless coat them with Tef-gel (or something similar) to prevent corrosion problems. Another advantage to using aluminum rivets is that they drill out easy of you need to replace them, trying to remove SS rivets can be a real PITA, especially if you have to worry about not drilling through the hull.

When I ordered the new footbrace from them, it came with the 4 annodized aluminum rivets that I needed to do the job. They were/are 3/16ths rivet. Carefully drill the old ones out, the rivet head will come out on the bit and the rivet body will stay in the hole where they originally drilled through the aluminum backing plates embedded in the hull. I used a bit of blue masking tape on my 3/16ths drill bit to mark the depth (based on the length of the new rivet body) to make sure I didn't drill through the hull. Go slow when drilling and put down a towel to catch all the aluminum shavings that you'll make from drilling out the old rivets. I used 100% silicone to seal the old holes as the new track required different hole spacing. Even though you can probably re-use the same holes spacing-wise, I would recommend drilling new holes slightly apart from the old holes as there is really no way to fish out the remaining parts of the rivet that are between the aluminum plate and outside of the hull and when you push the new rivet into the old hole it could cause damage to the outer hull. I just used a standard Harbor Freight rivet gun--it did great.
 
dcandta2014
member (33)member
  
05/23/2019 09:59PM  
Thank you very much everyone!
Very good information.
I feel confident that I can get it done right thanks to you.
If I find out any other tips, I will post.
 
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