Owning and sailing on your new boat can be a thrilling time and an enjoyable diversion. Of course, it is not all fun and games, and first-time owners must understand that boats require constant maintenance and vigilance. If you do not maintain your vessel correctly, you may find yourself up a creek without a paddle. On today's boats, both sail and motorized, we find a lot of fiberglass, thin laminates or teak that require specialized means of fastening. There are many different types of hardware and safety equipment that can be difficult to properly fasten with a machine screw and nut or sheet metal screw. Today we can use many different components to allow us to bind these thin materials with no access to the backside or better referred to as the "blindside."
Blind Rivets
Blind rivets, also known as break stem rivets, have a broad range of applications on a sailboat depending on which style of break stem rivets you choose. These rivets can be used to fasten the spar — the pole that supports the sail itself. They can be used for the frame of the dodger, Bimini top, or whichever canvas keeps the spray away from the person at the helm. These types of fasteners are well-suited for sailboats because they work well with lightweight materials, such as wood and fiberglass. In some cases, you may consider an interlock style rivet which will prove a weather-resistant seal or a closed-end rivet providing a fully watertight break stem rivet.
Blind Rivet Nuts
Threaded rivet nuts can also help out much with fastening materials on sailboats, such as cleats on the mast. Rivet Nuts will stay affixed to the product so no amount of vibration will shake them out of place. Flat-head rivet nuts, in particular, can boost the threaded strength of softer materials, including aluminum or fiberglass. For the best results, consult the specification sheet located on each rivet nut on Blind Rivet Supply web store. The quoted grip ranges for each rivet nut, along with the proper drill size, are listed on the site for your convenience to ensure the best fit for your project.
As you can see in this thread on Yachting and Boating World forum, there is debate over whether rivet nuts or blind rivets are better for boaters. One point where commenters found consensus is that rivet nuts are better when it comes to how easy they are to remove and replace. Rivet nuts made of certain materials can corrode over time, and some people do not like how these oxidized rivets look where they are fastened along their watercraft. Unlike the longevity of break stem blind rivets, and despite their permanence against the forces of nature, rivet nuts in all styles can be switched out without much difficulty.
Blind rivets and rivet nuts each have their benefits, and they can all help a budding sailor keep their ship afloat. You can find hundreds of examples of each of these types of rivets and fasteners for sailboats at Blind Rivet Supply. Our inventory also includes many other similar products, all at the highest quality and for affordable prices. If you feel in the dark about how to maintain and patch up your vessel, consider us your lighthouse.