Riveting Fiberglass Advice - Door Prop Broken

[technomadia]

After a year of being held on by just one rivet, the hook that holds open our front door finally sheared the rest of the way off.

 

What is the best way to re-attach it? I know this mount gets a lot of stress from wind and bumps when the door is being held open, so I want to make sure to do it right.

 

Any advice on re-riveting it?

 

Help and wisdom appreciated,

 

- Chris

[ScubaRx]

Chris,

 

My guess is that there is a backing plate on the other side of the fiberglass. Both the old rivets have to be knocked out of their holes. If you did both of them at the same time, I would expect that the backing plate would fall (maybe not, it could be glued in place.) In order to not take that chance, I would replace the rivets one at a time. They will have to be drilled out. I would use the smallest drill that will still do the job so as to try to not make the old holes any bigger. Then re-rivet the hook back into those holes. Where are you guys currently?

[technomadia]

'Where are you guys currently?"

 

We are in Austin, TX. Next week we start heading towards St. Louis, MO.

 

Thanks for the tips.

 

Is there any way I can tell for sure whether or not there is a backing plate?

 

I'm a rivet novice...

 

- Chris

[tumbleweed]

As Steve mentioned, drill ONE of the broken rivets out (preferably the bottom) and a strong flashlite shined in the hole shud show the plate on the side of the hole. Use a large head Aluminum/Aluminum rivet and you can get diam from a drill bit and get next size smaller if not exact size. With drill bit measure how deep you need to go including the door prop, fiberglas and backing plate and get rivets that fall into that grip range.

Currently in Oakley, Kansas heading for Spearfish, SD soon.

Regards, Chuck

[DCKiefer]

There very likely is a backing plate that may not stay in place. I had to re-secure my awning brackets and got very lucky on the front braket. It was accessible with the double inner wall in the closet. I recommend trying to re-rivot the empty hole before drilling out the upper hole in the photo.