Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

I'm building the back doors for my ToyBox. The frames are made from some extrusions that I scavenged from the scrap metal dealer in town. The frames are pop-riveted to sheets of Lexan that I scrounged from a back-lit store front sign.

On the first one I used closed rivets:

http://listoftools.com/images/setting_pop_rivets.png to help ensure a weatherproof assembly.

I'm wondering if anyone used open end pop rivets and found that they leaked.

Closed don't cost too much more and I consider it insurance. But, I'd like to know if its really worth it from on the road experience.

Tom

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To an aircraft structural maintainer, pop rivets are evil and don't hold any structural value. How hard would it be to shoot some solids? On the lexan, you will crack it, so maybe some SO's.

HA...thanks for sharing your experience.

Randy...I appreciate your feedback. The right door is built...no cracking...using sealed rivets. There might be similarities to an aircraft but I think it might be a stretch.

Before I start to rivet I lay down a bead of construction adhesive to bond and seal the frame to the sheeting. There are a couple of pics in my Albums.

Now, onto weatherstripping and hinges.

Tom

Small fiberglass trailers like the Scamp and Casita use pop rivets to hold things like interior overhead cabinets in place. They shoot the pop rivet through a screw cap base and then put a dab of sealant on top of the rivet head before closing the screw cap. So they don't expect pop rivets to be watertight on their own. And they've had 30 years practice.....