Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hi. I'm stocking up on fasteners and it occurred to me... should I be using galvanized.

For instance,I'm looking for 18 gauge 1/4" crown staples. Do people use galvanized or just the standard metal staples?
Seems galvanized staples are few and far between. How about screws for use with a Kreg jig.
Are galvanized ones used or just the standard Kreg screws?

Any insights would be helpful.

Thank you.

John

I would stainless if you can. Galvanized would be fine when filled and painted over, but stainless is even better and a lot less chance of a problem later

I used Tufcote or Climacoat screws. These are coatings applied over galvanised screws. Designed to not corrode even in timber treated with copper based preservatives.
No sign of rust streaks yet.
For crown staples I used galvanised PowerFit 6000 series.
Bought a $25 project pack of 4000 staples.
Surprised you can't find them.
Without going out to the shed and confirming, I'm pretty sure they have "Made in USA" on the box.
They aren't bleeding rust anywhere either, but that might be because I sealed all external staples with more polyurethane, then paint.
I'd have used stainless steel staples if I could have found some to buy.

when it comes to "Stainless", there is good stainless and there is bad - something to do with it's 'nickel' content. Put a magnet to it = if it -"'adheres"- is drawn to it = bad stainless...can or will rust later......... - No magnetic draw = has more nickel in it, thus = GOOD stuff = no rust later................... (personally have found 'most' China made stainless is BAD and India made = usually GOOD..............) Was taught/shown this when working for Boeing over 40 years ago = for whatever that is worth??

I've used stainless screws for a lot of the connections on my build due to corrosion resistance, however, there have been drawbacks. Stainless is more brittle and I've had a number of screws shear when fastening to my hardwood cross members. Pilot holes going into higher density material have needed to be slightly larger than the pilot holes for plywood-to-plywood connections.

Stainless also corrodes aluminum when the two materials are in contact with each other. I tried to sidestep this issue when using aluminum shims on my trailer by oversizing the holes and filling them with epoxy just before putting a stainless bolt through them. Time will tell whether or not the epoxy worked as a barrier between the two.

304 is the alloy number of the stainless that rusts. Most stainless bolts found around hardware style stores are 304 alloy. The higher number alloy bolts most of the time you have to get from factory supply type companys.

If you can't find a alloy number on a bolt display your looking at. Assume it is 304. Don't even waste time asking one of the store helpers. He won't know.

John, these are the crown staples I am using. They came from one of the big box stores.

In my experience, for practical purposes, 304 SS will only have rust issues when in contact with saltwater, in which case 316 is preferred

Re: stainless on aluminum corrosion, I would only worry about that in harsh environments. For interior (i.e. dry) applications I don't think it matters. (If there is no liquid the cathodic action can't fester... i.e. no "battery acid" = no battery.)

I use galvanized 1/4" crown staples and have never seen one rust.



But that's here in 'Murica!



Tony