I have a question about rivats. The canoe that I’m interested in (Clipper Packer)has rivats in its sides. Should I be concerned about this? Will they come loose? Will they leak? Is this the sign of a less expensive canoe? Or should I not be concerned at all?
Sincerely
Kevin
Shouldn’t be a problem
Both Bell and Wenonah use rivets to attach seats and such to a number of their boats.
We had a canoe with rivets through the
sides, and they caused no problems at all. Anyway, that company knows what it is doing.
Should Be Fine
Our venerable Onedia 18 has the seats riveted in - still perfect after 20+ years…
Bell rivets
The only rivet problem I’ve had was on my Bell Wildfire RX seat hanger. The front rivet broke (I’m only 170), and fortunately I wasn’t on a long trip. I re-riveted in the original hole and added another river to make it better than new.
I and many others use them all the time
on all different material canoes for installing thwarts, seat brackets and foot braces.
Cheers,
JackL