Hobie Island rivets

I need to reattach the "eyelet posts" (also known as bungee buttons), those things that the ama bungees attach to on a Hobie AI aka bar. I can't seem to find any rivets that look like a good match to those that Hobie uses. I was wondering if anybody might know what type of rivets Hobie uses.

I drilled out the previous rivets and they were not as easy to remove as I thought they'd be, which made me think they're stainless. But they have an unusually large head and they look more like aluminum than stainless, so I'm confused...

I'll (semi) answer my own question...

I can't seem to find where Hobie actually lists rivets specifically for the AI, but I believe this is what they use:

https://westcoastsailing.net/rivet-pop-3-16x5-8-ph-ss/

The material seems to a stainless alloy called "monel", which is supposed to reduce galvanic corrosion, as compared to other stainless alloys.

The Hobie price of $1.39 per rivet seems a bit steep (add shipping, and it'll be more). The only similar thing I can find are these, which are about 1/4th the price, although I don't think they have the large head like the official Hobie rivets:

https://www.amazon.com/MONEL-MANDREL-DIAMETER-501-625-PIECES/dp/B0881XNCDM

Hobie does use some parts that attach to the aka bars with regular stainless screws (the cam cleats, for example), so it's tempting to use run-of-the-mill stainless rivets. But, on the older aka bars that I have, there has definitely been some corrosion where stainless and aluminum meet, but I see no such issue where the monel rivets were used. So, I'd like to use the right kind of rivets...

I replaced mine with stainless rivets.
Mine has corroded quite a bit, so I went 1 size larger.
I remembered I had to borrow a big rivet gun, the small one just doesn’t have enough muscle.
Buy Hobie if you could, it’s not worth the hassle to see it corrode down the road.

After all my years working in and around the salt, Monel is worth the investment

I replaced mine with stainless rivets.
Mine has corroded quite a bit, so I went 1 size larger.
I remembered I had to borrow a big rivet gun, the small one just doesn’t have enough muscle.
Buy Hobie if you could, it’s not worth the hassle to see it corrode down the road.

Thanks for the info, Chet.

I went ahead and bought the monel rivets from Amazon. My bet is that they are the same as what Hobie uses, since there seems to be only one manufacturer. Now, I just hope they don't turn out to be Amazon counterfeits...


 

Awesome thread and I'll be curious to see how this turns out. I may need to replace a few on my tandem AI knuckles. It's not sitting flush like the rest.

Awesome thread and I'll be curious to see how this turns out. I may need to replace a few on my tandem AI knuckles. It's not sitting flush like the rest.

If the rivets I ordered work, you can have as many as you need for free. I'll be getting 100, and can't imagine ever using half of them...

Would really appreciate that thank you 

Got the rivets today, and they look legit. I haven't tried them yet in aka bars, as I might need to get a better rivet gun (my $10 Harbor Fright tool sorta works, but may not last too long).

The mandrel is not stainless, and a small piece stayed inside the rivet in my experiment. Maybe that's because of my substandard tool. Also, I think I'll scope the inside of an aka bar just to see what the backside of the official Hobie rivets look like.

Anyways, if you need some, LMK. I've got way, way more than I'll ever use.

I forgot to mention, that the eyelet post in the picture is not the official Hobie style, in case you noticed that it looks a little bit unusual...

I installed the eyelet posts on the aka bars and the rivets worked great. I was able to pop them all with my $19 Harbor Freight rivet gun (which seems to have just increased to $25):

https://www.harborfreight.com/13-in-heavy-duty-professional-hand-riveter-58018.html

I also notice that I've got 2 different types of Hobie eyelet posts. The larger ones seem to be a lot more durable.

This post has been riveting 

This post has been riveting 

Yes!

Again, if anybody needs any of these fancy rivets, LMK...