Replacing riveted items on exterior

[liveoakal]

Greetings all
I need to replace an exterior door hold-open latch and an exterior hood vent. I also would like to tighten the grab handle next to the entry door. All of these items are attached with adhesive and rivets. I have explored the replacement of rivets on this site and others and it appears to be a fairly simple task for an experienced diy type. However, I want to know if anyone has ever replaced the rivets with screws or bolts as I would like to do with the entry grab bar. I realize that this would entail exposing the back side of the fiberglass wall on the interior. I am not certain that this is easily done but I would like to know what others consider possible.

Many thanks to you all,
Allan

[Donna D.]

On mine, the only thing using a rivet was for the door holdback. The hood vent and door grab handle use Robertson screws. The holdback and grab handle use butyl under, no caulk. The hood vent uses butyl under and a thin bead of caulk around the perimeter.

[Ron in BC]

Originally Posted by liveoakal

However, I want to know if anyone has ever replaced the rivets with screws or bolts

Allan

Screws can be used on f.g. but the thickness is important. If it's too thin then the screw doesn't have much bite and might put out.

Through bolting is far superior, especially when a fender washer is also used but of course that requires rear access.

Something that's almost as good as through bolting is something called a threaded insert or Rivnut.

It's inserted like pop rivet and allows for a bolt to be used. Very strong and I've never had a failure but unfortunately it requires buying the tool, not very practical for a one off situation.

Ron