Mounting Geartrak GT90 with rivets?

On my wife's kayak there is simply no way to get anywhere near where we want to put her Geartraks from the back side. I've done the research and have decided on pop rivets. I understand the trade-offs.

My question is her Geartraks are the GT90 (narrower) type, where the mounting holes are "inside" the track. I have never used rivets before, so I read up, purchased a decent (i.e. not the cheapest I could find) rivet gun, and was set to start the project last night, when I noticed that the tip of the rivet gun is wider than the opening in the track, so I can't get the "nose" of the rivet gun flush with the bottom of the track (not even close).

Will this work? I'm going to try to mock up some tests tonight with scrap wood but I thought I'd ask. I did search around a bit and couldn't find anything on this issue.

hmmm interesting...
Can you come up with a collar or a stack of small washers to slip over the rivet that would fill in the space between the nose of the gun and the head of the rivet? The rivet gun should still pull and pop the rivet as it should.

+1 on the washers. Try it on your scrap wood mock up and see how it does.

Oh that makes perfect sense. Yes, I'll try that. Or perhaps a bit of small steel tube cut to size.

Great suggestion, thank you.

maybe a small nut (or stack of) instead of washers... or a perhaps a small socket.

Have you seen YackAttack's video for their rigging bullet?
I'd suggest watching their vid on Youtube and see if that wouldn't be useful. I'm sure you could fashion your own "bullet" as well.

www.youtube.com/vzuXaMw7c5k

Have you seen YackAttack's video for their rigging bullet?
I'd suggest watching their vid on Youtube and see if that wouldn't be useful. I'm sure you could fashion your own "bullet" as well.

www.youtube.com/vzuXaMw7c5k

Looking on YouTube... that video doesn't show the install. I'll check it out.

Have you seen YackAttack's video for their rigging bullet?
I'd suggest watching their vid on Youtube and see if that wouldn't be useful. I'm sure you could fashion your own "bullet" as well.

www.youtube.com/vzuXaMw7c5k

Looking on YouTube... that video doesn't show the install. I'll check it out.

Sorry if that's a bad link. My work filters the youtubes and it was my best guess. I believe that he has two topics compressed into one vid however.

Got it now, thank you.

That is pretty clever. I don't know if I have the patience/desire to go to that much work on this particular install, but if I can't monkey my arm up to where I need to on my Oasis I might have to try that.

Thanks for the link - I hadn't even considered doing something like that.

You may not have one but a wire fed welder brass tip will do the trick there not that expensive bug take a rivot with to try the fit as well as the bar.

Yes a small piece of metal tubing, a small nut, stack of washers, etc...  All will work.

The bigger question is what rivots do you plan use?

I would highly suggest NOT using the standard ones you see used everywhere, rather you want the ones that flare out in the back as it compresses.   They lock on really well.

Like these. Yak Gear Tri-Grip Rivet Kit
http://www.dickssportinggoods.com/product/index.jsp?productId=21773356

+1 for not using standard rivots! They are terrible for plastic. The three piece rivots are much better for kayak use.

I have seen aluminum ones at both our hardware stores but are the black expansion parts on those rubber coated or aluminum? Hard to tell from the pic.

I've seen them painted or just plain aluminum. Either work fine. I usually order them through Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=trifold+rivets

Yeah I've already done the research on the rivets but thanks for the info.

No update. Sinus infection is keeping me down.