Rivets.. suitable for the awning

Search amazon for tri-fold rivets.

The awning rail pulling away was an issue with some earlier Grand Design RVs. The rivets supplied by the manufacturer if you wanted to fix it yourself were called molly rivets. I repaired my awning rail with some in early 2016 and it's still holding well.

Rob

I have some of the tri fold rivets in the form of Olympic rivets and the head diameter is way too small. It would fall through the fixture hole.

Molly rivets. I have used these for household jobs. You pound them in and turn the supplied screw to expand the folds. Then remove the screw and use it to mount item.

Neither looks like the original rivet.

Are the rivets the same as what is used in car door window regulator. Go to a parts store and check the size.

Blind rivets come in many, MANY styles. The most important thing is to use the proper diameter for the hole and the proper length for the thickness of what is going to be mated. Backing "washers" or plates always help, but usually you can not reach in back of where they need to go.

Some manufactures make ones with oversized heads, but that does not solve the "pull through" problem. The tri-fold style look like a good solution and they are for sale on Amazon.

The "home-built" aircraft DIYers swear by CherryMax rivets. $$$ and not readily available.

groundhogy wrote:
Molly rivets. I have used these for household jobs. You pound them in and turn the supplied screw to expand the folds. Then remove the screw and use it to mount item.

This does not at all describe the molly rivets I was provided. The ones sent to me by Grand Design mushroomed out on the back side but were installed with a standard rivet tool.

Rob

CherryMax blind rivet maybe ?

Stainless closed end rivets of the appropriate diameter and grip range should work fine. I do recommend using rivets with a grip range that covers your material thickness plus a rivet backer. The rivet backer is basically a washer that will spread the load out