re: Anyone ever stick welded aluminum? (Boat repair/patchwork)

Kinda damned if you do, damned if you don't.

Aluminum rivets are soft and may give out pretty quickly depending on stress.

Stainless won't corrode aluminum as bad as other materials, in general it's ok to use stainless fasteners as long as they're going into a plate or other large area. Even if the aluminum around the fastener corrodes a bit the fastener will still hold because it's compressing against itself and a sealant. The bigger risk would be using an aluminum fastener in stainless, where the fastener could corrode and lose grip.