If you’ve got any sort of canvas on your boat that uses snap fasteners at some point you’re going to have to replace them. The “proper” way of doing this involves removing the canvas/cover and using a hammer with a snap fastener fixing tool that you can buy online. For this the canvas needs to be flat and not moving, ideally you want to have a wooden block in place. Of course on my boat removing the canvas cover that keeps the weather out of the cabin is an absolute pain in the hole (it would be wouldn’t it!), in involves inching it along a long track whilst trying not to break the clear plastic window. So when the cheap snap fasteners I made do with last time broke after only a few months it was time to look for a better solution so that I could replace the snap fasteners in place with better stainless versions.
Lets start at the beginning. When the cover was replaced I wasn’t confident of measuring the snap fasteners to the existing studs so wanted to hole punch and fit the fasteners with the canvas in place. An online search resulted in the Shoreline Marine Canvas Fastener kit. Brilliant I thought. This did work and all snap fasteners were fitted in the right place with relative ease. Definitely easier than measuring and using a hammer/punch kit. However the snaps that come with this kit are bad, real bad. In fact they are utter junk. In 12 months I’ve lost count of the number of snaps I’ve replaced. The last ones lasted less than 2 months. In the meantime I ordered the correct (stainless steel) snap fasteners for the job. During the recent bad weather another 6 snap fasteners have failed (see pic above). What happens is the soft metal socket distorts allowing the cap to pull through, did I mention how bad the snaps in the Shoreline kit are? No problem I thought, I have my stainless ones. Except the cheap fitting tool in the Shoreline Canvas kit wouldn’t fit them, it didn’t have enough oomph to splay out the metal on the cap. I turned to the internet and no matter how much searching I did it always came back to the same answer, cheap snap fastening tools/pliers were not strong enough to fit marine grade stainless steel snap fasteners. There were 2 options, either remove the canvas and do it the traditional hammer and hit way or buy the most expensive hand tool I’ve ever seen – The Hoover Press n Snap (A mere snip at around £220+ in the UK). No chance for me, not for a tool that I would likely only use once every few years. No matter how good the reviews and it is supposed to be the dogs bollocks, nothing justifies that amount for such a basic tool that will be used so little. For pro’s absolutely, it looks an amazing bit of kit but for your average boat owner I don’t think so. I’d heard of rentals but can I rent one on the Isle of Man, what do you think? With more bad weather forecast and with no time to pull the canvas I decided to experiment and this is what I came up with, works perfectly, is very cheap but importantly allows me to fit marine stainless steel grade snap fasteners in place.
What You Need
1. A cheap pair of snap fastener pliers – Approx cost £20 (Like These) Or alternatively get the Shoreline Kit and just bin the snaps
2. Some stainless steel snap fasteners – Approx cost £5-£10 (Like These)
3. A decent pair of pliers – You’ll probably have these already but if not approx cost £10-£15 (Like These)
The method is dead simple. You turn the cheap ass pair of snap fastener pliers in to an extreme version with your proper pliers. The problem with the snap fastener tool isn’t that it’s not strong enough to splay the cap, it’s that they don’t generate enough force. By using the pliers around the end of the snap tool (using the snap tool to hold the cap and socket in place) you can generate enough force to fix even a stainless snap fastener in place. Using exactly this method I was able to fit 6 stainless snaps this morning in under 20 minutes, the last time I removed the cover it took me 3 times that amount of time just to get the cover of the rail.
The image below shows the method without the canvas getting in the way. In reality you do exactly the same thing with the cap pushed through the canvas on to the socket.
Job done for the princely sum of nothing more than what I’d already spent and all ready for another storm this weekend! If needs be when the weather brightens up and I’ve got time on my hands I can remove the canvas and snug them down with a hammer/punch but I honestly don’t think they’ll need it.
