Make it Snappy.

So the snaps I bought from West Marine last fall have proven to be pretty worthless. Only one out of a total of twelve will stay connected for more than ten minutes; the brass rings inside the cap section just don’t hold well enough.

I did some research online and plugged some new search terms into the Googles; I came upon a commercial manufacturer who makes Milspec snaps and then a distributor who sells them by piece. They showed up yesterday and they are as strong as advertised. A test with the install pliers I got with the West Marine kit was successful, but I think I’m going to use the punch I got in a repair kit from Kayline years ago.

I got 20 11/64″ snap button barrels, 20 sockets (hard action), and 20 3/8″ #8-32 machine screws. “Hard Action” sounds sexxxy but only means it takes a lot of force to get the snap to connect and release. So now the screws will face inside and the door flaps will fold underneath and snap to the inside of the door frames.

Update: The punch worked perfectly. I’m short two nylock nuts for the passenger side but everything is installed and the snaps hold the way they should. Problem solved!