How to not crack gelcoat

[reelapeelin]

Originally Posted by nipper

Thanks Spare and NEM. Another question. What I am doing is putting curtains made of sunbrella over the cutouts where my rodboxes were--basically making that area a storage area for skis, life vests, etc. I have lined the area with indoor outdoor carpet to protect the hull and reduce noise from vibration. About how far apart should I have the snaps?

Snaps on my top are about 8-9" apart...

and on the screw thing, they're right on the money on use of the counter-sink or phillips-head bit!!...and another thing is bit selection when drilling the hole...doesn't take much glass to get a strong bite, so size the hole you drill accordingly...I hold up a bit shank to a screw when determining hole size...showing about 1/2 the thread looking past the bit is about right...