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Hello everyone, I've removed my snap in carpet from my 190 cause its seen better days. I love not having it in there at all. I plan to remove all the snaps from the floor for good. My question is, do these holes from the screws go all the way through? Should I remove the snaps and put the screws back in with silicone? Or will it be ok to completely remove everything and leave the screw holes alone? Any suggestions?

If it were I, and it was a DEFINITE that the snaps were never going back in I would get a tube of 3M 5200 and use the nipple to shoot the epoxy into the hole.

If there was a POSSIBILITY of the snaps ever going back in I would get some same size 316 stainless screws and put them into the holes with 3M 4200 on the threads. If the screws that were centered in the snaps those would work too (not sure if the snaps are the ones with the screw integrated or that screw through).

That is just my opinion though. Personally, I would probably do number 2 in case I ever decided to sell the boat and the next owner wanted the snap-in carpet.

I would just leave the snaps in, taking them out will make putting carpet back in more difficult (resale purposes, I understand you don't like it). In my experience messing with taking screws in or out of fiberglass will end up with at least one loose, stripped attachment point which will be a negative to a future buyer. Just my opinion. But like was said before, I would use the screws used to attach the snaps in the first place...

DO NOT PUT 5200 in the holes. That'd just make it pretty much impossible for anyone else to ever put screws back in there again. If anything fill the holes with actual marine epoxy; use the west marine kit that has a syringe in it. Leave a dip in the filler and top it off later with color-matched gelcoat patch. This way it'll at least be possible for someone later to pre-drill into the epoxy and put the snaps back.

Bear in mind you'll never be able to match the color perfectly, so come resale you'll have plenty of 'why were all those holes patched' questions and resulting resale value hit.

I'd just use life caulk or something forgiving and a couple of stainless washers (the kind meant for recessing screw heads) and re-insert the sames screws. This way you minimize the bumped up surfaces while not negatively affecting the boat's value.

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-Bill Kearney, 2005 348 Vista

I got rid of the carpets also, in Miami they would soon be black in a with mildew in a month anyway. I didn't do anything but scrub the gelcoat on the floor which comes with a pretty cool texture which doesn't slip. I am not taking the snaps out just in case I want to sell the boat I can get a pair of new carpets and sell the boat with them.