How to Make a Boat Cover Snap Replacement Template
A template for boat cover snap replacement is like a map. You can make a template for snap replacement by rolling a large piece of paper over your boat and tracing the snap locations. It will be cumbersome and, because the paper won't lay perfectly flat, it will always be inaccurate. Alternatively, you can take a cue from map and chart makers and use a grid system of your own creation to define each snap's location within a fraction of an inch.
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Instructions
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1
Use your pencil to draw an outline of your boat on the paper, as if seen from overhead. The drawing needn't be detailed or terribly accurate; though it will be a template, it will only provide the data you need, not a full scale two-dimensional replica.
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Draw a line on the template from the point of the bow (the point at the very front) to the center of the stern (the back) to establish a reference datum, or basis for calculating or measuring.
On a nautical chart, the primary reference datums are the Greenwich Meridian, the principal line upon which all lines of longitude are based, and the Equator, from whence all other lines of latitude are derived. On your template, the reference datum is the center line of your boat.
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3
Use your measuring tape to measure the width of the stern of your boat, then divide that width by two, to obtain the location of the center of the span of the stern. Tape one end of a piece of string at the center of the stern and stretch the string forward, to the point of the bow at the very front of the boat. Tape the end of the string at that point.
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Make all measurements from the center line along straight lines perpendicular to the center line of the boat.
Measure the distance from the center line of your boat at the stern, to the snap on port side of the stern nearest the center line of the boat. Record this distance on your drawing by marking the snap location and the distance to the center line. Stretch the tape out to the next snap on the stern and record that distance on the drawing. Repeat until all the snaps on the port side of the stern are recorded as being "x" feet and inches from the center line.
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Move the tape forward along and perpendicular to the center line until you come to the first snap on the port side, forward of the stern. Measure and record the distance to the snap and the distance to the very end of the center line at the stern. Repeat, until all snaps on the port side are recorded and charted on the drawing.
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Return to the stern and repeat the entire process for the starboard side. When you have measured and recorded the distance to the last snap, perpendicular to the center line and "x" feet and inches from the stern, you should have a template that gives you the location of every snap as being "x" feet and inches forward of the stern and "x" feet and inches perpendicular to the center line" of your boat.
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Remove the string from the boat.
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Tips & Warnings
Always measure the distance forward from the the stern. If you measure distance forward from the last measurement taken, you risk making a measuring error.
Do not touch the string any more than necessary, to prevent making an incorrect measurement.
