Attaching Marine Snaps to PVC

Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is a plastic used for a variety of of purposes including flexible and rigid pipe, vinyl coverings and waterproof and protective clothing. Attaching marine snaps to flexible PVC is simple. With the correct tools and equipment, adding a marine snap requires no more than five minutes. The key to attaching a snap to PVC is placing the dye and punch in the correct position so an not to drive the edges of the snap through the PVC fabric.

Things You'll Need

  • Hole cutter
  • Mallet
  • Dye
  • Punch
  • Snaps
Show More

Instructions

    • 1

      Place a dye under the PVC in a location where you want to attach the marine snap base. Center the hole cutter over the fabric and the dye beneath the fabric. Hammer the top of the cutter with a mallet and punch through the PVC.

    • 2

      Place the male part of the snap's base on the dye. Put the PVC over the die, sliding the male part through the hole in the fabric. Place the female part of the base over the protruding male part. The stack is as follows: dye, male part, PVC fabric, female part. Put the punch inside the hole of the male part. Hold the punch straight up and down or you may damage the fabric. Hammer the top of the punch with the mallet. The punch mushrooms the male part over the female part of the base, affixing the PVC between the base pair.

    • 3

      Put a hole in the PVC portion of the project that requires fastening to the portion affixed with a snap base with the hole cutter, dye and mallet. Place the dome of the snap on the die, dome down. Put the PVC fabric over the dye, sliding the male component of the dome through the hole. Put the female portion of the top of the snap over the fabric around the male stem of the dome. Put the punch in the hole of the dome's male stem -- straight up and down -- and hammer the top of the punch with the mallet.