1. I was goign to make new pads for the sides of my cockpit. The old one look very 80s. What kinf od foam shodul i use? Is tehre a specific type of marine foam? I was goign to makea panel out of playwood and the put the foam on it and cover it in vinyl. I saw how wellcraft did the old ones with staples in the back it shodu lbe pretty easy to do i'm just nto sure what kind of foam i should get. I want soem padding but i don;t want it to look pillowey.

2. any idea how i can mount them without the screws showing? I was thingking i might glue them on but then they are a pain to take off if i ever have too. If i do wind up putting screws through them how can i keep the vinyl from tearing shodul i punch the hole and then put some expoxy on the backside to keep the hole from getting bigger in future?

Puder To hold your pads on I would use tee nuts on the inside under the foam. You can buy ss ones at your upholstery shop or on line at [url]www.mcmastercarr.com

What your looking for is a poly urethane foam (yellow in color)
Tip paint your wood to seal. Use plastic over foam before stapling finished this will keep water off foam

I re-did mine. Baja used regular plywood and carbon steel t-nuts. Since water would be behind it the wood was constanly soaked and nowhere to go.

The T-nuts you are looking for is P/N 90973A029 from www.mcmastercarr.com. Use treated plywood if you can find it thin enough or put several coats of treatment on normal plywood.

Foam can be found in a bunch of different areas any upolsrty shop will have it. I've seen it at arts and crafts shops and Walmart.

I took them off after 2 years to get my entire cockpit done, they still look like new.

I've redone several and have had good luck. I coat the panels with fiberglass resin and let them dry for a day. They won't hold water and you can still staple into them.

Make sure you use stainless staples, they are available at some hardware stores or mc Master Carr. I had to redo a bunch of panels in one boat because the manufacture didn't use stainless staples or marine wood and every thing rotted.

An easy alternative to t-nuts is stainless screws with upholstery packers and caps. Good luck

Home Depot doesn't carry stainless staples, but Lowes does.

They are called "monel" I think. West Marine and boatus has the t nuts too.

Don't know if this will work for you but they do make vinyl with a thin, 1/8-1/4 foam backing attached.

Not sure which one of these links carries it.
http://www.garysupholstery.com/index.html
http://www.boatinstyle.com/

I think monel was a trade type name of a stainless steel. My dad gave me a box of monel staples that I know were at least 20 years old, and they were $14.95 a box back then.