When installing metal floor plates, use the right screw! I forgot a lesson long ago to never use Phillips head screws on floorplates.
Imagine this: you’re on the sailboat…it’s dark, stormy, there’s a power failure, and you think you’re taking on water. So you use a headlamp, find a screwdriver, and crouch down to unscrew your floor panels to check for water. You find that you can’t unscrew the floor panels because the screwdriver won’t go in, because the screws are clogged with dirt. So, now you go back to the tool room (in a pitching and heaving boat) to find a pick. When you return to the floorplates, you now have to methodically uncover each screw before removing it!
When you need to remove the floor in an emergency, it takes a screwdriver AND a pick to remove the screw if you put in Phillips head screws. Dirt clogs up the screw head and prevents the screwdriver from getting a good bite. All of the floorplates will now be attached with slotted screws instead. If dirt gets in the slotted screw, all you have to do is push it out only using the screwdriver. No pick should be required.
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