Hey guys. I just read someone say that I can do the upper deck screws as tight as I can by hand. This I read this post about torque ratings.
Just to clarify is it sufficient to tighten them by hand as much as I can or do I need to use a torque wrench or something else more powerful.
no, don't tighten them as tight as you can, you need to tighten them as much as needed but no more, not saying you have to use a torque wrench but you need to know your strength (you can easily over tighten by hand), if you tighten them too much you will strip out the threads on the ones around the front and rear, some of them have replaceable inserts if you do strip them out, and the ones on the sides that are bolts and nuts if you tighten them too much you will deform the hull and it won't seal as well, tighten them in small increments to effectively clamp the top deck down instead of bringing each fastener to the max torque spec one at a time.