Well, here is lesson 1:

 

Spinnaker, I am looking into it, however, it has started to crash...so I have to figure out what's wrong

 

Hello,

R2 should be low value like 100 - 470 Ohms.
R1 should be higher value like 10K - 100K Ohms, its is used to switch off the mosfet.

Bertus

 

Hello,

R2 should be low value like 100 - 470 Ohms.
R1 should be higher value like 10K - 100K Ohms, its is used to switch off the mosfet.

Bertus

Here's my weak spot: is C2 really necessary as a snubber, even though D1 is already taking care of that? And if it is, shouldn't a resistor be placed in series with it?

 

It is also common to put a small diode in parallel with the R2 resistor, this aids discharging the gate capacitances of the MOSFET quickly, bypassing the gate resistors reducing the turn off time. A diode such as 1N4148 with the anode towards the gate of the mosfet.
Max.