boat carpeting

[scn]

It looks like I may be tackling a carpeting job on my aluminum boat in the near future. The front deck will be fairly easy, the main floor more of a pain due to having to cut around the struts.

I know both Bass Pro and Cabelas carry various grades of marine carpet. I would appreciate any advise on the minimum grade I should be looking at. And, I really need some input on a good adhesive. I put down some interlocking rubber squares on this boat last summer, and the indoor/outdoor adhesive I used never did properly cure even with the boat being stored in the dry for over a month.

Thanks,
Steve

 

[WTM]

here is a discussion on it a couple weeks ago. kirk posted a link withinn the thread on how he did his boat.

sounds too much like work. i think ill pay tracker to replace mine when its due lol.

 

[breaker19sK]

Kirk provided me with some of the best info available on this topic. I bought my marine carpet from a local carpet store that carried rubber backed marine carpet. They negotiated the price down to .88 a sq foot. I used a solvent based outdoor glue on the deck. From all I've read I'd stay away from water based marine glue. I'm completely restoring a neglected 20 ft procraft sp200 so I've encountered challenges that you may not but recarpeting is as much work as you hear it is. Good luck!! Pictured is the 16oz marine carpet

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N920A using Tapatalk

 

[Smo]

I have always used the Astro turf type carpet from Lowes. But I think the indoor / outdoor carpet would work the same. It doesn't seem like hooks p get stuck in the Astro turf as bad as they do in the carpet.The Astro turf has a rubber back and cleans up with a water hose. The best glue I've found is the spray type adhesive such as locktite or another leading brand. Just make sure it's not water soluble. I spray both pieces ,the carpet and the deck. Let them set for a few minutes then put in place. It's best to have an extra pair of hands available to help keep it straight. When the two pieces make contact they are stuck! I have done three boats this way without any issues and they have held up well. Good Luck it's a job but doing it a piece at a time it's not two bad. I did a 1648 flat bottom with front and rear casting decks in a couple of afternoons with a Neighbors help.

 

[Kirk]

Putting the new carpet on is fairly easy. Tearing the old carpet off and prepping the surface is where the work is really tough. I used the Marine Carpet Glue that was sold by the company I got the carpet from. I sent you a link SCN.

SCN on the big areas that you will be working on, an old fashion rolling pin rolled firmly over the carpet surface after glue application helps get all the bubbles out of the adhesive. I rolled mine and it worked great. The carpet rolled out smooth and had no loose areas.

I am a bit of a perfectionist so I probably worked a lot harder than was necessary. However, if any one else thinking about replacing carpet in your own boat. The removal and prep work is about 75% of the work. A simple scraper does the best job for old adhesive removal. A sander or a side grinder just heats the old glue up and smears it. I even experimented with placing some of the compartment lids in the freezer to get the old glue as rigid as possible. It came right off with a scraper so it did help some.

The compartment lids are a little tricky to put the carpet on. You will need some clamps and pieces of wood to clamp the glued carpet to the compartment lid frame. I was using 8 clamps per lid. This slows down your process unless you have 16-20 clamps.

If you have compartment lids,like live well, storage etc use a lighter weight carpet. The bulkier 20 ounce carpets and the Berber look better but are lot thicker than the factory installed carpet and will cause your compartment lids to be extremely tough to open. I had to use hair clippers to remove some of the fibers. That wasn't enough and ended using silicon spray on all sides to loosen it up enough to open.