Full Seadek Floor Install on 1999 SAN
 

Last year I decided that it was finally time to change the carpet in my 1999 SAN. But I did not necessarily want to replace it with more carpet, so I started researching options. After researching all of the faux teak options, I contacted Zach at N3Boatworks to discuss Seadek. Zach provided a lot of encouragement and agreed to provide whatever assistance and guidance he could to help me with the project so I decided to install a full Seadek floor. I finally completed the project last week.

Obviously, Seadek did not have a pattern for my boat, so I ordered some mylar sheets from Seadek to lay down on the floor and trace out a pattern

While I waited for the mylar sheets to arrive, and after pulling the interior, stereo, ballast, etc. from the boat, I began removing the old carpet. I don’t know how many of you have paid attention to how much carpet is in your 210, but I was shocked to discover how much there really is. I ultimately decided to remove all carpet except for what was on the hull walls. This meant removing carpet from the floor from bow to stern, including all of the carpet from underneath the observer’s seat, underneath the helm, from the underside of the bow seating, from the bow floor (which goes underneath the bow walkway), seat bases, hinged seat platforms, transmission cover, engine dividers…everywhere.

Next, I began the process of removing the glue and staples that held the carpet in place. This was, by far, the most time-consuming part of the entire process. There was glue under every bit of carpet…and then some. I scraped and sanded and wire brushed for weeks to remove all the glue. But I eventually got it all off.

Once the carpet was removed, it became evident that the main floor panel, ski-locker lid, and bow subfloor were no longer the correct size. Without carpet wrapping them, they were all too small and too thin. I was also surprised to discover how crooked and out-of-square each piece was. The curve of the ski-locker lid looked like it had been cut by had with a jig-saw and did not even come close to matching the curve in the floor opening. And the bow subfloor had actually been broken into three pieces at some point (I assume at the factory) and stapled back together. And it also lacked a uniform curve to match the bow. Ultimately, I added material (UHMW) edges of the main floor panel and the ski-locker lid so they would match the openings in the floor. And I made a new bow subfloor with the same material.

After removing all of the glue and staples and modifying/making the floor pieces, I cleaned and prepared everything and coated it all with a high-grade epoxy primer.

Next, since Seadek (obviously) does not cover the entire floor and leaves seams, I was faced with the final decision as to what to coat the floor with before adhering the Seadek. Gel coat is the obvious (although expensive) choice for the floor, but I wanted to coat the plastic seat bases, observer’s seat base, seat platforms, etc. with the same color and material as the floor. Accordingly, I opted for a urethane coating that I color-matched to my existing gel and could apply to all of the surfaces, which I did myself. The product is great because it leaves an orange-peel finish that hides many of the imperfections in the materials beneath but is also EXTREMELY hard and durable when dry. Unlike gel coat, I don’t have to worry about scratching or chipping it.

During the time that I was performing the work outlined above, I also traced the floor on the initial mylar sheets and sent them back to Seadek. Seadek prepared a CAD of my pattern and sent me computer-printed mylar sheets based upon the CAD. The first set required adjustments, which I made directly to the CAD mylar sheets, which I sent back to Seadek for modifications. Seadek prepared another CAD and sent me a second pattern a few weeks later, which also required a few more small modifications. After those adjustments were made, Seadek sent me a final CAD from which I ordered my final floor.

I performed all of the work myself and I am extremely pleased with the final outcome. I have attached a before photo and some photos of the process and the final results.

Huge props to Zach and N3Boatworks for all the help! Those guys are seriously the best!

That is legit!! Nice work, looks like I found a future upgrade for my own boat.

Nice work! looks sick

Wow great work!!

Fantastic Job!!
I am in the middle of doing the same thing on my MB.
Great post, and great pictures!

Your install looks great. don't know if you knew or saw my install but I feel your pain on knowing exactly what it takes to get something like this done. If you don't mind me asking what did you spend on this project?

Thanks guys! We are really pleased with the results.

Grant, its funny you should ask about whether I saw your project. When I first thought of taking the Seadek project on, I found your post about your own flooring project and studied it very carefully. When I was leaning toward doing the same type of flooring as you, I actually PM'd you on this site with some questions.

I very nearly went the same direction as you with the traditional faux teak floor. But after gathering all the samples, I decided that I liked the feel and color of the Seadek better than the others. Plus, I liked the idea of being able to replace single panels should something happen to the floor. (And my wife liked Seadek best...so there's that.)

Cost was also a consideration. With all of the tools, chemical, epoxy primer, urethane coating, tint, supplies, new trim, and the flooring, the total cost was only around $2,000. There was some trial-and-error, and if I did it again, I'm guessing that I could do it for a few hundred dollars less. But overall, totally worth the money to me. Were I to pay someone to replace as much carpet as I removed, I would guess I would spend at least 3/4 of what I spent to do this and would not like it nearly as much.

So the SeaDeck was around $1500-$1700 for the material and cost for them to copy your templates?

Dude, so so cool lookin! Looks like your upholstery is newish as well?

Very nice Jared.

The actual Seadek was about $1200. Blank mylar, CAD patterns, shipping, etc. was another $75-$100.

Except for the sun deck and one bottom cushion, the upholstery is original.

Hold up Grant... What's up with your bow cushion? I've never seen that before in ay of your pics. Is that just for easier access to the anchor? Just trying to figure out what made you take away seating.

pooper?

Jason; I opened up the bow filler cushion to allow bass and air to escape.

Hey is the material that you used to cover the seat base's

Grant, are you asking me what the urethane coating is that I used for floor, seat bases, etc.? It is called Monstaliner. I chose it after a lot of research and sample collecting because it met all of my needs. It is extremely tough and durable, UV stable, has good texture, can be applied to many surfaces (including plastic), and can be tinted to most any color so I was able to match it to my boat.

Good to know, I've been looking at that stuff to use as a bedliner for my truck, but as you did have also thought about using it as the base flooring for the boat as well. I hope it holds up as well as they say it does. Looks great BTW!

Do you have a close up of how the floor and seat bases look that don't have seadek?

Here is what I could find...

Awesome job! Looks beautiful, only question I have is did you sand or prep, for example the observers seat base? It looks like some of the imperfections would have been smoothed out and the exopy wouldn't have shown them as much, or is the picture just playing tricks?

Looks good.
I like the ease of a all glass flooring with snap in carpet, but would be kind of expensive to gelcoat it all to factory looks.

I was thinking the same thing daniel. That monstaliner stuff and a nice snap in carpet would work wonders....

How many gallons did u buy of the monstaliner scarbs?

oh man!! that looks really good!

like I said earlier I am in the middle of doing this same thing to my MB. I have been planning on leaving the carpet on the sides of the hull but now Im almost thinking about tearing that out too and just painting this stuff on

Trust me...I sanded everything for hours (and then some). It was unbelievable how many imperfections the carpet hides. The observer's seat base is my biggest regret on the entire project. The picture makes it look worse than it really is, but I also believed that the epoxy would hide the fiberglass texture better than it did. It really isn't that noticeable, but I may do something to clean it up in the future.

I used every bit of 3 gallons of the urethane and about a quart and a half of epoxy primer.

Russ--I left the carpet on the walls for sound dampening. It makes a BIG difference. I would not go with just the urethane on the walls.

I'm thinking of "painting" my entire Toyota Sunrader motorhome with white Monstaliner instead of paint because it will be tougher than paint and hide the irregularities in the fiberglass shell of the motorhome.

Three questions please...

1) Have you guys seen or heard about how well exterior applications of Monstaliner are holding up to the weather...after a few years?

2) Has anyone heard about anyone applying Monstaliner over a thoroughly prepped fiberglass gelcoat surface without priming it first? If so, how well has it held up? I'm asking because I called Monstaliner a year ago and the owner said it was okay to apply it to unpainted gelcoat without a primer but someone else at Monstaliner told me recently that I would have to use an epoxy primer first.

3) Monstaliner is expensive and I was wondering if there is a less expensive alternative out there thats tough and that smooth orange peel finish like Monstaliner?

Thanks!

Magentawave:

There are several blog or topic posts on jeepforum.com that will answer all of your questions. The most informative is found at the link below:

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f43/i...d-liner-875162

There are several posts within this thread and others on the site of people who have coated the exteriors of their jeeps or other vehicles with monstaliner and claim to have had fantastic success.