Anyone removed carpet in older boat- Have ??
 

I have a 2000 MB DD and have contemplated removing the carpet and either installing new or replacing with a boatmat style inlay. Just wondering what is underneith the carpet? I assume there will be a whole lot of glue and fiberglass over top of some plywood. The carpet isn't really that stained or anything just worn down from being 11 years old. Even if I go with the boatmat type cover I would like to remove the carpet otherwise it would just stay wet underneith which means I would have to pull everything out everytime I was done for the day. There are a couple spots that would be pretty tricky like the dog house itself. Just trying to figure out the best way to go about this. Would I need to sand and recoat the floor with a fiberglass resin or deck seal type material? I can get a really good price on the boatmat material so I'm not as concerned about the price.

It all depends on what's under the carpet. I did a older DD some years back that had wood flooring, about the same age carpet too. Ripped it all up and found for the most part the entire floor was good, some spots where the resin was worn through, but no rot. It left a lot of glue residue behind so I sanded it smooth with a belt sander, cleaned it real good and re-sealed the entire floor with two coats of resin using a roller. Took two days to do that and dry sufficiently.

If you have a gelcoat surface underneath i'd just lightly sand it down smooth, clean up good and lay down new carpet using waterproof contact cement. Cutting out for the doghouse and pylon wasn't bad just takes two people to do. Make a big paper template to make sure you get it right. Make sure to leave a bit extra around openings to trim in correctly.

Seriously, the hardest part of the project? Finding all the freaking holes to screw stuff back down like the seats, doghouse, etc.!

Ripped the carpet out of my sanger and replaced it. It was easy and looks great. It was well worht the effort. cost was just over 100 bucks

I just got through replacing the carpet in my Ski Nautique. I dont know about your boat specifically, but you shouldnt have any wood i nthe floor. There will be carpet on top of fiberglass held down with glue.

Pull the old carpet up, it should come up fairly easily, it will leave glue residue and pieces of th rubber carpet backing. I used a 4" scraper to get it up and it went quickly. It doesnt have to be perfect, jsut no loose material so the new glue can stick securely.

I dont like Contact Cement, it dries faster and has less room for error. Use Indoor / outdoor carpet adhesive from Lowes (Henry brand). Apply it with a notched trowel, you will have time to reposition as needed.

Use the old carpet as a pattern to cut your new. Cut it larger, but only by a 1/2 inch on every edge or so. Much bigger and you will have problems.

Do the sides first, so you dont accidently get glue on your new floor carpet while you work. Kee pAcetone and a rag handy to clean up mistakes.

Here are a few pics from this weekend of my job. The black trim at the edges was the hardest part.

http://hornbucklemarine.net/phpBB3/d...ce224f2c8eee5d

http://hornbucklemarine.net/phpBB3/d...ce224f2c8eee5d