Removable carpet, What do you think?

This past weekend I was at the boat show in Northern Virginia. I was chatting with the local CC sales rep, and we were talking about some features that we liked on other boats, and some that we thought CC were missing. Centurion makes a snap out carpet that seems pretty practical to me. After a day of riding and hanging out the carpet can sometimes get a little wet. In the spring I hate to leave my boat uncovered because of all the little helicopter things falling out of the trees, and the pollen. But its hard to get the carpet to dry out when the cover is on. The CC rep said he has had several people approach him about a removable carpet this year. He said it is something they are looking into and considering developing. I would only want it, if it looks extremely nice, and is functional. I don't want snaps breaking, or the carpet shrinking, and hard to get snapped. But if they could create a high quality product, I think I would like the ability to pull out the carpet, and hose the deck down.

The other thing we talked about was the swivel seat for the driver. CC does not want to change the console area next to the driver, just to allow a swivel seat. But they are looking at a seat that will move on two seperate tracks. One track will slide foreward and back like it currently does, and a second that will slide left to right. When it is slid all the way to the left, you will be able to swivel.

Sorry Dane, I didn't bring up the observer seat dilemma for you. I'll probably see him again in April, and I'll bring it up then.

Would you like to see these changes?

All for the removable carpet. Other than the centurion, the only other boat I know if that has one (or will supposedly have one) is the X-Deck-Star.

Makes sense to me. Take it out, hose down the inside if needed, wash the carpet, get a new one whatever. According to a ceturion rep i talked to the reason other companies don't do it is becuase they don't want to spend the money of making a nice floor. Seems to me that wouldn't be much more expense to make, but I guess they must some reason not to do it or they would offer at least the option.

Rob, snap out carpet is cool.

My friend has this standard on his Cobalt 190. It is nice. I would pick that if it was not expensive or standard. Yet, I can understand a company wanting to minimize multiple assembly methods.

The salt riders would love this.

Rob, I spoke with Gary Meloon about a month ago about the possibilty of a swivel seat and they have been working on it since then and they just informed me that it may be a possibilty on the 04's but not on the 03's because they have to reinforce the floor to support the swivel seat. He is trying to get me to purchase a 210 this year.

Snap out is the way to go. A friend has it in his 33 outlaw and it's great. From our experience the only problem is that it's just one more thing for the thiefs to take.

Rob, please bring up the observer seat storage access issue any time you get a chance. I bet 90% of buyers would appreciate a change there.

Allen,
Tell him you'll buy the 03 as long as they retrofit the seat. j/k
We're probably going to buy an 03 off the dealer's lot, and I think my girlfriend wants the bolster seat. The rep said we would probably just be able to switch it out, rather than ordering a new boat with just that one option. I don't know if we'll get it or not. This our fourth boat, and the rep is really cool. Tries to make sure that we're happy with everything on the boat.
Fredrik, One of the Factory Reps was there also, and he said the same thing. If they have a removable carpet, then they have to finish the floor. He said it would take a little more time in the gel coat process to get a nice finished product. Guess we'll just wait and see.

I thought either Supra or Moomba had removable carpet as an option as well.

My old four winns i/o had removable carpet and it was a killer feature. It cut cleaning time in half. Just pull the carpet and wash out the interior.

Tige' has removabale bow carpet. It's nice when camping with the boat. Poeple are always getting in and out the bow of the boat so the bow carpet gets dirty and sandy. It's nice to be able to remove it. Tige' also has the swivel seat.

Snap in carpet, IMO, is MUCH better. Very easy. Even if you are not going to actually hose off the floor. It is very nice to pull the carpet, run it inside your house and run the vacuum over it a few times. Then just take a wet rag and wipe the floor, everything is as good as new.

Some people actually just pull their carpet on trips to very sandy areas like Powell, but I like the feel of it between my toes.

E.J.

i dont have snap out carpet but the floor is finished and is so easy to clean, either wipe down with a rag or hose off if its bad (brackish water is way worse then fresh). Sometimes i wish i had carpet but then it would just be more hassle when cleaning and it already takes about 30 minutes.

Rob,

I am a salt water user and a snap out carpet or no carpet at all would be an awesome option. I have thought about pulling the carpet out of our boat once it is completely bad and refinishing/painting the floor sans carpet. Since we are always riding from a dock with a clubhouse the observer's seat and swivel drivers seat are no big deal. In fact a two direction track seat sounds like a maintenance nightmare. The fasteners and springs on the tracks rust like crazy on the CC.

I'd like all carpet to be snap out. It gets nasty over time. I'd love to be able to replace all the carpet every year if I want.

We often pull the carpet out of our Centurion when pulling it to tournaments, especially if the weather is bad. Stuff it in the storage compartment, then get to the site, chamois the floor down and put the carpet back, good as new.

I've never heard of the carpet shrinking. Ours actually stretches a little over time. It's pretty hard to put in the first time. Centurion upgraded their carpet a lot this year, it's a lot thicker. I think it would be even better in a V-drive where you don't have to mess with putting it around the engine box.

I would love a snap out carpet feature. Especially for pet owners. I have vacuumed enough dog hair in the last 2 years to make a new dog!!!!
I bought a powerhead for my shop vac and it does a decent job, however snap out carpet would be the bomb.

What about keeping seat bases carpeted and then having a snap-in/out carpet for the floor. I definately prefer the soft carpeted set bases vs. fiberglass.

IMO

snap-out carpet is cool, but makes the boat ride "louder" than a non-snap-out carpet boat.