Carpet

[CascoBay]

I have a 26' Larson that I use in salt water. I am a finanic about keeping it spotless, and this year I am on a mooring .

Will adding carpet to the cockpit area reduce the "need" to clean? I am thinking it will keep foot traffic/dirt in check and reduce the washing of the decks. I could problably get 4 or so trips out of it before I needed to scrub the carpets out.

Last year I washed and scubbed the deck after every use, it just always seemed to need it, the fiberglass liner did not hide anything.

Is carpet the answer? I would do snap in style.

 

[stubbsboogie]

Re: Carpet

Just my .02cents.

Carpet Free Boating!!!!!!!!!!

Granted our boat is nowhere near the size of yours but, I do try very hard to keep it perfect. Our previous boat had carpet and this one has the snap in style. We took the carpet out of it after one trip. Cleaned it and sealed it in plastic for resale. So much easier to just hose it out.
The Glastron carpet was completly disgusting when we sold it and the new owner immediatly ripped it out and did not replace. Carpet holds moisture,dirt, grime, germs, it can stain, and any number of other adverse things that I do not want.


Every time we take the Rinker out the first thing I say after I profess my undying love for the boat is...I Love carpet free boatin!!!

Again just my opinion.

 

[CascoBay]

Re: Carpet

Thanks for the input!

My problem is I do not have a hose to clean up with at the end of the day on the mooring.

I have installed a raw water washdown through hull fitting and plumbed and wired it, just have not bought the pump yet. The other side of that is, washing down everything at the end of the day with SALT WATER doesn't seem too attractive, but maybe its a mute point?

 

[shwoop_soobie]

Re: Carpet

having no carpet is definitley the easier way to keep a boat clean... just hose it out after the lake... no trapped dirt or sand, no vacuuming etc...
***i see your not on a lake so this is not an option****

but there is something to be said about the comfort carpet brings... typically when i am boating, i am barefoot (i always bring sandals it just ends up that way) and its nice to go from hot sand/rocks to nice soft carpet.... and it makes the boat feel more homey or something... but my boat is older and used well... so im not so crazy about scrubbing/cleaning.... i just vacuum when i get home and it gets clean enough....

i would say snap in carpet is the best... that way you can have the best of both worlds when you choose...

 

[CascoBay]

Re: Carpet

I would def get snap in carpet, no glue here.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Carpet

You have carpet in your living room, and not, typically, in your kitchen, bathroom, laundry room, deck and around the pool. There's a reason for that.

Unless you're gaffing big fish you will find you don't need to hose down and swab the decks after every use--do you do that to the kitchen floor every night? Small broom and dustpan, sponge mop is all you need on a routine basis. That's better than a salt water wash down, especially harbor water.

I keep my boat moored and don't have a hose on my own pier but have access to a couple of piers nearby that do--look around. Give your neighbor a cooler of beer in exchange for permission to swing by for a quick rinse on your way home. do you buy fuel at a fuel dock? Use their hose.

If you must have some carpet on occasion, get some large bath mats, put them around, take them home or stow them after the trip. You may find you seldom want to use them.

I'm all about spending time using the boat, rather than cleaning or protecting it (after a point). Avoid carpet, permanent uphostelry, and on a small boat, hard-wired electronics. Avoid adding work to your boat day. Enjoy the freedom of being able to get in, untie, drive away that you have with the wet slip--it is the best way to go!

You are the first person I've ever encountered who is mad about having a wet slip.

 

[CascoBay]

Re: Carpet

Okay let me say it again-

I DO have to clean it after every use. It gets hosed out and washed out everytime.

Do I have a problem? Yes, but its my baby and I keep it spotless, and it drives me nuts to have dirt or footprints in it- everytime we use it theres dirt and footprints in it.

When people come out of the cuddy they track up all the dirt that is down there (even though I shampoo and vaccuum it 3-4 times a year) onto the deck.


Do you really think the carpet will actually pose more of a cleaning issue?

 

[ezmobee]

Re: Carpet

I had navy carpet in my last boat. OMG it was horrible. I could clean the whole boat and the first time I stepped in it from the ground...it was trashed again. And the low-end marine carpet I used was like velcro for fuzzies. I went with marine vinyl for my current project. If you do go with carpet, go with a color that will best hide dirt or it will drive you nuts.

 

[This_lil_fishy]

Re: Carpet

Gawd carpet sucks...imagine you got it covered up in your slip (the canvas top all zipped shut) but the carpet is still a bit damp from the days outing. You don't make it out to your boat for a week or so for some unknown reason. Mmmm...wet musty dog smell...yippeee.

The biggest annoyance I had with carpet was when I was fishing. Every time I set the rod down my hooks would bury themselves in the carpet. What a PITA!

Ian

 

[golf101]

Re: Carpet

I've got tan colored carpet in my BR, and I love it for a lot of reasons, not just the comfort: (1) it is less bright than the exposed floor for my kids who never want to wear sunglasses; (2) it doesn't get as hot; (3) my dogs are more comfortable on it and can move around the boat more easily on it. Never had any problem with dirt. Marine carpet is easy to clean and does not permanently stain easily. If you're getting a lot of dirt/sand in the boat, make people wash off in the water before getting in. My biggest cleaning problem is dropped food, which I hate. (Like you, I'm neurotic about my boat being clean).

 

[Fireman431]

Re: Carpet

One thing that was overlooked was the TYPE and COLOR of carpet used.

I have a light tan/gray Berber style carpet in out boat and absolutely love the feel of it under foot. Marine carpet has a rubber backing which adds a layer of comfort.

The light color means that not every speck shows up when people walk over it. I vacuum it after every outing and it only takes 5 minutes (it's also a snap in).

The other reasons mentioned are factors as well (reflection, heat, etc).

The automotive style carpet isn't as forgiving as a Berber style. It tends to wear faster, with maybe the exception of the top end grade, which is uses in Baja boats.

If you're not gutting fish or tracking wet sand in and out of the boat, try the carpet. If you tend to get a lot of dirt in the boat, all the time, I'd shy away.

Why don't you start with a piece for one section of the boat and see how it workes out for a few months? Not much money involved and it'll give you an idea if you want to persue it further.

Take a look here. This is where I got the carpet for mine. www.snapincarpet.com

 

[JoLin]

Re: Carpet

I have a deep-seated aversion to putting down anything that retains moisture. My boat came with a nice snap-in carpet for the cockpit. It stays in my garage.

 

[Home Cookin']

Re: Carpet

I think the issue here is that the original poster has conflicting needs: a boat and a pristine carpeted floor. To answer the question directly, the carpet won't create a cleaning issue; normal boating will.

 

[MTribe08]

Re: Carpet

Removable carpet would probably be really nice for your application. Won't feel the need to clean it ALL the time, but if you wanted to take out and shake the sand or hose it down you could. I did alot of research for my 21' Monterey restore project. I had a dark Maroon colored glue in carpet before, and it was really tough to keep looking nice.

After much research and talking to folks on here I decided to have the removable carpet made up. I'm using a company called www.Corinthianmarine.com. They were the most helpful of the group I called and had many choices of carpet to choose from. As a matter of fact they make their carpet in house and sell it to most of the companys out there selling marine carpet. They have an Aquamat backing and about 5 different styles of Berber that would probably look sweet in your boat. I actually went with a Jr. Berber, a little less expensive but still is very nice..28oz I believe. Its a light tan/grey mix. Nick is the guy I was working with. If you look at my rebuild thread(last page) at the bottom of this post you can see some pictures of how I went about making the templates for the cockpit. They'll send you out a template package, and you cut out the shape(s) you want and send it back...They have like 4 different styles of binding and colors to choose from...Pretty slick operation.

In fact..here are some pics of my carpet in production!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=18643&id=100000055548358&ref=mf

Good luck.

 

[CascoBay]

Re: Carpet

Think I am going to order some berber and sew the binding on, and install the snaps myself.

I just re-did my bimini curtain windows and they came out awesome.

 

[badkins50]

Re: Carpet

My boat is older and I just had to replace the deck and after thinking about it for a while I didn't want to have to replace the deck again because of the carpet holding moisture in so I put three coats of a light color Durabak non-slip coating on top of 2 coats of resin. So far with the two kids in and out of the water and fishing, we love it. I do however trailer mine so I can just hose it out after a day out on the lake. If I was to do it different I think I would look into vinyl. Good luck what ever you choose.