I'm not a fan of carpet in a boat due to mildew and if the carpet touches wood it can act as a sponge that can in turn lead to rot. Give some though to a textured or non skid paint.
I just replaced the carpet in my 18' bass boat with a $100 kit. It went pretty well, but I recomend scrapping the glue that they give you and buy a gallon from home depot or lowes. It took I would say 15 man hours. I am happy with the results. I would post some pics, but I can't figure out how to.
I bought carpet for my boat from Home Depot for something like $2 per foot. I think the roll was 8' wide. Along with the glue it came to less that $50. I rough cut it in first, then took it out and put the glue down and finished it. It works out easier with two people.
I bought a gallon of contact cement for about $12. It works a lot better than that stuff that the give you in a kit. You put it on each side, let it set for about 20 minutes and stick it. It will bond almost instantly. Removing the old stuff isn't fun. I bought a 3" wide razor blade and it worked OK. Took a little while, but get some friends to help and it isn't bad. I would recomend buying a lot of blades so that you can keep them sharp. I normal razor blade scraper works well in corners and on compartment lids. You could do what wvit did and buy your carpet from Home Depot. I would strongly recomend trying to keep large pieces intact so the you can just trace and cut.
Ayuh,........<br />Rip Out all that you can by hand........<br />Then a 4" angle Grinder, with a Wire Brush will remove All the remaining debris,+ Glue...........<br /><br />No, The Wire Brush will Not damage the Gelcoat..........
I finally got started with this. Will post before and after pictures when I'm done!<br /><br />Using Bondo's technique to remove the old glue and debris seems to be working well. I am just using my cordless drill with a wire brush bit instead of an angle grinder, though. I'm a little paranoid about the gelcoat though... I keep worrying if I'm pressing too hard.
Total labor hours, I'd say 9-10. I stretched it over a 10 day period. The old carpet was completely rotten so I was not able to make a pattern from any of the old pieces. It came apart in shambles as I took it out. It was a lot of measure, cut, glue... I'm happy with the results though. After tearing the old carpet out I got estimates anywhere from $400 to $700 to install my new carpet, so I'm happy with the money I saved!
