Re: Converting Carpet to Paint or Glass
The deck is probably fiberglass over wood right now, under the carpet. If it's coming up, you likely have swelling plywood from rot there. Tear up the carpet, and cut out the raised area carefully. Hopefully the damage is limited to the deck. Very possible you have a stringer underneath affected also. If you get lucky, you can replace and glass in a new section of plywood, laminating both sides with glass. In doing my deck, after I glassed it all in, I realized it would take a LOT of sanding to get it perfect enough for a deck surface. I then covered a section in bedliner as a test. (I ended up using bedliner in my splashwell and bilge....looks good and not worried about scratches in the splashwell!) I didn't like the look of it on the deck though. It would be excellent in a small 14 foot aluminum fishing boat, but not a typical runabout for familiy fun. If you're on a budget, the carpet and glue are available at most hom eimprovement stores such as Lowes and Depot. (Their marine carpet ran me around $100 for an 18 foot open bow. Glue was $29 for a gallon. Requires 5 days drying before getting wet.) I keep my boat garaged, and the deck won't see much, if any, water. If you leave yours outside, you're probably better off to get a better quality carpet and glue from a marine supply source, such as iBoats store.
Do keep in mind that tearing into the deck for that small raised up area, is like doing the same to your kitchen or bathroom floor.....usually what you see is just the tip of the iceberg, and it turns into a major job. So with an open mind, cut a small inspection hole to see what you have. Could be saturated foam resting against the stringers and decking underneath....rotting it all out. Good luck!
