Laying new carpet

[rottenray6402]

I am finally done replacing the plywood floor in my Crestliner. I will be laying the carpet this weekend and was wondering if there are any tricks involved? I bought mid grade marine carpet from Cabelas which is pretty pliable and my main fear is getting wrinkles in it. It is going over 3/4 plywood sealed with Kilz primer and I'm using a outdoor carpet adhesive. In the deck there are 3 round inspection covers for the gas tank and then a access hatch about 18" X24" that will also be carpeted plywood. I am in the process of cutting it to rough fit now (the carpet) and wondered if It is better to glue it down and then trim to final fit? Also is it better to cut the access holes now or after it's cemented down? Is it feasible to round the edges on a piece of 1x4 about 2 ft long to squeege the wrinkles out once it is glued like with wall paper? Thanks!!8)

 

[JasonJ]

Re: Laying new carpet

I spread my adhesive and layed the carpet out, made sure it was in place with no wrinkles, then I cut the holes or trimmed or whatever. I have found in the past that it never fails, no matter how careful with fitting and cutting, I would end up with gaps or mistakes. I am not a great carpet layer, so for me trimming after the fact worked much better.

 

[rottenray6402]

Re: Laying new carpet

Thanks Jason for the input. I have had the same luck with house carpet (ending up with gaps) I think I'm going to do a rough cut and leave an inch or so around the edges and then do it like you suggested.
Are you close to Lake Pend Orllie (sp)?

 

[calwldlif]

Re: Laying new carpet

I would be wary of glueing
the carpet down.
This will allow water to settle and not dry
properly.
Will the seats and side boards hold it?

 

[studlymandingo]

Re: Laying new carpet

Definitely cut after the fact. You will be surprised how much stretching goes on as the carpet is layed against the adhesive, plus the chance of not laying it perfectly is pretty high!

 

[rottenray6402]

Re: Laying new carpet

Thank you all for your input. It rained cats and dogs Sat but was nice on Sun so I dried everything out and rough cut the carpet with a couple of inches around the perimeter. Put the adhesive down and laid the carpet. You were right about the stretching of the carpet Studly. I laid it all and worked from the center out with a board I had rounded the edges on with my router. It stretched nice and ended up with no wrinkles. After the adhesive set up I went and did the final trim. It came out pretty good so now I can start putting everything back together! 8)