so this stick out has been a long time in the design stage. I love the Gator Step/Sea Deck style flooring that is coming in most of the new boats. Most of you know I am all about spend less money and getting the like results as many of the options on new much more expensive boats. That is what I planned here. I started out looking at Agenda Surf ‘s two tone sheet grip and when I placed my ordering they were out of malcolm stock. I found another source from much farther away and decided to take a hazard. I was therefore impress when it came in. It was at least 2mm dense than the Agenda samples even though both were listed at 6mm. sol I ordered enough to cover the inside floor, the swim step, pads around topside of the boat and adequate to do under my seats and lockers from the helm back. All that for just over $ 500 ! The only area I ‘m not doing is under the bow seats. There is n’t adequate carpet to worry about up there and I did n’t want to have to move my batteries and stereo system. The only matter I store up there are fenders and CGA animation vests to keep the PoPo glad. Again I could n’t get over how nice this stuff is for the price .
I started this undertaking by removing all of the carpet from the inside of the bathtub. I have a 2011 MB Sport B52, that means my carpet was still the glue in type so it left a long ton of glue after I removed the carpet .
For those that have pulled up boat carpet you constantly find surprises that you have to deal with. My two disturb areas were around the in floor internal-combustion engine chest of drawers and the transition/drop off under the helm. These required some extra work to make a surface that the flooring could stick to properly .
I spent a few hours scraping the glue out and using mineral spirits to help remove the glue in the corners. I was pleasantly surprised it did n’t take more time and campaign to remove the glue .
following on the agenda was to use fiberglass filler and some resin on clear of the trouble areas and then start my template march .
The harsh areas around the in-floor methamphetamine thorax and under the helm caused me the most grief. It was a lot of sour sandpaper and adding fiberglass makeweight to level these areas out. Carpet hides alot of nefariousness, but the lines in the flooring show every height change. This cultivate would have had to happen with a Gator Step floor besides. These years of boats they were n’t worried about people looking under carpet, so there is some cosmetic cultivate that need to happen to make them level and able to be stuck to .
I was able to use the old carpet as a boisterous template for my wood templates. Because it stretched and was frayed around the edges I had a lot of work ahead of me to get the templates correct. I will say that making the templates arsenic perfect as potential was deserving every minute in the end .
First off I ‘m using a Makita variable star speed trim router on this project. I found the smoothest passes came with the travel rapidly just above 3. I ended up going with a 1/4 ” adam 1/2 ” rounding cove act. I played with a couple of bit pieces to get the depth and tried both style pieces together to make sure that my plan was healthy .
I lined up a match of sacrificial pieces of both patterns and played with different settings. The substantial I have has pretty big grooved lines. Mine wasn’t as wide, but I was reasonably happy how these came out .
I decided to go for it with the grooves that I needed to add to the middle of my main floor between the lines and the diamonds. This is one of the hardest cuts for this project. The pieces butt up together indeed thy need to be a strait as possible. The first gear movie shows before. none of these pieces were stuck down so there are some belittled gaps that tucked together when installed .
sol after countless trips in and out of the gravy boat I finished my masonite templates of the interior of the cabin. My best advice here is make your cuts broad and sand down to the measurements and take material lento and then test. Rinse and repeat. You ca n’t add fabric back once you cut it off. solitaire is the key. even though this is a boring action, once you have the wood templates, you can make a modern patch of flooring identical quickly if any of it gets damaged .
Using the template as a guide I cut out the cabin deck and tested the suit .
I used a router around the outdoor edges of the mats to give a eat up look. I used 1/8 ” wood masonite hardwood to make a template of each objet d’art. Cheap hardwood sheets are a lot cheaper and easier to replace than the flooring corporeal. I then used the template on top of the floor as a lead to cut the sheets with a razor knife. then I put the floor on crown of the template and used the forest as a steer for my router around the outsides .
Another dear consumption for lead ballast cup of tea is holding the flooring down while routing around the edges .
here is a conclusion up look of two pieces together with the routered edge around the outdoor and where they are joined together .
I decided in my OCD beware that I wanted to make sure you do n’t see a splinter of white under my seams and paint my shock satin black in those areas. Unfortunately it took forever to dry since it was alone 65 degrees .
With the flooring all cut out and routered and the floor seam areas painted it was pretty much go time. The nibble with the lines next to it was the first piece I made for my submarine enclosure. I belated changed that out to diamonds which matched better .
I still had some work to do on the lid for the internal-combustion engine chest of drawers to be the same level as the floor, but that was pretty easily. Funny how the tape marks show up in the pics, but you can barely see them in person. They will go away promptly.
finally got the methamphetamine chest of drawers done. I could pistol whip the MB employee who put that in ! I ‘m careworn out …
So like I said earlier the boastful advantage of making the Masonite templates is it would be easy to make new sections subsequently. I learned this nowadays. One nibble that I made, that I was iffy about once install, was the bomber embrace.
I thought a little contrast would be good and I was low on diamonds therefore I covered it in lines. After I looked at the complete install I was lukewarm on that piece. A mate MB owner PMd me and asked why I did n’t do that in diamonds. The fact that person else noticed was enough to push me over the argue. I pieced together enough diamonds to recover it. Since I already had the template it merely took about 30 minutes .
The following step was the swim footfall sphere. I got the swimming step pad off in one piece with some help from a neighbor who had a windshield removal tool. Having the pad in one nibble saved a long ton of time when making the wood template. It did however leave all of the glue behind. The deck glue was manner hard to remove than the carpet glue. Using paint slender and a scraper I last got it all off .
future up was the smaller pieces .
Phase one of this project is basically complete. Phase two will be under the seats and lockers but that will be in the descend of 2017 as it is time to go to the lake. This was a prison term consuming stick out, but very much worth every hour spent. A person could well simplify this install no silent have a decent floor. My goal was to have deoxyadenosine monophosphate finished out department of the interior as I could get without paying the big boys a bobby pin of cash. The biggest challenges would have inactive been there with the high dollar floors. My ice chest area was uneven and I had a large gap under the helm. Boats with glue down carpet are always going to have mysteries when you pull the carpet .
Ok so a couple reasons I did n’t want to post the supplier at the begin of the post is I did n’t want anybody getting biased for or against the product. I besides wanted to see how it installed and form an opinion during the install. I can say that at this point I am very impress with the choice of the product. It is a broad 1/4 ” thick all the direction around. It is ace comfortable on the feet and the 3m adhesive material back is no joke. I love the diamonds but I do believe the lines will hold up a draw longer. The merely cause being that with all the points on the diamonds there are a set more chances to pull them up or tear them. Same timbre good more little points to fail. That being said I am very felicitous with the install. It does n’t have to be equally hard as I made it, but I wanted the routered edges and two textures. That ‘s on me. I have a friend who has snap in carpet who used it as a template and had it done in a weekend. My biggest control up was around the ice breast and under the helm. That is my gravy boat and I would have had to deal with those areas if I had gone with the big guys excessively .
That being said, Gator Step and Seadek make amazing product if you want a peel and stick option albeit with a much higher price tag.
I can not say how my shock will hold up over time, but I would be surprised if it does n’t do well. The supplier is hypertext transfer protocol : //www.marinedeckfactory.com.
They are in China. They were great to work with. Answered every doubt I had and the product was at my doorway 2 weeks after I ordered it via UPS. My acquaintance besides got his intersection in 2 weeks. They have many color options. Hope this helps some of you guys. I ‘m only half means finished. I inactive have under my seats and lockers next fall .
I used 2 rolls of lines and 3 rolls of diamonds for phase 1. The rolls for diamonds are smaller and there is more waste during initiation with the diamonds. To match another objet d’art you could be off 3 ” one direction or five inches the other steering. That adds up promptly with multiple pieces. The lines should hold up longer with fewer points to get damaged. With 5 rolls the materials cost for phase 1 is $ 350 for deck and another $ 75 in template supplies .
My disavowal is this, I have been installing stereo in boats and upgrade boats for years. I have a draw of tools at my disposal along with a lot of gravy boat interior know. The rolls do n’t put themselves in. however with some solitaire and a good plan going in, it is n’t that difficult to do. I decidedly think in increased the prize of my boat at least 3-5 times what the visualize price. I hope this helps some of you guys take the hazard and go for it !