Carpet or Sprayon?

[Paul]

I bought a different boat last fall from somone haveing some financial woes, needless to say I got a pro-v for 4000. One problem is that He never had it covered and it has a bad peice of wood under the drivers seat and carpet is nasty. I will be pulling all the rug, and replacing bad plywood but I have been looking at some of the newer boats that have the spray on bedliner type substance.

Do you guys think this is better than carpet?

Boat will be used for fishing 85% and pleasure 15% of the time.

[thedeadsea]

I am going to most likely be getting new flooring in my boat this spring as well.

Being that your are planning on fishing a lot, I would say stay away from the carpet and head towards vinyl or sprayed in. Much easier to get fish slime/blood and worm dirt out of.

Steve

[gregg52]

I have a new boat that has snap in carpet

I took it and never put it back in

once a month or so hot bucket of water and brush in 15 mins

my floor looks like new and my floor is white..of course mine is fiberglass

one reason that floor is bad is it takes for ever for wet carpet

to dry you hafta park it out in the sun to get it to dry let alone get that wood to dry out

go with with the bed liner or maybe have it sprayed with fiberglass..that just an idea i dont if they do that or what it

would cost

[JimBuck]

I'm in a similar situation Paul. I felt a soft spot in my floor last fall and the carpet has been pretty beat down (she's an 87-88'). I fish river's often and it can be a nightmare to keep that carpet clean. The spray liner looks like a sweet deal if your sick of carpet cleaning etc. I'd love to have the option of dumping a bucket of water and giving the floor a scrub down instead of vacuuming etc.

I'm not sure if I will do it with this boat. I am sure however that any future boat purchases will not have carpet!

[gregg52]

ya you really dont know how flithy that carpet is and

vacuuumin isnt going to get clean

its better than not doing of course

but in the long run your floor will last alot longer if it aint gettin wet

[gregg52]

i just thought of this

another thing about no carpet no hooks get stuck in the floor

i'm barefoot in my boat most the time in the summer

[Paul]

Thanks for the input guys, I think it will be spray on or roll on. At our Detroit lakes forum get together last week, Deadhead(one of our local moderators) showed me the back of his pickup in which he had applied a roll-on product similar to Line-x, and it looks like a sweet way to go for a boat if I can find a color other than black.

[PerchJerker]

I have a boat with removable carpet and I always have the carpet in the boat. I tried it a few times without the carpet and HATED it. I mean HATED it. Now the carpet stays in my boat all the time.

[no bait nate]

a friend of mine did the roll on to his truck, both in the box and down the running boards, and it's holding up very well. you can get it in a few different colors from Cabelas i believe it's called TUFF COAT

[gregg52]

PerchJerker

I 'm curious why you like the carpet ?

what kinda of boat do you have ??

[bassNspear]

im all about the carpet as well. i think it makes the boat look much better, and is a comfort level for myself.

[gregg52]

stinky wet carpet rotting your floor is a comfort level

guess i dont get that... but to each their own!

mines looks like brand new every 4-6 weeks when i throw

a bucket of hot water on the floor scrub it down..takes all of 15 mins

if you saw how dirty my floor gets in that time

you wouldnt want carpet cuz there ne way you gettin that carpet clean

i still have some in the walk threw and up in the front of the boat on top of the storage doors i wish i could take it outa there to

its like a new boat every 4-6 weeks nice and fresh and clean

plus dont have to worry bout that floor rotting

[SkunkedAgain]

I enjoy the carpet for the hot days when my wife and I take the boat out to go swimming, or if I want to fish barefoot. However, it does suck to worry about mud on the bottom of my boots/shoes. I don't like cleaning carpet. 80% of the time I'd rather just have the vinyl floor instead of carpet.

[gregg52]

ya i go barfoot most of the time in the boat

hooks can hide in carpet or otherthings you can step on that hurt

if you get caught in the rain take your boat home put it in the

garage just think the mold acummalating between that wood

and carpet...you feel the carpet and it feels dry but i'll

gaurntee you that the floor aint

i had carpet and wood floor in my old boat I hd to replace the

floor and you can see that the moisture is what does the most

damage mold on the plywood is all black

[311Hemi]

I can't wait until I need to replace the carpet in my Crestliner Sportfish......vinyl here I come!

Hopefully I don't buy another carpeted boat ever again. Being able to sweep or possibly convert the Sportfish to a washdown would be great. Buddy has a fiberglass boat with wash down hose and it's so easy to clean!!!

[mikejodi]

carpet is not as hot on your feet as vinyl is. Slippery to walk on when it is colder, and for things sliding all over the boat when you go to get up on plane(fall fishing). Think of the interior of your car. Much nicer to have carpet. Carpet is worth it in my opinion.....

[gregg52]

I guess it depends on what kind of boat you have i donr have

nothing sliding around on the floor cuz most everything has a place

I cant speak for this vinyl stuff cuz mine is fiberglass

and its white so its not hot and its like textured so its not slippery in the least

i thought at first i wouldnt like it with out the carpet

but after not having it it just way cleaner and nicer

[MarkAlm]

The first time I seen the spray on type in aboat I was sold on it. I have a 1997 1775 pro v and the carpet looks old and I would consider changing to a vinyl type of inside. The questions I have would be.

How would it apply around storage doors or battery boxes?

Would the corners chip or peel away with wear and tear?

Are you going to start with new sheets of marine grade plywood?

[gregg52]

i'm wondering every one is talking vinyl here

maybe check with a fiberglass guy and see what it cost if they can spray it on you wood floor (peel the carpet up)

i dont if they can or not might be a little spendier but

then your done

theres guy up here that does fiberglass work you might want to check with him

if its sprayed on they can get in the corners and so on

i dont know how that other stuff is applied

[PerchJerker]

I've been in boats with all the flooring being talked about here ---- vinyl, the bedliner finish, and fiberglass boats with a molded-in finish. My own boat is a glass boat with a molded-in finish and removable carpet.

I'll take carpet any day over the others. I like the look, the feel, the softness, and the quietness of carpet. If it gets wet I dry it out. If it gets dirty I vacumn it.

With the others, I don't like surface --- I don't like the way it looks, I don't find it as comfortable as carpeting, some of them are slippery, and with all of them the wetter they are the more slippery they will all be. I would think the rolled-on liners are the most susceptible to chipping and flaking (much like paint if you decide to paint the surface instead), a sprayed on finish is probably going to be a lot more durable than rolled.

This is just my opinion and personal preference --- if you prefer the vinyl or textured surfaces then that's what you should go with in your boat.

[gregg52]

yup

your right PerchJerker

Different strokes for different folks !!

[Walleye Guy]

I have a Lund Explorer 1800 with textured vinyl flooring and snap-in carpet. The carpet is never in the boat. My vinyl is easy to clean, doesn't get slippery and isnt't hot. I'll put the carpet back in the boat when I go to sell it.

[Loon]

I bought that bedliner material from the store in Rogers and I give it a 9 out of 10.

I fish the Mississippi 90% of the time and I have two dogs so we're always bringing mud and sand in with us. It's nice to be able to hose it down...although I'm not convinced the sand is actually leaving the boat rather just settling in between the ribs in the bilge.

I had to tint the olive color with house paint to match my olive drab jon boat. About 12oz of a dark brown took the color from sea foam green to olive drab with the help of a speed mixer. Speed mixer is a must because the ground up rubber chunks are settled into a solid chunk upon purchase and needs to be broken up. No wooden stick can do the job.

I added a 52"x78" plywood floor between the casting decks in my jon boat and primed the plywood first. Then applied one coat on the bottom of the floor and three coats on the top. I used the recommended roller that was definitely worth the $8.

Anyway, the material went much farther than I ever imagined because I still have a 1/2 gallon after that job. I think what I'll do is take the floor up each spring to clean the bilge and hit it up with another coat each year.

In the spring I'll buy another gallon and make another custom color batch and do the painted aluminum casting decks because I hate the sound of dog nails and sand scratching against those surfaces. Not to mention my trolling motor pedal sliding under foot. Applying this product will require a different primer for metal surfaces.

The only reason I don't give it a 10 is because my beat up river anchor has left rust spots on the floor that won't brush all the way out. I've had a couple blood spots not come all the way out, too. Maybe because I cut it with house paint?

I thought long and hard about vinyl but the way they sell it (6ft running lengths) was going to be too costly with tons of waste. Price took me this direction and I'm happy with the results. I'm a little nervous about applying it directly to the boat this spring, but I was pretty nervous the first time I drilled a hole in my boat, too. Now there's 100.

So, yeah...you could say I vote for spray on.