Replacing the Carpet

[Pete62]

Thinking of doing the job myself, the floor should be straight forward but the front casting deck has 3 separate holds with lids so this could be a bit more tricky.
Are there any tips u can share, easy method of removing the old carpet, type of glue etc.

Thanks in advance.

Pete.

[Noelm]

remove old carpet is a pain if good glue has been used, as far as glueing the new stuff, I have only ever used contact adhesive and coat the floor only, not the carpet as well.

[Mike Delisser]

I've used contact adhesive on 2 boats and it was fine, not hard at all.
Seal the wood all round with a couple of coats of an oil based sealer first.
I also recon leaving a couple of inches of carpet to overlap every edge then glue around and underneath looks a lot neater and if you spray the glue you'll only use a 1/4 as much.

One last tip, if you keep putting off buying new carpet for your house but carpet the decks in your new boat as soon as you get it home, expect some flack from the wife.
Cheers
Mike

[BM]

Peter,

A heatgun will help to make the old contact (assuming they used contact) become sticky again so you can get the carpet off more easily.

In regards to sealing the timber I wouldn't but its up to you. Boats used to be built with the timber untreated underneath in order to allow moisture out in the even of it getting in. Sealed timber cannot release water and will rot faster.

I have a Bertram 20 I am restoring presently for a customer and it is over 35 yrs old and the original floor is still perfect. It is not fibreglassed on either side and it has not been coated in anything. It used to have the fake teak stick on coating on it only. Attached is a pic of the boats floor after a bit of sanding of the original weathered surface.

Use contact adhesive to lay the new carpet and the point about going over the edge is good. May be hard where your hatches are but that depends on how the hatches work.

Contact in Bunnings is as dear as sin (about $60 for 4 litres) or if you know of a trim supply place in your area you'll get a 20ltr drum for about $90.

cheers