The Right Flooring For Your Boat

Boats, like any other vehicle, come a in a wide variety of sizes and shapes, and are sometimes intended for different purposes and are built accordingly. And like with a car or private jet, boats need maintenance and updates to their materials so they can look and work their best. Boat flooring options are a quick avenue to a clean, fresh, and well functioning surface to the boat, and if done well, it can be a good investment. Boat carpet is something for every boat owner to consider, and marine carpet can make any boat look like floating luxury.

On Boats

Bass boats, for example, generally are within 14 to 23 feet in length, and they are most often used for fresh water fishing and often have a V shape. In fact, speaking more broadly about boats, according to the National Marine Manufacturers Association, privately owned boats are rarely longer than 26 feet, making them a more manageable size, whether bass boats or rectangular pontoon boats. And today, nearly a third of boat owners are women, showing increasing diversity in boat ownership circles. Will a boat be used for luxury, like a party on a pontoon boat? Will the boat be used for waksurfing and wakeboarding? Will it be used for fishing at a lake? What the boat does may determine the boat flooring options that work best for it, and any boat owner should know exactly what their vehicle needs.

Choose the Right Carpet for Boats

Boats are open air vehicles; their surfaces are exposed to sunlight and UV rays, salty or humid air, heat, and more as they are used, and this can wear down their components, such as the carpeting. According to Better Boat, boat flooring options often start with choosing the material. Vinyl is tough, but it heats up quickly under the sun and is a hard surface that is uncomfortable to kneel on, so carpet is often the best choice, as it feels soft and does not soak up as much heat from sunlight. Carpet also helps prevent slips and it can act as a minor sound muffler, so these facts should weigh into choosing boat flooring options.

Custom boat carpeting often begins with color. Darker colors absorb more heat from sunlight, while very light colors easily show dirt and other grime, so something in the middle may be best, and the exact color will be based on personal preference. The material matters, too; regular carpeting is too thin and will get damaged from water or salty ocean air, so a customer should look for specialized boat carpeting that can endure these conditions, from water to UV exposure. General outdoor carpeting may work almost as well if it is more convenient to buy.

Tools such as a scraping tool, a tape measure, razor blades or utility knives, adhesive, paper towels, and more are needed to install custom boat carpeting. The old carpet must be entirely removed, along with any leftover adhesive on the boat’s floor, along with loose screws, staples, nails, or anything else that could get in the way. Scraping tools and cleaning solutions can get this job done. Similarly, any damage to the boat such as cracks or holes should be fixed right away, or they may get worse over time, and fixing them later will mean removing the new carpeting and putting it back again.

The boat should be carefully measured along its floor for the exact dimensions, and once all of this data is gathered, the boat owner can cut the flooring into appropriately shaped and sized pieces. Then, the carpeting is laid out to make sure that it fits correctly, and once everything is ready, the owner can apply adhesive to the underside and use a trowel to spread it evenly, then lay it down. A roller can be used to make sure that the carpet is lying totally flat before the adhesive sets completely. Once the adhesive has dried, the owner may use cutting tools to get rid of excess material to create smooth boundaries on the carpet.