PVC loop floor (deckadence) mod for my SS (SAN)

[Brichter14]

Why do boat manufacturers put carpet in boats? Anyways, my boat is a 97 and the carpet was terrible. It was flattened, smelly, brown and smelly. I thought about doing seadek or gatorstep but decided I wanted something more kid friendly (something that I can pull up and wash out).

So I started by tearing out the carpet.





Once the carpet was out, I needed to clean off the glue and also fill in some gaps in the gas tank covering.

I used an angle grider with flap disk wheel to grind off the glue. Man it was a mess... still trying to clean up my garage....









After the glue was out. I needed to put down something to cover up the raw fiberglass. I saw a few people have used tinted truck bed liner so I went that route. I bought Herculiner from autozone and went to town.

[Brichter14]

I then used brown paper to create a template for the deckadence flooring..





Here is the mats. They came in 3x5 rolls. They are pvc loop mats, not actually deckadence brand but thats what everybody calls them.



They had to be sewed together with dental floss and glued



Heres pics of it installed with snaps.

[Brichter14]

You can definitely see the seams if you are looking for them, I might buy bigger sheets later but these were 57 bucks a sheet and at 170 bucks for a whole floor you cant beat that for a starter project.

While I had the boat torn apart I did a few other things....

I fixed my speaker rings so they sit flush and dont carve into people backs...





I put new cupholders that are wider so you can put cans/bottles with huggies (coozies) in them.







And I built some black HDPE engine dividers





Ready for summer!

[surroundsound64]

Wow. You're work and write ups are off the charts! Good job!

[DLafont]

Like the ingenuity of using dental floss to sew the sections together. Smart! Looks good!!

[charlesml3]

Wow, you really got the old glue off the hard way. An angle grinder was overkill. The glue they use dissolves easily with Acetone. It takes some elbow grease and a LOT of old towels but it will absolutely get all of the old glue off of the fiberglass.

Source: I replaced the carpet in my previous boat (99 Air Nautique).

[Evening Shade]

What is the black coating that you put down after you removed the old glue? It looks nice. Great work.

[Brichter14]

Its Herculiner truck bed flooring

[Brichter14]

Like the ingenuity of using dental floss to sew the sections together. Smart! Looks good!!

On the deckadence website they recommend using dental floss and PVC glue. I guess I didnt do it exactly right because you can still see the seems but i am ok with it for now. Deckadence sells 6ft wide sheets but they are like 500$ for one big enough for my boat so I went the cheap route for this summer.

[Neverenough]

Nice work!! Saved a good one it looks like. Many years left in her now!

[homer12]

Nice job! Looks good. How does that stuff feel on your feet? Also, haven't heard of people using snaps with it because I thought it was heavy enough to stay in place but I like the snaps


Sent from my iPhone using PLT Nautique

[Brichter14]

I mostly used the snaps to stretch it into place. It is heavy enough to stay in place Ho. It feels super soft and squishy