2002 bow floor board removal

[t.franscioni]

Anyone know how to remove the carpeted bow floor board in the pic attached?

Tried prying it up but it seemed attached pretty solid so figure I try here for some info.

[Quinner]

Sawzall, lol. That is likely integral to the top deck, don't believe it is removable.. carpet is glued down if that is what you are trying to remove, brute force will tear that up.

[wakejunky]

It's screwed down and the screw heads are hard to find because they're buried in the carpet pile. Maybe a magnet but, it's hard to find stainless steel screws

[charlesml3]

Yep. There are (if I remember correctly) 8 screws holding it down. I assume you're replacing the carpet. I don't believe there's a way to get this floor board out without wrecking the carpet.

Use a sharp blade and slit the carpet the long way and peel it off the board. You'll then see the screws and can easily remove them.

Putting it back is a bit tricky. You want the carpet to cover the screw heads. After you clean all the old glue off the board, cut and trim a piece of carpet to fit. Make sure you match the nap direction for the rest of the carpet or it'll look funny.

When you spread the glue on the board, leave about 3/8" around each screw hole without any glue and glue the carpet down. Staple it around the edges.

Use a small nail or something to poke a hole up through each screw hole. With a blade, make an incision at this point about 1/2" long and start each screw into the board a bit.

When you're screwing the board back down into the bow, hold that slit open with a pair of needle-nose pliers until the screw head sets. When you let go with the pliers, the carpet should cover the screw head neatly.

-Charles

[t.franscioni]

Thanks for the advise. I will begin looking for the screw heads and post my results.