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Hi all,
I thought I'd start a DIY thread about a winter project I am working on. We purchased a 2007 SV-211TE last summer. While the previous owner had recently replaced the snap-in carpeting, and it is in pretty good shape, I’ve never been a fan of carpet in boats. It takes forever to dry and gets very dirty. I didn’t really want to shell out big bucks since I already had nice enough snap-in carpet, but I wanted something different. Prior to buying our boat, we had considerered a local Mastercraft. The owner had done a DIY flooring project that looked great, so I contacted him and got the scoop. I started the project recently and thought I’d share it with the PN crew.
What it amounts to is a DIY version of DECKadence marine flooring. I used “miner’s moss”, which is an extruded vinyl mesh arranged in a random loop (spaghetti) pattern. It’s very similar to DECKadence. It’s a fairly easy DIY project, and I am quite happy with how it is turning out, so far. My grand total for materials came in just under $270—the biggest cost is the material, so depending upon how much square footage you need, yours could be more or less. Step-by-step instructions follow. Let me know if you have any questions.
Lay out your carpet and figure out how much material you need. Miner’s Moss is available all over the web, but finding bigger pieces is not as easy. I wanted to reduce/eliminate seams. I ended up ordering from American Floor Mats. They were a bit more expensive that other sources but offered the biggest pieces I could find (sign up for their mailing list and get 10% off). I could not find a source for anything wider than 4’, meaning I’d have one small seam, but it’s located behind my driver’s seat, and came out pretty good, so I can live with it. They have a good selection of colors, too, but I stuck with grey since that is the color of my carpet. I ended up with a 3' x 5' piece and a 4' x 7' piece.
Trace your carpet pieces on the back of miner’s moss with a Sharpie. The back is smoother, and you won’t have to worry about Sharpie marks on the good side. Make sure that both the miner’s moss and carpet are upside down so you don’t end up with a mirror image of what you need.
Cut out your pieces. I don’t know what the best solution is, but I did the majority with a sharp sewing scissors. Interior corners were easier with a “snap off” utility knife.
As I mentioned, I had to put a seam in my large piece. To give the joining edges a little more surface area, I cut the edges of the two pieces at a 45 ° angle using a piece of wood as a guide for the knife (see pics). I practiced on several scraps prior to making my real seam to make sure I had it figured out. I used HH-66 vinyl cement to secure the seam (I think regular PVC cement would work, but I have used HH-66 in the past and knew it would be secure). I gently clamped the seam (I didn’t want to clamp too hard and end up gluing the material in a compressed state) and let the cement cure. Also note that I didn’t do the “final cut” of that area of the piece until the seam was glued and cured.
Once I had all the pieces cut, I “chamfered” the top edges with a scissors just to take the abrupt edge off.
That's where I am at right now. I have the snaps ready to install, but it is currently -10 F here, and my boat is tucked away for the winter. I want to wait till I have the boat before I install snaps just to make sure the fit is good--there is a small amount of give in the miner's moss, and I don't want any looseness.
Here are all my pieces, waiting for snaps and warm weather. You can see the seam in the right "finger" of the big piece--it's acutally more noticable in the photo than in real life, and like I said, it's behind my driver's seat, so it doesn't bother me.
I'll update this thread as I wrap up this project.
I thought I'd start a DIY thread about a winter project I am working on. We purchased a 2007 SV-211TE last summer. While the previous owner had recently replaced the snap-in carpeting, and it is in pretty good shape, I’ve never been a fan of carpet in boats. It takes forever to dry and gets very dirty. I didn’t really want to shell out big bucks since I already had nice enough snap-in carpet, but I wanted something different. Prior to buying our boat, we had considerered a local Mastercraft. The owner had done a DIY flooring project that looked great, so I contacted him and got the scoop. I started the project recently and thought I’d share it with the PN crew.
What it amounts to is a DIY version of DECKadence marine flooring. I used “miner’s moss”, which is an extruded vinyl mesh arranged in a random loop (spaghetti) pattern. It’s very similar to DECKadence. It’s a fairly easy DIY project, and I am quite happy with how it is turning out, so far. My grand total for materials came in just under $270—the biggest cost is the material, so depending upon how much square footage you need, yours could be more or less. Step-by-step instructions follow. Let me know if you have any questions.
Lay out your carpet and figure out how much material you need. Miner’s Moss is available all over the web, but finding bigger pieces is not as easy. I wanted to reduce/eliminate seams. I ended up ordering from American Floor Mats. They were a bit more expensive that other sources but offered the biggest pieces I could find (sign up for their mailing list and get 10% off). I could not find a source for anything wider than 4’, meaning I’d have one small seam, but it’s located behind my driver’s seat, and came out pretty good, so I can live with it. They have a good selection of colors, too, but I stuck with grey since that is the color of my carpet. I ended up with a 3' x 5' piece and a 4' x 7' piece.
Trace your carpet pieces on the back of miner’s moss with a Sharpie. The back is smoother, and you won’t have to worry about Sharpie marks on the good side. Make sure that both the miner’s moss and carpet are upside down so you don’t end up with a mirror image of what you need.
Cut out your pieces. I don’t know what the best solution is, but I did the majority with a sharp sewing scissors. Interior corners were easier with a “snap off” utility knife.
As I mentioned, I had to put a seam in my large piece. To give the joining edges a little more surface area, I cut the edges of the two pieces at a 45 ° angle using a piece of wood as a guide for the knife (see pics). I practiced on several scraps prior to making my real seam to make sure I had it figured out. I used HH-66 vinyl cement to secure the seam (I think regular PVC cement would work, but I have used HH-66 in the past and knew it would be secure). I gently clamped the seam (I didn’t want to clamp too hard and end up gluing the material in a compressed state) and let the cement cure. Also note that I didn’t do the “final cut” of that area of the piece until the seam was glued and cured.
Once I had all the pieces cut, I “chamfered” the top edges with a scissors just to take the abrupt edge off.
That's where I am at right now. I have the snaps ready to install, but it is currently -10 F here, and my boat is tucked away for the winter. I want to wait till I have the boat before I install snaps just to make sure the fit is good--there is a small amount of give in the miner's moss, and I don't want any looseness.
Here are all my pieces, waiting for snaps and warm weather. You can see the seam in the right "finger" of the big piece--it's acutally more noticable in the photo than in real life, and like I said, it's behind my driver's seat, so it doesn't bother me.
I'll update this thread as I wrap up this project.
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