Sea Deck in a196

[slow]

Anyone here replace their carpet with sea deck in a 196. If so how do you like it.

[Mzimmer75]

I haven't done it but I've read some threads on this subject. Seems the biggest drawback is that the boats with OEM carpet don't have a smooth gelcoat under the carpet. It's a rough uncolored fiberglass as the inside of the hull was never intended to be visible. So unless you completely cover the inside with Sea Deck, the gaps between the pads will look pretty poor. Not an insurmountable problem, but a lot of work to get the hull looking good before laying down the Sea Deck.

[keithh2oskier]

I think this was done on a bubble back on the planet nautique and did a whole build including what it took for sea deck. It's not easy as @Mzimmer75 noted.

[TomH]

I've seen lots of old DD's go this route. You'll need to sand off any glue residue from the floor after carpet removal, and then paint the floor with truck bed liner or similar, as the Seadek needs a smooth, clean surface to stick to. Removable floor panels usually end up being the trickiest, as you'll often need to shim them and add some material for width since the carpet usually wraps the panel. Without mods, the panel(s) will sit low and loose after carpet removal.

[slow]

Thanks for the feed back. Sounds like it’s more trouble than it’s worth.

[jpwhit]

I've had boats with carpet, Sea Deck, and deckadence. Sea Deck would be my last choice....

 

If I were ordering a new boat, and had the option. I would order it with snap in carpets for resale reasons. Nothing looks and feels nicer IMO that nice new carpet. But I'd store the carpet and buy and install Deckadence myself for daily use. I've bought cut and installed Deckadence in two boats now and it's really a piece of cake.

[bbruzzese]

I'd be interested on replacing my carpet with Deckadence. Did you just purchase bulk from their website? Cut to fit with utility knife?

[jpwhit]

Yes, that's exactly what I did. I used the existing carpets as a pattern. On some of the smaller pieces I added SS snaps so they wouldn't move around. Larger pieces will tend to stay put on their own. Not that it's much work to put snaps on everything.

[pinelakerider]

 

[pinelakerider]

Floor prep is very extensive but worth all the work

[pinelakerider]

97 bubble back

 

 

 

[slow]

Looks great

[Jody_Seal]

Trailer queen?? Lol!!

The amount of trick skier traffic i have in my boat the sea deck route is not financially feasible especially since I could do three carpet jobs for the price if the seadeck.

[aupatking]

@pinelakerider was it done by a professional installer or did you do it? It looks PERFECT

[mmosley899]

@pinelakerider @aupatking It would have to be done/cut by a professional to have that fit and logos cut in the EVA material. Who has the patterns? Who has a machine that can handle that job? Looks great. We have a '98 that will need new flooring soon.

[UWSkier]

I redid the floor of my Malibu this past spring and looked into the SeaDeck route. As with any of the older boats, floor prep was going to be a nightmare. Instead, I glassed and leveled the low spots in my floor, painted it with gray grippy paint, then laid down the faux deckadence from American Floormats. It turned out really well. Someone a bit more crafty than I am would have done an even better job. It does get hot, but my boat is almost never out in the high noon sun. We mostly ski mornings.

[pinelakerider]

It took two of us to install it, after two seasons it has held up well.

 

 

[ISP6ball]

That's impressive.

[Nando]

@pinelakerider- your install looks great. Where did you source the SeaDek? Direct from them?