Vinyl Flooring (For Boat)

One of the thoughts I’ve had this winter, since my wife works on saturdays which puts me on babysitting duty (less than a year old) meaning I’m not going to get much fishing time in. I’ve been swinging the idea around of re-doing the carpet of my boat along with some other upgrades I have planned (auto bilge, recipricating pump for the livewell, possibly re-working the home-made back deck to make ‘jump’ seats for more seats to use while underway (only 2 currently)). My first thought was to re-do the rest with matching carpet to the couple spots I’ve already done, but that was really cheap stuff. I like the idea of vinyl over carpet, more expensive, but easier to clean and no nap for hooks to snag on. My question does vinyl get really slick when wet? Or anyone have other alternates? The boat is a 21 year old Tracker 16′ side console, so I’m not looking to break the bank, but I want it to be nice.

May not get to fish much until Wyatt’s big enough the wife will let me take him out with me, but I can have him with me in the garage tweaking it out in the mean time.

I would think vinyl, would be good if you are in and out of the boat hunting or do the beach alot. I myself like carpet because Iam alittle fussy with my boat. I vacuum my boat alot just to keep it looking good. I guess it boils down to just what you would like in it. I also think washing out the boat with a ton of water is not good for the flooring wood. It all has to do a lot of drying. Good luck!!

In my head I’m seeing the vinyl as easier clean up, less stains, and no nap for hooks to get stuck (though if I spent more on carpet it would help that one too). Knowing how slick TPO (and PVC to a lesser extent) roofing material gets when wet I’m a little concerned about the deck getting slick, not a good thing if I start taking a young child out with me.

Why not do both? Vinyl with snap in carpet? We have it on our Lund and it works great. However I will say I like carpet way better than the vinyl. I personally think the vinyl is slippery when wet. I actually like taking the carpet out to wash it down and hang it to dry.

If you do do vinyl I wouldn’t lay it over the carpet. Put it right on the wood.

Good luck

Did you see JAKOB’s boat rebuild in the alumacraft forum? He might have some ideas for you on this.

War Eagle boats offer vinyl flooring options. The ones that I’ve seen looked more like a thick rubber matting with a flat finish. They didn’t look like they would be slippery when wet. Actually they were beautiful.

http://www.wareagleboats.com/accessories/paint-vinyl-options.asp

Their vinyl has some tooth to it.

[image]http://www.wareagleboats.com/accessories/popup.asp?paint=olive_drab_vinyl_flooring_lg.jpg[/image]

“If you do do vinyl I wouldn’t lay it over the carpet. Put it right on the wood”
– If the rest of the decking comes up like the parts I’ve already had to do its going to be getting all new decking anyway. When I had to pull the front casting deck up to make a new battery box to hold 2 batteries for the Terrova I ended up having to drill out the old screws to get the deck off and mangled it (the wood) up pretty well in the process.

Looked at Jakobs project, looks pretty nice. I may have to do something similar with some track lighting, haven’t as of yet had my boat out in the pre-dawn/post-dusk timeframe, but would be nice when I’m putzing around in the boat with in the shed (no power to shed). I’m hoping to get some better weather (and get rid of this dang cold I’ve got) so I can get it out and start doing some thinking and sketching up ideas. After doing a little looking I think my budget will dictate that I stay with carpet, looks like there are some descent grade carpets out there that are still way less than vinyl.

I like both, my lund has the snap in carpet over the vinyl. I like the vinyl when we are river fishing and its muddy or messy since it is easy to clean. Carpet is more comfortable on your feet if you are standing and fishing all day but dont like how hooks get stuck it it. Also when its hot in the summer i like to fish barefoot the vinyl gets hot so I always have my carpet in. I do think that vinyl gets slippery and icy in wet and cold conditions as well.