New Carpet Question

[1bluemcm]

great......I'm ordering Padding today. I have 3M 90 & weld bond contact cement in my shop. The strap buckle idea in the lids is a good idea. last question.....how did you round off the corners of the padding up on the front deck?

I was planning on removing my current carpet in 1 peice & using as a template, cutting a little big & trimming in boat. If when the time comes I donuts feel that this will work good enough I will make paper templates.

If you can use the old carpet that's great. Mine got distorted enough that I did it the hard way.

As for rounding or smoothing the padding, surprisingly enough, it is pretty easy to shape with coarse sand paper, just by hand. I tried cutting at a 45 and did some that way, but the backing is pretty tough and I found that the pad itself would rip pretty easily even with a sharp knife. I had a pair of fairly large shears, Fiskars with a serrated edge, and ended up doing a lot with them. Particular for those round cuts on the pad up front, way easier to do it with shears than a knife and get a nice curve. Then I just rounded the edges down with sand paper. I'd give it a try and see how you like it. I think I used 100 grit for most of it, can't remember exactly. With it all being covered by carpet it doesn't have to be perfect obviously, but a uniform slope across the edge made the end result really nice, and I think gives it a really good bond too.

And what Mark said about the 3M 90 spray and being pretty precise, second that.