I just ordered the foam and carpet for my restoration job. How should I cut the padding to place the carpet on it on the deck?
I'm not worried about the lids, since the carpet will wrap around. But on the deck, do I cut the padding a little short? Or can I run it all the way to the gunnel?
When I did mine I left a small gap around the edges about 1/2"-3/4"
what kind of padding did you use and where does one get it
oldjigger
Champion 201
oldjiggers copperhead jigs
Dick Courser
Clarksville Mi
Originally Posted by BigBassCtchr101
About 2" from the side, you will want the carpet glued well to the deck, to close and you will have issues. I've put carpet in 100 pluss bass boats over the past 7 years. So I kinda know. And that doesn't include the 1000's of sea rays.
2023 SCB 20EF
2023 SCB CC 210LR
Related question ....
Before any new carpet or under padding is installed, is it common put a sealant coating on the pressure treated plywood (such as an oil based Varathane or Thompsons Water Seal)? Or is it normal or recommend to not put anything on the pressure treated plywood to further seal it?
Thanks.
Last edited by AdamW; 03-29-2018 at 09:44 AM.
I think most boats deck are fiberglass
over wood or composite. So I would not
carpet over wood. Seal it some how.
Not paint. Not Water seal.
Fiberglass resin. Any exposed edges.
If you’ve used pressure treated wood to replace anything on the decking instead of a dry plywood encapsulated in fiberglass and resin, then you’ll never have complete adhesion and it’ll only be a matter of time before any glue will delaminate. The oils within the wood will never allow the glue to soak in to adhere. You should always use a dry wood and encapsulate in cloth and resin.
i don’t want to hi-jack OP’s thread but I have questions on this:
I too have have padding and carpet ready to go on the boat as soon as Mother Nature decides to allow spring to come in.... I don’t quite understand the concept of leaving 2” around the deck lids for the purpose of adhesion or clearence for operation: neither make sense in my head, I’m absolutly not saying you are wrong since I have never carpeted a boat before and you have a ton of experience. My plan was to cover the entire lid with padding and then trim the padding at a 45 degree or more to PREVENT an air space between the carpet and deck lid where no adhesion would occur: I figured that if the padding were cut back 2”, then there would have to be either an air gap OR profile on the carpet dropping the 1/4” to adhere to the aluminum? Yes? No?
and I don’t see how installing the padding to the edge and then beveling it could change the geometry of the system in a way to hinder operation of the lids, the bevel is all that is required to allow for the original geometry of operation to be maintained...
i was was also under the impression that the most important place for adhesion is on the vertical edges of the lids; both inside and outside the edge folds (that is with all else being equal, the most important spot for adhesion)
NOTE: I am nervous as hell about this job! Quality carpet and padding is expensive and should be done right- so again, I oppoligize for jacking OP’s question..
I just installed my padding and carpet over the weekend. With that, I will say...if I can do it, anyone can do it. haha This comes from a guy that literally has had no experience in anything like this without the help of google and youtube.
I thought the exact same thing as you about the carpet and padding going to the edges. I went ahead and took the padding all the way on top of the lids. 100% the same size. I used 1/4" XLPE foam 2# (what most people sell for closed cell padding). I first cut it to size to match the size of the lids. Once I used weldwood contact cement, I noticed that I actually had some hanging over the side again. I'm assuming it stretched some or maybe the contact cement broke it down and allowed it to spread out just a little more? I'm not sure about that.
After it dried, I flipped the lids over (face down) and put all my weight on them and trimmed around the edges so they were all flush with the sides when they were compressed. Just carpeted around the lids like normal.
On the deck...I did leave the little 1/2" gap between the padding and the gunnel. I'm not exactly sure why, other than that is what I read to do. I know that once the foam goes down with the contact cement...its not coming back up without ripping the foam to pieces. I think there could be some extra reassurance of the carpet actually being adhered to the deck itself...but I'm not sure its needed.
I can see a slight impression where the foam ends and the carpet comes down to meet the deck. I don't think it looks bad though. If I decide to go with a trim, it would cover all over it up and I wouldn't be able to tell. I added a trolling motor foot well, I made the foam meet the edges of it when it was installed. Then, I took it out to carpet everything. This will make it look like the foam goes all the way to the edge since the well lip will go over the carpeted area.
If I had it to do over again. I think the only thing I would do different is have someone help me with the bigger pieces. I ended up slopping on extra glue and that gave me a little bit of work time to slide it around. But the deck lids were just too big to get everything lined up perfectly. The extra wet glue really helped with that. If you don't do that. Maybe look at some of the birdsong glue some people talk about. It would allow for more work time. Or just do half of the lid at a time. That is what I ended up doing with the deck. Its not needed in all cases.
Couple of tips...
Do the top of the lids first and save the edges of the lids for last.
Cut your corner squares out for your lids before you apply the cement (not after you try making your wrap. You just dont have enough time.
For my holes for the latch handles, I used a cheap soldering iron and cut thru foam and carpet both to make the hole. It ended up coming out perfectly and the edges will never fray since they are singed.
Can we see some pictures of the padding going on the lids? Also of the carpet going on? I’m thinking about doing some carpet on my old 361v.
Over the past two days, we have stripped the carpet and ground them clean. We are not using the recommended adhesives because when I look at the adhesive that was used on the 1999 ZX202; it looks like exactly what I DID decide to use (commercial spray contact adhesive). We cut the Por-Tech padding only slightly larger than the lids, applied the adhesive to both sides and carefully laid them together. Adhesion was immediate and extremely strong: if we placed them together wrong, we would have had to destroy the pad and start over. After they were mated together, we rolled them with a regular laminate roller and trimmer the edges at about a 45 degree. We finished all padding in about (including prep work) in about 8-10 hours. I’m hoping tomorrow to start the carpeting but with rain coming, we will only be able to do the lids but I’m figuring that we can have them all don’t in a day. These are the only pics I could snap for you. Side we were done for the night and it is getting dark. I’ll try to remember to update you when we get the carpet done.
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