boat carpet adhesive

I’m going to buckle and replace my old floor carpeting with….carpet. Was hoping for something like rhino-liner-ish, but think I’ll just keep it as original as possible. So, my question is, I’ll be going with treated decking of course. Also thinking about making it extra hard by lacquering it up or something. If I do put a coating of something on it, what would you recommend?
On top of that, if I do do that, would I need to do anything special to make sure the adhesive does its job? Do I need to put something between the lacquer and adhesive? Thanks for any pointers you’ve got.

My thought would be to replace your plywood with a treated ply then coat it with fiberglass gels. Then carpet it with glue down adhesives as you like.

I’ve done this with two of my older boats and received great results for years beyond resale!

lacquer and water do not mix!

Several clear finishes don’t as well.

Stay with fiberglass over the plywood!!

Thanks for that info, much appreciated. I used the word lacquer because I couldn’t get my mind to think of what I wanted. The adhesive won’t have any problem adhering to the fiberglass covering?
And are you talking about putting any sheets of fabric down, or just the mixture?

I did both, using the webbed reinforcing fabric and gel coat for fiberglass before applying adhesives for carpet is I think is a very positive application. Both should be done for the application and placement of carpet.

I don’t have Pics of my last rebuild,(it’s prior to my digital age, LOL!)

Your going to want to maybe seal plywood with some kind of sealant the carpet glue is some tuff stuff takes a while to dry 3M super 77 adhesive spray is amazing stuff but pricey great fo those tuff to glue spots

I used fabric on the seams and gel coated the entire surface of the floor.

I work for 3M Industrial Adhesives. Most of our products are not available for retail sale but the two that are are Supper 77 and Spray 90.

I would suggest you try Spray 90 as 77 is strictly a light duty adhesive. You may want to ask your carpet supplier to check witht the mfg for plasticizers in your carpet. This is commonly found in vinyl material and it will eat many adhesives once heated.

Without getting too lengthy just make sure you use enough adhesive to make good contact. If you have textured carpet make sure you fill those gaps with adhesive. Also, remove any loose particles from the wood and carpet. With contact adhesives you spray both sides let them dry to the point where they don’t trasfer to your hand and then make the bond and apply pressure. You can’t use too much adhesive but you can use too little in these applications.

Hope this helps!!

To glue down the carpet, I just used their regular carpet adhesive for indoor/outdoor carpets.

The 3M sprays mentioned above are very good spray adhesivies I’ve used them for other things.

I’ve done my bass boat a couple times along with a few lunds with chronic rotting floors.
1. Replace any rotten wood with treated wood
2. Allow treated wood to dry and coat with fiberglass resin
3. 14 to 16 ounce marine carpet is typical for most boats. Like buying any carpet, you get what you pay for. Be careful if you buy 20oz carpet. If you have compartment doors, with carpet returns, you’ll have difficulty in opening/closing the doors. (I found out the hard way) Though, I would install the heaviest carpet that you can put in. I have 20 oz in my boat now, and it has out lasted the 2 prior carpet jobs combined.
4. Here is the adhesive I use Tenn Glue Good stuff andf easy to work with.
5. If this is your first time carpeting a boat, a couple of other tools that you may want to have. 3 to 5″ window scraper (razor blade and a EZ TUK carpet tucker

Nice job Randy. One of my pet peeves…what we pay for these boats and how badly the carpet mats down. Does the carpet you installed mat as bad as the original?

Thanks guys. I talked to the local marine shop, and he gave me some info that helped as well (wasn’t expecting that). He said for no bigger than the area is that I’m doing, they use a spray adhesive that works real well. I’ll have to see if it’s some of that adhesives that’s discussed above. Not looking forward to it, but it’s gotta be done. Thanks again for the tips, they will be implemented I’m pretty sure.

Randy what are carpet returns, doors sticking down,that you talk about?
Stan

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Nice job Randy. One of my pet peeves…what we pay for these boats and how badly the carpet mats down. Does the carpet you installed mat as bad as the original?

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Not only that,but when the wood floors/decking rot….
Even the 2×6 bunks on the 2003 trailer I have turned to mush,complete with fungus growth.

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Randy what are carpet returns, doors sticking down,that you talk about?
Stan

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Randy was talking about the carpet on the hatches, when closed. Wrapping the thicker carpet around the hatch edges being to thick so the carpet grabs the carpet from the deck edges.

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Nice job Randy. One of my pet peeves…what we pay for these boats and how badly the carpet mats down. Does the carpet you installed mat as bad as the original?

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Tom, this time I installed a 20oz carpet. I think the performance of it has been outstanding! I fish multi-species, people spilling soda, gatorade, blah, blah,..fish crap all over and its still looking pretty good. I have 4 or 5 years on this carpet so far and it looks like I’ll get many more. The 14oz that came standard, and the 16 oz that I installed when the original incinerated, all worn out fast. The down side has been how tight the compartment lids are. The carpet returns down the verticle edge towards the compartment opening, and the lids have the carpet wrapped around the sides as well. The extra thickness makes the lids fit too tight. I have broken a couple of the cheap alloy hinges and needed to replace them. Thats the only down side so far.
The pics are from today. Just went out in the garage and snapped a couple. For the 1000+ hours of of use on this carpet, and it being dirty; I think its still good.

Randy what might help is take a good sharp scissors and trim those carpet fibers back a little bit.