Flooring Job

[Jackman]

Well...while I was waiting for my finishing job to cure/dry I started ripping up the old carpet in my 85 32sf. Amazing how much history you can get by ripping up a floor. Found out the carpet was replaced three times since new because the installers didn't cleanup the remanents left over from the old carpet before they installed the new.

I posted about this before but just got around to doing the work. I'm down to the bare plywood. Removed the carpet, padding and staples...then vacuumed. I remember someone saying something about possibly coating the wood to encapsolate it so that water damage from spills ect is minimized. Anyone have a recommendation for what to use? Anything besides fiberglass resin?

Also, I'm deciding on what to put back down, be it capet or something else. Anything new or different that you can recommend would be great.

Thanks!

 

[CMP]

Start with Clear Penetrating Sealing Epoxy. It's a thin epoxy that works similarly to GitRot through capillary action. The guy I buy mine from is called the Rot Doctor and he is a great help. http://www.rotdoctor.com/test/plywood/plywood.html
From there, I'd finish it off with an epoxy resin. A quick bit of prevention is a good thing...

CMP

 

[REBrueckner]

Any sealant will keep out most moisture and dirt. Paint is fine.

Nylon rugs are water repellent and durable and easily changed when they become dirty or worn and no longer look good. Prefinished flooring ala Home Depot or Lowes is a good alternative, but area rugs on these tend to slip especially in a seaway with furniture. Don't glue anything down; for rugs, a few staples will do. Cut hatch openings larger than the hatches to eliminate dirt and noise infiltration. A rug pad will reduce noise from the engine room.

The photo of my pre finished galley floor from Lowes is photo number 10 at
http://groups.msn.com/TrawlerMV/lazydays.msnw?Page=1

 

[Genesis]

I replaced my own salon carpet.

Removed the old, took it home.

Used it for a pattern to cut the new, leaving a bit oversize.

Go to boat, place, trim to fit.

End of job. Total time, a couple of hours.

Total price, using a piece of commercial remnant carpeting (very close pile and tough stuff) plus NEW closed-cell padding? About $200.

Price to have someone come do it? About five times that - or more.

 

[Avenger]

It's pricey, but I'm a fan of teak and holly, or other hardwoods. They're a lot easier to maintain and they nicely compliment those fine Hatt interiors. There's also been a number of threads on Amtico synthetic materials. MikeP did an install and posted quite a bit of info on it. Just search "Amtico" and you'll find them. Good luck.

 

[trogers]

I've got my salon carpet pulled up right now while having some work in the engine room. The plywood underneath looks fine but I figure that I'd use the epoxy sealer from the rotdoctor web site to prepare the floors.

This is a job I can rationalize while the furniture and carpet are removed and the wood looks OK. Better now when access is easy and it doesn't look like a problem.

 

[Jackman]

I'm definitely going to seal my plywood floor. Didn't see any rot at this point...everything was solid. For my application...a sportfish, wouldn't a wood floor be a bit on the slippery side? It works in some of your larger MYs because you have nice large living room areas ect, but my area isn't large and the area that would be wooden if I chose wood is the major trafficing area to the v-berth, bathroom and out of the boat ect. When getting into the rough stuff I could see someone flying across the inside of the boat on the new floor.

Explain how a wooden floor would work for me....they sure do look nice!...but I think I may be stuck with carpet.

 

[34Hatt]

I would coat it with west system remember anything you put on top of what you use is only as strong as the base. So if you use a wood sealer then want to epoxy a wood floor down later the weak link is the wood sealer.

 

[whaler23]

I used Carpet Tiles bought at Home Depot when I replaced the carpet in my 36 Hatt. The tiles are patterned on one edge and are inegrated with pad and carpet. There is a semi sticky backing that once placed on floor and locked in with all other pieces does not move under the harshest conditions. When you need to access the engine room just remove the two or three pieces and your in. When finished just pop back in and smooth the edges with your hand and you again have a seamless piece of carpet. You'll be amazed. The best part is when your guests spill wine at a cocktail party you simply replace the piece stained if it does not clean up satisfactorily. Couldn't be easier. BTW, I don't work at Home Depot or for the Tile Carpet folks either.

 

[Avenger]

For my application...a sportfish, wouldn't a wood floor be a bit on the slippery side? It works in some of your larger MYs because you have nice large living room areas ect, but my area isn't large and the area that would be wooden if I chose wood is the major trafficing area to the v-berth, bathroom and out of the boat ect. When getting into the rough stuff I could see someone flying across the inside of the boat on the new floor.

Explain how a wooden floor would work for me....they sure do look nice!...but I think I may be stuck with carpet.

I think it's all in the finish. Plenty of sportfish, convertibles etc. have teak decking in the cockpits. Mine does. If a wet cockpit covered in fish blood and slime isn't deadly I think your cabin sole should be fine. Just don't sand it perfectly smooth and finish with high gloss urethane and don't walk around in your socks. The big benefit of the hardwoods is that they're much easier to clean. If you fish, sooner or later somebody's going to track fish guts into your boat. (Geez, this post is starting to get gross) Do you want to wipe it up or shampoo it out?

Another benefit IMHO is easy access. I can only say from my experience but in my 36C if you want to get any hatches besides the center ones open you have to roll up carpet. Granted, it's probably not the best carpet install, but that's how the boat came. Got wood? Just pick up the hatch.

Pascoe's book "Mid Size Power Boats" had some mention of the benefits of wood also, but I don't have my copy handy. I'll see if I can find the info when I get home.

 

[Jackman]

Before I make a decision on whether or not to go with carpet I was wondering if anyone had a source I could use for good quality hardwood flooring? I'd like to get an estimate on how much it would cost to purchase the wood. I'd do the job myself if I chose wood and it probably wouldn't take that much to do the job.

 

[Beckytek]

The one thing I don't like about using real wood is if it ever gets really wet the wood might swell up and buckle.

 

[MikeP]

As a suggestion -

If you use Amtico and random cut it, you will not be able to tell it isn't real wood. No one - including 2 local yachtbrokers who have come to look at our floor because they were interested in the process - could tell it wasn't real. That included getting down on their knees and examining it.

 

[Jackman]

Mike, who sells Amtico flooring?

 

[SKYCHENEY]

I went to the Amtico web site and did a dealer search in my area, but I think others have bought direct.

The other great thing about Amtico is weight. At only about 1/8" thick the additional weight you are adding to the boat is not an issue at all.

 

[Avenger]

Pascoe's book "Mid Size Power Boats" had some mention of the benefits of wood also, but I don't have my copy handy. I'll see if I can find the info when I get home.

Well, I looked but can't find it. Maybe it's on his website, I know I read it in one of his things. Anyway, it's not worth hours of searching. He basically said the same things that have already been said on this thread. Whatever you decide to do I hope it works out well.

 

[MikeP]

We got our Amtico directly from the Atlanta HQ office. They were good to deal with. I don't recall the numbers for the samples but the names were "teak" and "warm beech."

 

[Maynard Rupp]

I rolled a good heavy coat of West before i carpeted. Our 36C has many panels of plywood for a sub floor. I think there were about 7 or so to make up the salon floor. These panels were screwed down and had washers on the screws. I don't understand how you can put a wood floor on that. How do you go over the screw heads? What happens if you need to pull an engine? With carpet, you just roll it up, remove some of the tack strips, and remove the screws. You can re-install the carpet.

 

[Jackman]

Maynard,

I have the plywood subflooring as well. I'd like to treat it with something similar to what you used. I haven't decided yet on wood, but it wouldn't be a problem since I don't have my engines under the floor. They are under engine hatches on the outside of the boat, just behind the aft wall of my cabin. I do have an access hole to the bilge but I think I can work around it.

 

[Avenger]

Maynard,

Why do I suddenly feel like an Amtico salesman?

My 36 is similar to yours, just older. None of the plywood floor panels are screwed down. No, you couldn't put wood over yours without leaving openings for the screws which wouldn't look good at all. My plan would be to install some flush mounted latches if you insist on securing the deck panels. I've seen a lot of boats where the deck panels just drop in and I'm not aware of problems with them coming out. However, other people's experience may differ.

I'm definitely with you on being able to get all the hatches open. With the amount of work my boat needs I spend more time with them open than closed.