www.iFourWinns.com

Doe anyone know if they make custom mats for the stern flexteek? If so, who sells them?

Google marine carpet. There are many out there that will send you a kit to make the pattern and custome make it to fit.

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Jvalich
http://www.badcock.com

'04 FW 288 Vista "Mental Floss"

Four Winns Sells them, through a dealer only.

Here is a pic of one.

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One of 4 Previous (Sold) Boats:
2000 Four Winns 268 Vista

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

Do you mean the fake teak itself or a mat to put on top of it?

We've got that crap on the swim platform of our 348 and HATE it. It gets unbearably hot in the sun. It looks gray, not warm teak brown. It tends to accumulate grime you'd otherwise be washing off regular decking. It's abrasive enough to catch on cotton socks and some clothing. While it's true that it does have somewhat better grippy-ness than gloss gelcoat, it's not much better (if at all) than gelcoat with a hatch-marked pattern. All-in-all I would never get it again. I'd CERTAINLY not want to pay the outrageous price they gouge for it.

It's only on our boat because it came that way and doesn't appear to be removable without destroying the underlying surface. Yes, you could say I despise Flexiteek.

I bet you thought it looked good, and you would like it when you bought the boat, but live and learn I guess. Just buy a mat from FW and cover it up if it's that agonizing.

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One of 4 Previous (Sold) Boats:
2000 Four Winns 268 Vista

Current Boat: 2004 Chaparral 235 ssi cuddy

No, I never thought it looked good. But the boat was otherwise equipped with everything we wanted; options, color etc, and at a great price. So the hassle of putting up with the fake teak came along with it.

Agony? Hard to call anything involving being out on one's 348 agonizing, so spare me. But given the lack of effective storage for the existing gear it's not like I'd want to go adding yet another big chunk of carpet.

But that reminds me, I actually need to start shopping for an embroidered boarding mat. Our marina has a black asphalt parking lot and by the time guests walk all the way across it (or we walk to dinner) it tends to leave dirty shoe prints. A regular white swim platform might actually help, in that it'd quickly remind folks to take off those street shoes... As it stands the gray look of the flexiteek only gets dingier from them.

Anyway, I offer my opinion simply to warn someone, based on my experience actually owning a boat with it, to think twice before squandering the extra money to have Flexiteek glued onto their boat.

The compromises of excessive heat, dingy looks and high price really don't make it worth using solely for better traction. It does help the traction but, hell, even cheap grip tape would do it at a tenth of the price and not look anywhere near as ugly over time.

As a "fair and balanced" review on Flexiteek, we love ours on our swim platform.

I'll agree that it gets quite hot in direct July/August sun, but we just use the transom shower to squirt a little water on and that does the trick. Plus, our kids are in and out of the water all day which also keeps it wet and cool.

For the dinginess, you can definitely see some slight graying on there, but remember real teak also turns gray over time. The manual says you can sand the flexiteek if you want it to look new again. I haven't tried that though.

We keep our boat in a covered slip and it still looks close-to-new after two full years.

I definitely prefer it to my friends' boats with white swim platforms as they are ALWAYS dirty and dingy looking. We tend to raft up with other cruisers for extended periods and our swim platform is the only one that looks clean - ever. Plus, flexiteek's non-slip qualities are far superior to any other fiberglass - something to think about when people are walking back and forth between boats with bare, wet feet carrying their margaritas...

The price is a little steep, but what factory option on any cruiser isn't?

In short, I'd definitely get it again. Just not in the cockpit - we like our carpet there.

A carpet set for the swim platform might be nice too, the only problem being that it would get doused every time we come off plane.

My $.02.... Your mileage may vary.

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2004 Sea Ray 420DB
Formerly: 2005 348 Vista

No, I never thought it looked good. But the boat was otherwise equipped with everything we wanted; options, color etc, and at a great price. So the hassle of putting up with the fake teak came along with it.

Agony? Hard to call anything involving being out on one's 348 agonizing, so spare me. But given the lack of effective storage for the existing gear it's not like I'd want to go adding yet another big chunk of carpet.

But that reminds me, I actually need to start shopping for an embroidered boarding mat. Our marina has a black asphalt parking lot and by the time guests walk all the way across it (or we walk to dinner) it tends to leave dirty shoe prints. A regular white swim platform might actually help, in that it'd quickly remind folks to take off those street shoes... As it stands the gray look of the flexiteek only gets dingier from them.

Anyway, I offer my opinion simply to warn someone, based on my experience actually owning a boat with it, to think twice before squandering the extra money to have Flexiteek glued onto their boat.

The compromises of excessive heat, dingy looks and high price really don't make it worth using solely for better traction. It does help the traction but, hell, even cheap grip tape would do it at a tenth of the price and not look anywhere near as ugly over time.