My old cabin lay-in carpet was getting tired. The rubber backing was flaking off and no matter how much I shampooed the carpet or washed the snap-in canvas runner, it just didn't look good anymore. I came to the conclusion that I don't like carpet on boats. At one point in time I also had new cockpit carpet, but ended up throwing that away after getting tired of walking around on squishy wet carpet.
My brother in law had a bunch of left over synthetic teak and holly from his boat, so I got busy this weekend and put in a new floor!
First, I removed the steps. I was surprised to find the steps were both screwed and glued to the metal framing. It took some good prying to get these suckers off.
Removing the gross old carpet revealed the steps were routered out with a channel for installing the carpet. I masked off the area that was not going to be covered with the teak and holly. The rest was filled with bondo, sanded, and prepped.
Here are both steps, one with the first of two bondo applications and the other without.
Next, I marked the center line of the boat. This was hard to get exactly correct, but an artistic guess helped.
I started cutting and gluing individual pieces. The thing I love about this material is the texture. Each teak and holly piece is individual and the holly strip is actually a bit recessed from the teak. This gives a nice surface under your feet that looks and feels convincing.
I lined up the lines of the teak and holly on the bilge access plate. Getting the margin right took a lot of trial and error.
I bolted one of the steps back on to mark the direction of the teak and holly. It was important to me for all of the stripes to be going the exact same direction.
After finishing up cutting and gluing each strip, I mounted the steps.
Done!
The project took about 2 full days. I could have taken half as much time, but I'm very picky. I'm REALLY pleased with the outcome and I think it updates the boat nicely and the cabin somehow feels roomier. Now I don't have to worry so much about the kids getting everything wet when we're clowning around on the reef and they decide they want to grab something from the cabin. Next, I'm going to do the area under the dinette!
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