Carpet over Teak and Holly Cabin-sole

[kellmic5]

Hi Cruisers!

We're looking for advice and personal experiences with cabin-sole coverings. The boat we're in the process of buying has a beautiful teak and holly cabin sole. Though we love the teak, we're afraid our four legged friend (90# black lab "Gizmo") won't get enough traction to safely move around. Our secondary concern is that his nails would also damage the floor when trying to "hang on".

Our plan is this:
1) Use construction paper to make an exact template of our floor.
2) Transfer the template to a carpet, and cut it out.
3) Split the carpet into manageable sections keeping in mind bilge access ect...
4) Bring the carpet to a company to bind the edges.
5) Install strategic snaps into the carpet and cabin sole to securely fasten

Our concerns are this:

1) What type of carpet material would be best to price out?
-I'm thinking an indoor/outdoor carpet would manage moisture better.
-Because of the price, standard carpet might work out to be cheaper and
we could just replace more often.
2) We're worried that the sand that will inevitably work its way under the carpet will damage the floors.
3) We're concerned with the potential to trap moisture between the carpet and floor leading to mold/mildew/rot.

We are still very open to other suggestions. We'd love to hear from anyone who has tried anything similar with success or failure!

Best,
Michael, Nell, Gizmo

"Fair wind and following seas"

[John_Trusty]

I've always used rubber-backed mats, but I saw a video from the O'Kelly's where they used remnant carpet and replaced annually "Catamaran Remodel". Same process you described, but entirely DIY. Carpet selection was important, and their video had lots of "oops" learnings that you should probably look into. Planning to do this on our next boat.

[SV Sedna]

We also had a black lab, Larry, that benefited from the addition of carpet as he aged. So did the cabin sole.

We went with carpet from these guys and after 10yrs or so it is still in great shape.

https://corinthianmarine.com/

The edges are nicely finished, rubber backed and the carpet fabric it self has worn well. Every other season or so we pull it out and use a carpet cleaner on it.

The other benefit we saw was increased heat retention in the colder months.

It has easily been worth the cost, and if I remember correctly it wasn't a budget buster. Would certainly do it again if needed.