deck carpet/vinyl replace

[fiddlebick]

My carpet is getting worn on a 2005 Bennington, and will need replacing in the next year or so I'm afraid. Those of you who have had this repair, do you have to remove the captain stand, or work around it. Also as time passes and info and techniques as well as technology get better, has anyone heard of a trick to doing this repair without ANY furniture removal? Dumb question I know, but I am constantly learning new things on youtube and forums that I had never heard of before..so why not ask?

[TWB]

I expect you could do it, I just wonder if that's really what you want to do.

Removing furniture, the rail, and the helm can be a little bit of a pain in the butt, however, my opinion would be that there may be some water concerns between seams if pieced together. The furniture is less of a pain because it would be take off, put back. Same for the fence rail. There have been a couple of folks who had success lifting the helm, laying it over on a support, and replacing it.

Go here: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=15791

If you're planning to keep your toon for a long time, I might ask you to consider that if you're going to do it - do it all out.



-Paul

[wiread]

I just replaced mine this spring. Tore out the old carpet and put on a new padded vinyl. Turned out very nice, it's enjoyable walking on our boat again. Removing the furniture and rails is just some time. Take off in a day yourself easy. Do it, don't cut around or even attempt. You're not saving any work and making it more difficult IMO for a lower standard of finish. I used the trick for the helm in the link above.

Set on blocks the top of our platform was 39 inches, same as our garbage can unscrewed it and tipped it over. Made a small slit to go around wires and then tipped it back on when I was done pressing the floor out. Worked great.

[Rick McC.]

^^^^ Well there ya go!

[jrolin1]

I did my Bennington last fall. It will be best to remove the helm. Bennington makes it fairly easy with the plug connections. I was worried about it but it was not bad. My floor was solid so I thought I could reuse the plywood without removing. However once I started I saw some had started to delaminate even though it was still solid. Naturally that was after I carefully sanded and scraped the old glue off. I would plan on replacing the decking if you are doing all the other work. I have a tritoon with underskinning so I was nervous about how to do it. But it was not that bad. The pics are in the restoration forum.

[fiddlebick]

Thanks for the replies. Pretty much knew what you guys were going to say..lol.... Boats are work and there are rarely any viable shortcuts..boo hoo for me. I like the tip for laying the helm aside.

[TWB]

Boats are work and there are rarely any viable shortcuts..boo hoo for me.

I hear that! But I would suggest 2 things:

1. When finished, you will get great satisfaction from the "Yes, thank you. We did this!"
2. Your boat's a 2005 -- It took 16 years to get to the point of needing to be redone. You should never have to do it again! (At least that's what I'm banking on! )

-Paul