Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

Time to replace the carpet and looking for an alternative.

Choose your favorite, if you have had a bad experience back it up with facts.

A better alternative not listed, let me know.

If its a floating patio, I'd lean more towards carpet. We fish off ours too so I got vinyl on the new boat, much easier to clean.

I like my carpet. Cooler on the feet in the 115° Arizona sun.

Like others, if I did a lot of fishing, went in salt water, or other damaging things, I'd go with vinyl. But for fresh water, hot sun and bare feet, carpet is the way to go. (as long as the drapes match)

Vinyl, vinyl, vinyl. I've had both vinyl and carpet and I never want to go back to carpet again. Vinyl is so much more trouble free, gets a lil dirty and just hose it off. When carpet gets wet your wating all day for it to dry. Here's a shot of my new vinyl I'm going to install on the tritoon, mahogany teak look



Up close

That new seagrass stuff! It's nice and cool to the touch even when sitting in the sun all day.

If you have aluminum decking it doesn't matter. If you have wood, marine or otherwise, You need vinyl sheet or Tuff coat or similar. (my opinion!) I am replacing an original deck right now that had carpet originally. The wood was treated and was rock solid (under the first couple of plys) But the 2 top plys were delaminating and nothing could or would stay on it.

Important Note: If you are going to keep your boat covered or in a garage, and not soaking it everyday It may not matter.

This boat was abused, I bought it out of a guys back yard and it was full of pine needles, wasps and dead squirrels. I cleaned it, pressure washed, and bleached it when I bought it. I used it for everything including fishing and swimming. It was a 95 model and it lasted 10 years including my abuse.

I voted tuff coat and will use it on my rebuild.

Vinyl!!!!

First boat had carpet. MAJOR pain in the butt when it came to mildew and keeping it clean/dry (I don't have indoor storage).

Second boat I opted for snap-out carpet. Snapped it out after the first week and never put it back in.

On most recent boat, I did not opt for any carpet (it is vinyl made to look like teak - Xcursion is the boat).

P.S. I am in Louisiana (think hot) and have never had an issue with the floor being too hot.

I went with carpet because we anchor out in the lake and the kids are in a constant circle of jumping off the front deck, climbing up the ladder, running through the boat and jumping off again. I felt the vinyl would get too slippery and didn't want to see any wipeouts on the deck.

We like the easy cleanup of vinyl. Sand, mud, blood and beer cleanup is just a bucket of lakewater away.

Would "astro-turf" fall somewhere in between carpet and vinyl for cool and easy to clean?

I gotta tell you, today was a perfect reason for vinyl flooring on our toon.

Fairly nice Kansas day on El Dorado Reservoir.

A bit windy.

Anchored for a bit to fish.

No matter how careful to get the anchor in the bucket, still got mud on the floor.

Caught some fish including a Wiper (under limit) two stripers, one drum, two channel cats and then after we got back to the dock, a couple of dozen bluegills just for grins and giggles.

The cats were "keepers" so they got cleaned, bagged and brought home on ice.

So fish guts, blood, and some catfish skin on the fishing station and floor.

The Admiral knocked her Diet Coke over today as well.

The Marina slips have water available.

Got the hose out and hosed everything down in about 5 minutes.

I'm pretty sure carpeting would still either be a mess or soaking wet.

Life Happens. Murphy comes to visit. Hosing down is easy and effective.

So I'd vote Vinyl.

If I were putting a new floor on, the "TEAK Vinyl" would be a consideration.

First 'toon was carpet - great, but got dirty/sand in it and algae growth. Second 'toon is vinyl, love it EXCEPT it gets hot on the feet in direct sun. All things considered, I like the vinyl better.