Pontoon Boat & Deck Boat Forum

As I am sitting here waiting for my last work day before a week at the lake I am thinking of future improvements I would like to do on my new to me 1988 pontoon.

It is in pretty good shape and probably doesn't need anything for a while but I have a couple places on the front deck that flex a little. Plus it just looks a little dated. So I was thinking sometime in the future I want to replace the rail inserts, furniture, and deck/flooring. Furniture will probably be last for me as the original seats are ok for now. Well everything is really. But if I go into a project like that I don't want to redo it later if I don't have to.

Anyway,
Vinyl flooring is interesting to me. I've never been on a pontoon with it. But I like the thought of washing it off and just the deck protection of it. But I have a few questions for those of you that have it.

Is it normal off the shelf Vinyl?

If so how is it holding up to the weather/UV?

Is it slippery? I will have my kids on it and we plan to fish and swim etc off it so I was wondering how slick it gets.

and last are you happy with it / pros and cons. as you see them

Thanks..

Is it normal off the shelf Vinyl? No, it's very, very thick and heavy stuff requiring special mastic (glue) to install.

If so how is it holding up to the weather/UV? It does fine. Any boat is best kept out of the weather and sun, however.

Is it slippery? I will have my kids on it and we plan to fish and swim etc off it so I was wondering how slick it gets. It depends on the vinyl. Some has a "pebble" finish. Some looks like teak. It's not something to worry about.

and last are you happy with it / pros and cons. as you see them Pros would be durability, especially if fishing off the boat. Cons would be cost of retrofitting--the good stuff is very high cost. Owners of boats with vinyl flooring seem to love the stuff.

The vinyl flooring is the only thing I would have. No slip, nothing scratches or tears it, I guess if you dropped a fluke anchor on it, it might, not hot, and you can clean it with anything you like. Being 100% saltwater use, we decided early on while looking at toons, it didn't matter if it was a smoking deal, if it had carpet, it was not even a consideration.

That looks awesome. I knew it probably would be expensive if not the box store stuff. But I figure if I tear it down to put a new deck on it one day I will spend the money for the flooring I want.

I can see in saltwater it being a big plus. The few times I have been on a saltwater boat it didn't have carpet. I figured the corrosion of trapped salt is why. Makes sense.

I'll have to do some research and find where I can get it. I may buy my rebuild a little at a time once I figure out what I want to do so it isn't such a hit all at once.

Since it is an older boat I see it as a blank canvas when I decide to rebuild it.

https://www.pontoonstuff.com/collection ... l-flooring

10% off using our code at the top.

I love it, Even the vinyl "teak" isn't that expensive if you do it yourself. The only times mines slippery is when I over spray 303 or cleaner, Then it's like an ice rink if you don't towel it off. I like the Sea grass also, would never do carpet. I have heard southerners say it gets hot in the sun, but I haven't had a problem up here with it.

We have vinyl flooring on our boat and we love it. Of course we spend 95% of our time fishing, so you can imagine the mess on the floor from dropped bait / fish etc... one of the best things about it is it is so easy to clean up. We just break out the power washer and blast away... if you don't have a pressure washer at home, you can just pull into one of those diy car washes and use their pressure washer... the vinyl is pretty thick and has texture to it, so it is not slippery at all. as far as getting hot... can't truthfully answer this one, I always have crocs or tennis shoes on.. I do know my grandson has spent many days on the boat barefoot and I don't recall him complaining about the floor being too hot.

Love it on our toon.

Wouldn't have carpet on a boat again on a bet.

Kansas Sun in the summer sometimes makes it a bit warm, but....a bucket of water to splash it down takes care of that.

We fish, sometimes for catfish, sometimes using stink bait.

Ever try cleaning stink bait out of carpet?

With vinyl some Simple Green, and a hose and no problem.

So if I were buying another pontoon, I'd have nothing but vinyl.

Vinyl flooring is great, and even though ours is tan; it isn't hot at all, and we're barefoot in the boat all the time.

I'd never have carpet in a boat again, and it's been over 10 years since out last boat with carpet.

You definitely want to use the marine grade stuff, and only use the recommended adhesive for installation.

Thanks everyone. I just got back yesterday from a week at KY Lake. We fished and had a good time. The boat did great. I have a few more things on my wish list but I saw some pontoons near my slip at the Marina and I am sold on Vinyl flooring. Other than a rain storm My deck stayed mostly dry but with fishing you always end up with bait etc on the carpet. And the Stinky catfish stuff can be rough I agree. We will see when I can afford it.

Thanks for the link on Pontoonstuff site. I had just found that after I last posted.

I have the seagrass vinyl and love it. It can get a little hot sitting in the sun but still I will take that over nasty carpet. We use two area rugs one in the front and one in the rear. They can be washed any time needed.

I agree with the vinyl replies. We had carpet on our last pontoon and I felt like the only advantage was that it was soft. Other that, it always got wet (which is expected) and was very "squishy". Felt kind of gross. That was just my opinion. It was harder to keep clean with kids, sand and mud. I fell in love with vinyl when we looked at our first Manitou with the teak look vinyl. Whether it's gray or teak/wood colored, I just think it looks fantastic and goes with anything!!

On that note, we are looking at flooring options for our current 'toon and want the teak. Do you guys have any other sources that aren't $75-$90/linear foot? That'll be $2-3K on our 30' boat, not including subfloor/deck.

(Forgive me, if I just 'highjacked' this thread, I will move it. I was actually hoping it would help the OP, others and myself.)

These are both for wood/teak with black stripe (my favorite)

($89/foot) http://www.overtons.com/modperl/product ... &i=1063080

($74/foot) http://www.restorepontoon.com/pontoon/p ... ategory=88

I love our vinyl floor on our Berkshire. Mine is the same as shown above, in the weathered teak gray color.

I went one step further, as NONE of the manufacturers who offer in floor storage have the "hatch" also covered in vinyl, so I had my dealer contact Berkshire and get me a piece of of the gray vinyl. I glued it down with marine epoxy and trimmed it to size. What do you think ??? The way the boat came, it just had a gray/brownish solid colored hatch...... really ugly. I've noticed all of the manufacturers do the same thing.

After 2 years it still looks line brand new.

BEFORE PIC of UGLY Hatch:

What do you think ???



Looks great, bro!!

Amazing why something so simple, that would cost so little to be 'perfect' is so readily overlooked. I think you did a great job and I would've likely been driven crazy by the 'mismatch' also, lol. That OCD kicks in.....

Looks great. I love the Teak look too. I'll probably go with PontoonStuff version of the vinyl though as they seem to have the best price I have seen. I can live with the grey stuff it looks nice too.