1ST PONTOON

[deerslayer]

Bought my first pontoon last sept and have loved it had many boats but my first toon its a 95 sweetwater 24 footer paid 3500$ for it and duel axel trailer used it for a almost a year now to see if i would like it now the fun starts i bought it knowing the carpet had just a few seasons left the seats will go for another couple more seasons all are still good the bimi needs some work may try to fix the loops by sewing them up or just put a new one on havent made my mind up yet motor run out fine after i put it in a tank and sprayed the carbs with 2 cans of seafoam you should have seen the water in the tank with all the gunk that got blew out idels great now well now that the motor is good and i like the boat im going to spend some $$ on fixing the carpet and other small things that need to be done My question is vinyl flooring is it worth the extra money over the carpet and does it get slick when wet im leaning to the vinyl at this moment of course im going to wait till i put the boat up for the winter to start this project

[WILD MAN]

Vinyl is easy to clean but it gets hot in the sun, carpet is hard to clean but you can walk on it bare foot, also you don't want carpet in salt water, so I guess it depends on how you use your boat and what you want. Let us see some pics what ever you decide.

[mgarvie]

How about paint on bedliner?

http://durabakcompany.com/

My dogs purposely track as much mud on my boat as they possibly can and this stuff pressure washes great. I picked a light tan that doesn't get too hot and doesn't reflect alot of light, plus you won't slip on it.

[Bamaman]

Marine vinyl is very, very expensive stuff. If you're going to keep the boat a few years, you'd like it. Otherwise, go back with real marine carpet and a great brand of carpet adhesive designed for boats. Either way you go, rent one of those heavy steel vinyl floor rollers when you're installing the floor.

One thing I would suggest is immediately changing lower unit grease on any used motor. If there is any sign of water in the grease, by all means have the lower unit pressure tested to see if new seals are needed. Seals are about a $350 job. I was negligent, and my lower unit was toast--$700 used/$900 new aftermarket replacement. I chose to buy a new boat--after 26 years' good use on the old one.

[ROLAND]

My question is vinyl flooring is it worth the extra money over the carpet and does it get slick when wet im leaning to the vinyl at this moment of course im going to wait till i put the boat up for the winter to start this project

I think that';s pretty much personal preference.... and I think it also depends on what you plan to use your boat for... we have vinyl ( no it's not slippery at all, in fact it has a bit of a texture to it ) on our boat, but we use our boat 90 % of the time for fishing... you can imagine what kind of shape the carpet would be in after a season of dropping bait, fish, etc..... the vinyl cleans up fairly easy.. I usually take it to one of these do it yourself car washes and "power wash" the vinyl..... cleans up nicely.... My son has carpet on his boat and as long as people don't trounce thru the mud before boarding your toon, your carpet should hold up well... even if it gets dirty you can always clean it...