Thirty year old carpet in H34
- Thread starter H3newdog
- Start date
I pulled out all of the old, nasty "insulated" vinyl sheets in my hunter, some places all full of moisture and black mold behind. This BTW exposed the leaks that I had hidden in the rub rails.
Sure, it looks nice and the spongy feel to it gives you the impression that it has "some" R-value to it's insulation properties, but in reality it's practically non-existent. I then thought that maybe I should put some sort of insulation blanket behind it until once again I came to my senses and decided against it.
If there is ANY moisture penetration, how am I suppose to notice and fix it? The vinyl crap that was in before certainly didn't notify the previous owner that there was moisture.
NO THANK YOU.
Instead, I installed dark grey outdoor rated, UV protected carpet from lowes/homedepot and just glued it in. Every now and then I run my hands against it and even with my moisture meter to look for any issues.
At least NOW I'm able to detect "wetness" and address the issue, not just hide behind it and wait for mold to grow and infest the boat.
I did the whole interior of my boat, and it ended up taking like 35 yards of material, and it was a BIG job. At first I did the forward cabin... That looks nice, then I HAD to do the salon and rear cabin. Then there were the cubbies... I couldn't leave those! Any place the vinyl crap was, it came out.
Some areas, like the cubbies, I just took box cutters and cut the old stuff out. I then used the old stuff as a pattern. For the salon, I had to remove the cabinets to make it look good. All time consuming, but all worth it in the end.
The carpet had a line pattern to it, and I made sure it was always horizontal. Since it came in either 12ft/6ft rolls with the horizontal pattern, it was easy to lay it out on the dock and cut patterns to fit.
Use a nice outdoor rated (thin) carpet, and forget about vinyl.
Truth to this for sure.
But you have to admit, you live in the sailboat mold & mildew capital of the world. Most of my Puget sailing buddies have electric dehumidifiers in their boats running almost all of the time. If you don't stay on top of it there, it takes over.
True. I use a dehumidifier in the winter. But it REALLY helps if the boat is water tight, especially in the PNW [grin]. I found about 10 holes in various locations hidden by the black rubber rub-rails which was the source of the most insidious leaks.
I found the stuff I used:
http://www.lowes.com/pd_516716-61038-NURGNMTL_1z0wq3yZ1z110eb__?productId=50048197
Remove it if you can. Makes a real nice job.
If you can't, pull out the old vinyl with a stretch, and use box cutters at a deep angle and try to remove it as deeply as possible. If you stretch it and cut it, it will recede back behind the cabinet. If pieces of vinyl are still visible, stuff it back in using a putty knife.
Shave off the old excess foam using a cheap electric razor... The kind my dad use to use when I was a kid. Minimal mess. You can also use a razor blade with a handle.
Then carefully cut the new carpet a little larger so you can also stuff it in. Once it looks good, pull 50% out and glue behind it, stuff it in. Pull the other 50% out, glue, stuff.
It's a big job.