Pics of my boat recarpeting job 2024

The Rooster reply :

A couple of months ago I joined this forum so I could ask a question about a trolling motor I just bought for my boat. I told you then I was doing a total overhaul of the boat's interior and I'd post pics of it when finished. Well it's not finished but it's 98% finished so here's what I have so far if you'd like to see them.

This is one of the only pics I could find of the boat showing the original color of the carpet. It was red with grey vinyl floors. The carpet was in really bad shape, sun bleached and torn, just badly weathered. The previous owner didn't take care of it very well. So it had to be redone. You can see that the top of the dash has the carpet completely gone exposing the wood.

Here's the boat stripped down to a raw mess (I actually already glued carpet to the walls on both sides but forgot to take pics prior to that, sorry)

Here's the mess of wiring I had to go through and fix the connections on

One Saturday I cut out some of my plywood that I needed to replace in this boat, and then that night I carpeted it out. Here are the pics of how I carpeted it. This is the front deck ready to be wrapped in the carpet I already cut for it (it's under it in that picture). I used regular plywood for this, wanted treated but couldn't find a piece nice enough to make a deck with, it was all too rough. I'm super coating this in the carpet glue though which really helps to waterproof it, and gonna also use rubberized undercoating on the bottom side to seal that up with so it should last a long time before rotting out again. I keep the boat covered up when not in use anyway. I used treated lumber to make the thinner panels from, just non-treated for the deck and dash where 3/4 ply was necessary.

One thing I did to make it easier to carpet these panels was to lay the piece of wood center of the carpet, making sure it's lined up right cause I'm using carpet that has lines in it and they have to run parallel to the edges of the panels, I don't want crooked looking lines when I'm done. I then started stapling the carpet along the edge, starting in the center and working towards each end. I used stainless steel staples so they won't rust. Expensive but worth it.

Then when one side was stapled down good, I used carpet glue to thickly coat the carpet, also coating the edge of the wood as well and also on the underside between the carpet and the wood where I already stapled. Once that's done I flipped the board over onto the coated surface and then pressed it all down, and then pulled the other side up and stapled it into place. I used an incredible amount of staples in this, more than it needed but I want no puckers in the material or any material coming loose later on. I put them less than 1/4 inch apart most places all the way along all edges.

Not bad for the first day cutting and carpeting.

I have a real understanding wife, she knows how much I love boating and fishing. Her house was tore upside down with my boat stuff in several rooms while this was going on (I don't have a garage), and by several I mean more than two at a time. Bedroom, old pool room, living room, even the kitchen sometimes.

This boat is about 98% finished now, just lacking the trolling motor install and the vinyl for the deck beneath it and finishing mounting the depth finder's transducer on the rear.

I regret that I wasn't able to get pics of every small step of this build. So some of the pics you'll see will show a lot of steps already completed. I had to use what time I had available each day and by time I stopped working each day it was dark so I didn't take pics.

This is the live well and it's overflow tubing that goes thru to outside of the hull. I sealed them inside and out with silicone and then used clamps to make sure they don't come loose.

This is where the front deck will be. I installed two pressure treated 2x4's along the sides of where the storage deck lid will rest so that it does not bow under my massive 285 lbs. The factory only had the front and rear edges supported but I felt it would be stronger if supported on all 4 sides. I also added extra aluminum rivets in the aluminum cross members that support this deck. Look and you'll see them.

Here is the deck laying upside down so I can seal the under side of it to protect it from moisture.

I used this to seal it with. One of it's recommended uses was for trees where a limb had been removed so to prevent rot from starting. I figured if it will do that then it will work for me here.

The starter wires for my outboard motor were in horrible shape. Time for some new ones.

My dad got me some super soft 6 gauge wire that's all weather rated and we soldered copper lugs onto the end. If you look close you can see the solder bubbled out the top, it's completely filled. Then we used shrink tubing to protect and seal that connection. We did this for ALL wiring in the boat. Here's the pics of the wiring AFTER I repaired and rerouted it all. Remember that huge mess I had laying back in the corner?? This is it now.

For the wiring that ran to the outboard I ran it through split loom tubing to protect it further from sun damage. It goes all the way into the motor head this way. That pic of the motor also shows the brand new fuel line I put in for it.

That was my motor above, an 89 model Johnson 88 SPL (special), 88 horse power, 2 stroke, 4 cylinder outboard. It has a stainless steel prop and after market tilt and trim added. I was told these motors did not come with this stuff so the previous owner must have really like it to add this on, it would not have been cheap.

Last year my dad fabricated a transom saver for this motor. I have had 2 different ones that I bought and the motor was still free to rotate left and right when being trailered down the road. It would eat up the rubber padding and then be metal to metal on the lower unit. I couldn't have that so we built one that would cradle the motor solidly in thick rubber supports and hold it still from rotating. Because of it's design it does not need straps to hold it up on the motor, it could not possibly fall off, but I use 2 straps anyway. I know they are in need of replacement now though cause of weathering.

This is the new trolling motor I have for the front of the boat. It's a Minn Kota Power Drive 55 pound thrust motor. Electronic steering and battery life maximizer circuitry. Awesome motor. Because of this I had to upgrade the factory motor wire from 10 gauge to 6 gauge. I bought a spare prop for it also, it was on clearance so why not have an extra one?? This might just save a fishing trip sometime when I accidentally break a blade.

I got a 50 amp automatic reset breaker for running it. Better than a fuse.

For this motor I wanted a very dependable electrical circuit. I got a deal on 6 gauge wire at Lowe's but it's the kind of wire you run to a range in the house, really stiff stuff. To use it I made my own design and incorporated some of that super soft 6 gauge left over from the outboard rewire. I used a plastic conduit box to run the stiff 6 gauge into, then drilled holes the size of the soft 6 gauge in the opposite end and ran two pieces of that inside the box and spliced using waterproof wirenuts (expensive, $7.00 for 6 of them). Then I mounted this under the rear deck area and covered it with a waterproof sealed lid. Now my battery can be connected easily using the soft wire, and it cannot be cross wired due to the size of the lugs on the ends. They only fit one way on the battery. No need to mark pos or neg on these.

This clamp I put in to hold the stiff wire was really hard to get to to install it.

The front deck connection to the trolling motor receptacle using more of those waterproof wirenuts.

The Rooster reply :

Couldn't post all this in one post, apparently it exceeded the max allowed characters.

Here are some pics of the finished carpeted boat. Here it is with the seats out of it for easy viewing.

This is the dash with the instruments mounted in it and the depth finder screen installed on top. The depth finder base is on a swivel mount enabling me to use it when driving, and then rotate it to face the front so I can use it while fishing and have it face me for easy viewing. The whole top of the dash is flat other than that and I sit my tackle bag on it so the whole deck is open for me to walk around on.

Rear of boat showing one of my two batteries.

Driver's side showing the locker area. I use it to stow my paddles and rear lights.

Front deck with storage area lid up. It has the front light mounted on the bottom side of it for easy access to, just plugs in up on top of the trolling motor deck. I just use this area for life jacket storage. No I did not redo the vinyl in the bottom of it, sorry just wasn't enough money for all that carpet.

Passenger side showing newly installed rod racks. I spaced these racks out so they fit 6' and 6'6" rods about evenly. Smaller or larger rods though they will not hold. It's a compromise with this style, but my rods will all fit in it. My wife's rod is only 5' and hers won't fit but only on one side.

And here it is with the current seats in it. Next year we will be replacing these even though we just bought them last year. They work but the fabric keeps letting go on some of them. Not tearing but just coming out. I fix it but it doesn't last so we're gonna lay down $400 on some new seats, about $100 each and get some good ones. These are really large and wide seats, great for a wide @$$ such as mine. My wife says I'm the biggest @$$ she's ever known anyway, so I need a seat that wide since I'm such a big @$$!! :hilarious:

Hope you enjoyed these so far. More to come as I finish it off.

MA1232 reply :

Nice Job!

Great detail photos!

GatorTom reply :

Nice job! Very clean and neat. I just got the same trolling motor and added co-pilot to it. Your gonna love that thing!

FishingBuds reply :

super job clean looken

Love the tip on the Gunk under coating too

Hot Rod reply :

Nice job! If that were me I probably would still be figuring how to get carpet epoxy off of the living room floor ;D

hjerk24 reply :

What an undertaking- you should be super proud...it will be awesome on the water. Good Luck fishing!

_tyler_wright_ reply :

AWESOME! you did a great job!

Gatorbassman reply :

That looks absolutly amazing. Great job. I hope you haven't mounted the trolling motor yet. Because if you haven't go ahead and take it back to the store and get you a cable steer. Those motors are a pain in the butt. This should explain all the problems with the Power Drive.

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1195155298/0

The Rooster reply :

Thanks for all the comments. I worked myself ragged on this, a few hours here and a few more there as weather permitted each day after work. I had to fight snow and rain and cold weather for time to even do it. Everytime it was at least mid 40's and not raining I pulled the cover off and did what I could even if it was only for a couple of hours. I wanted it done in time for spring fishing and I didn't even start taking out the old finishes until mid January.

On the motor, I've had one of these before on another boat and I loved it. I just went from a cable steer motor that I despised to this digital one and I think I'll keep it. I got it a couple months ago so not sure they'd take it back now anyway. Plus if I did that after selling my other cable steer one, my wife would kill me. She's listened to me complain for 2 years over the old one's bulky combersome foot pedal, stiff cables not allowing the pedal to be positioned right and having it always in the way, and just hating it in general. Now the foot pedal is small, operable by my toes if I want to, so I don't have to do a one legged balancing act to run it with one foot up in the air on the pedal while standing, and when sitting down my knee won't be up in my chest to have my foot on the pedal. The last one I had was a pure pleasure to operate, and I made sure that when I got a new one that it had the old foot pedal design like my first one did, not the newer one they are using now. This is the same pedal design they had 10 years ago. I think I'll be thoroughly happy with it.

The Rooster reply :

I just noticed that I also forgot to mention that I used stainless steel screws and carpet staples to finish this boat with. I went that way to prevent rust from starting. It was EXPENSIVE, I have over $100 in stainless hardware, closer to $150 really, but I believe it will be well worth it 5 years from now when all those screws still look like new with no rust. Below is another set of pics I forgot to post here. Shows how I was able to carpet panels made of aluminum instead of wood. Can't use staples there.

This is one of how I wrapped the aluminum panels. I had to glue down one side, wait on it to dry overnight, then fold the tabs in on two sides and wait for it to dry again, then fold the final two sides in. Each time I folded a tabbed section I had to use masking tape to hold it until it dried. It peeled right off when dry though for a nice finished product.

Here's the front deck carpeted out and ready for installation.

Here's a pic of one of the items I've had to buy to redo this boat. Stainless steel staples and hardware. This box of 1000 staples costed me $11 and tax and it's the 3rd box I've had to buy of these ($33 in staples so far), plus the other $100 I've spent on stainless steel bolts and screws. But it ain't worth doin' if it ain't worth doin' right.

SavannahFisher reply :

Man, that's gotta' feel good knowing that you've added that much more life and value to to your float. Awesome job, and great tutorial, too.

JT Bagwell reply :

Buddy, I have to say you did one heck of a job on that project.

Nice work,

JT Bagwell

SavannahFisher reply :

Hey Rooster, 2 weeks ago, I gave away a brand new steering wheel that looked exactly like that one. Still new in the box, sitting in my garage for two years. I gave it to a guy from work that I'm not that fond of. It would have done my heart good to see it on your boat. DANG IT!!!

The Rooster reply :

Aw man!! I was looking for a new one too, mine is pretty sun baked. Appreciate the thought though, thanks.

To beat it all, my wife told me to Armor-all it!!! Said it would make it look like new. Only thing I was thinking when she said that was trying to control 88 horses running full out with a slick steering wheel!!! Don't think I'll be doin' that!! I think she mostly meant the center part though, and it does look the worst of the whole wheel. Maybe a little soap and water will clean it up some.

The Rooster reply :

Thank you guys for all the compliments. I will definitely be taking care of this better than the previous owners did. I'll post more pics after I get the trolling motor mounted in place, and also of me fishing on it too. Maybe of a big bass in that livewell also!! That would be the best part. I'm used to catching 14 inchers mostly. Never caught any bucketmouths larger than 3 pounds just guessing (I didn't get to weight it). That was only one time too.

Black Bass reply :

WOW! That is a very nice job. The fish will be junping in the boat just to get a ride.

Happy fishin'

fooman reply :

Give yourself a big pat on the back...very clean

-hydrillagorilla- reply :

Awesome! Just awesome!

Micro reply :

Rooster, man, you did a fantastic job.

I love this section of the the forum. There's a lot of talent here. Lot's a good ideas.

=Matt 5.0= reply :

Looks awesome! Something to be proud of for sure!

slice reply :

That looks great. I just joined and have a small Valco v-hull that i'm redoing. So much advice and ideas on here, I wish I'd joined sooner. Thanks for posting so many pics and descriptions!

drivr8 reply :

Very nice job!! Can relate completely to the work involved , im trying to finish my recarpet job up now on 18ft. Landau, got a new Low 520c that im dieing to try out ....

roadwarrior reply :

Welcome aboard!

8-)

Long Mike reply :

Roostertails, your meticulous attention to detail is awesome. Give yourself a great big pat on the back.

rondef reply :

Nice work, that came out sweet.

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Pics of my boat recarpeting job 2024

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