Cutting carpeted floor

I need to cut out some compartments in my carpeted floor to allow for more storage. My fear is what the cutting will do to the edges of the carpet. On some members boats I have seen a plastic lip that seems to outline the compartment. I was thinking this would be the best way to cover up the edges that will be ragged after cutting. Are these commercially available, or do I need to just mod something myself? Thanks as always. Could've never done everything that I've done to my boat without the help of Tinboats!

Use a utility knife with a new blade to cut your carpet first. Cut a hole in the carpet slightly larger than the hole you want to cut in the deck, about 1/8" all the way around. This will give you a nice clean cut on your carpet, if you try to cut through the carpet with a saw the teeth will catch on the strings in your carpet and make "runs" like a run in a stocking or pantyhose. Pull the carpet up out of the hole area before cutting the hole.

the hatches you speak of are tempress. check out greatlakesskipper.com

Make sure to not pull any rows when messing with it, just like in homes, a Burber or however you spell it has rows, if drill into the carpet, the string wraps around the drill and and pulls a nice row in the carpet and makes it look horrible. If you want to make a nice clean cut look into a carpet row cutter.

Thanks so much, guys. I would'nt have thought about cutting the carpet correctly, and the tempress hinges are exactly the ticket! Thanks again!