Carpet Option

Starting over. While I owned and enjoyed a small tin skiff many years ago, a few sessions with my little 12 ft MirroCraft have taught me a lesson. My balance, equilibrium and co-ordination are shot compared to 30 years ago and this little boat just isn't cutting it, even with the grab bar. I've already fallen out of it once and went for a swim in a stagnant canal. Not fun.

(edit - I've tried repeatedly to put a better pic of the carpet squares here but it just won't post)


To quieten the boat down a bit without adding a lot of weight, I experimented with stick-em down indoor/outdoor carpet squares - cheap ones. I left a channel in the middle to help with water drainage and the setup has worked out quite well.




The little 12 ft MirroCraft will be up for sale soon.



The carpet also gives my girl better traction for her claws and is much less noisy.





I recently stumbled into a helluva deal on a 16x64 Starcraft; the light, bare bones skiff that is easily handled by one old man and now I want to go the carpet route again. This time I've ordered a length of roll indoor/outdoor and will use spray adhesive to stick it down with, from chine to chine in between the ribs.

Many years ago I had a 16 ft Ouachita tin boat that I installed a carpeted plywood floor in and the extra weight of that, along with small console, etc., completely changed the character of the boat. Lesson learned - keep it light.

My question - I'd like to just run it full width but am unsure about water drainage. Yes, the carpet gets wet in the small boat, but mostly seems to run off well. Can I get away with running it full width in the bigger boat or should I leave a drainage channel again ??

You might look at the Eva foam options, there’s a few long narrow strips that are cheap and may work.

It’s surfboard traction and works really well plus the added benefit of being softer to stand on.

I’d like to Eva my boat but feel it’s too much$$$

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RHRL58J/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_M1GCT9WHMCQ04GGS9GCC?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Highliner said:

You might look at the Eva foam options, there’s a few long narrow strips that are cheap and may work.

It’s surfboard traction and works really well plus the added benefit of being softer to stand on.

I’d like to Eva my boat but feel it’s too much$$$

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07RHRL58J/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_M1GCT9WHMCQ04GGS9GCC?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

Click to expand...

Thanks - wish I'd known about it sooner. I've already ordered the indoor/outdoor carpet. Since the i/o carpet is cut from a roll, it's non-returnable. The Eva foam looks good and yes, it's spendy, but should do a good job and last a long time. Oh well.....good idea.

PeeEss - I've hosed out the boat since that post and see that the limber slots under the ribs would be blocked by the full width carpet.....so the center gap will be included in the new installation, too.