How to Replace Marine Carpet
- 1). Unroll the new marine carpet and allow it to lie in the sun for an hour, so that it will lay flat when it's applied to the new decking. Use a magnetic stud finder to find the screws that hold the marine plywood decking--to which the carpet is attached--to the stringers. Magnetic stud finders work by finding the the steel nails in a stud. For this project, run the magnetic stud finder over the carpet's surface. When the stud finder gets a "hit," use a utility knife to make a cut in the old carpet and use a screwdriver to remove the screw that's holding the decking in place.
- 2). When all the screws are removed from the first plywood decking panel, remove the panel from the boat. Work with one panel at a time. That way, you know where the new panel goes, and you won't have a gaping hole in your deck, a safety issue.
- 3). Lay the old decking, carpet side up, on top of a new sheet of marine plywood. Trace around the old decking with a pencil, so the outline of the decking is traced onto the new sheet of plywood. Remove the old decking and discard. Use a jigsaw to cut along the outline on the new sheet of plywood, to form a sheet of new decking. Measure the greatest dimension (length or width) of the plywood with a measuring tape. Cut the carpet's length to this dimension with your utility knife.
- 4). Apply marine carpet adhesive to the top of the new plywood decking with a putty knife. Lay the carpet onto the plywood and the adhesive, to that its length fits the plywood properly. Smooth the carpet onto the plywood and work it into the carpet adhesive with a clean putty knife as you lay the carpet down. Allow the adhesive to cure for an hour. Trim any carpet that's hanging over the side of the plywood sheet, leaving a 1/4-inch overlap of carpet.
- 5). Carry the new sheet of marine plywood/carpet aboard and set it in the place where you removed the old decking. Secure the new plywood with the deck screws you removed from the old decking. Repeat the process for each section of carpeted old decking on the vessel. When all of the new decking is in place, trim all of the overlaps from the carpet, so that the edges of adjacent sections of carpeting match.
