How do I change the flooring of my boat?

Question

Any suggestion methods etc.

Nancy Turner · Answer

We rehabbed a fishing boat with a wood floor a couple of years ago. If you need to change the wood floor, you need to use marine grade plywood that has been safely treated, there are two kinds, the kind with arsenic and without, you want the one treated without the arsenic. I believe we ordered it through Menards. Use the old pieces as a template for the new and it will be easier. We used 3/4 inch plywood so that it is sturdy. We recovered the wood with outdoor carpet and used the spray on adhesive that was appropriate for carpet to wood. We used the old pieces as templates for this also. Not all the carpet needed replacing, just the floor, so we matched the old with the new as well as we could. The vinyl on the boat and the seats cleaned up really well with an oxy citrus cleaner, a Mr. Clean Magic eraser and a dish brush for crevices. Please don't use regular plywood for the project, marine plywood is made for handling the moisture that it will see now and in the future. Hubby predrilled all holes using the old wood he took out and most of the screws, bolts, etc. were reusable. We redid ours with minimal tools, a circular saw, jigsaw, staple gun, cordless and corded screwdriver/drill, and a few hand tools. Time consuming, but worth having the know safer and nicer boat. It also way upped the value of the boat from six hundred and fifty dollars for 17 ft. boat, motor, and trailer, to nearly eight thousand dollars just by cleaning it up like we did for maybe three or four hundred dollars. We love the boat, even installed a sun shade so we can fish as long as we want. I hope this helps you, Bo, it is a daunting, but doable DIY and you can do it!