Replace Carpet under Gunnel Area MA 18.5

[FLAggie]

Wanting to replace carpet from underneath gunnel area in 2003 MA 18.5.  Contacted  Seadek and informed me that all the glue would need to be removed and some instances area under the gunnel is not completed finished.  Have just pulled a small area of carpet back, and looks like allot of elbow grease and time to remove that glue and prep for a piece of seadek.  Anyone have suggestions on best way to attack the glue issue or gone about replacing the carpet.

 

[Colorado Matt]

Hi,

 

I just went thru this exact project on my HPX-T.  Why boat makers choose to put carpet anywhere on a boat is beyond me.  

 

Anyway, I had raw unfinished fiberglass under the carpet on my gunnels.  The only solution I liked was to have those areas gel-coated first, then have the Seadek installed over that.  The gel-coating was almost as expensive as the Seadek, but I think it was well worth it.  

 

Matt

[CRC]

Pretty easy. I did mine myself before Seadeck was cutting templates.  Remove the carpet — save for template , order the right sized seadeck.  I used a bottle of contractors solvent ( Home Depot, Lowe’s ) , sprayed entire area let it sit then scraped it.  Dried the area applied windex made sure all good.  Cut my template, sprayed w windex again, applied — been six years now.