Cost to recarpet boat?

[Umma Gumma]

Anyone have a rough idea on what it would cost to have somebody recarpet my boat? It's a 17.5 Smokercraft, dual console, about 8 years old. The wood seems to be in fine shape, the carpet is just not looking good. I know I could do this myself but really don't want to. I'd like to use good carpet, nothing too cheap.

[traveler]

Heres the thing...I'm a lifetime carpet guy, and the slowest, toughest jobs out there are boats and RV's. We really don't want to do them either:) And no one wants to pay what I charge for the time it takes to do such putsy work. Maybe your boat wouldn't be that bad, can't say without seeing it. One thing I'd suggest, when you look for someone to do it, offer to do the grunt work (removing the old carpet) and they'll be more likely to take the gig.

[fish2live]

there is a guy in farmington that does really good work. if you want pm me and i will send you his info.

[Sandmannd]

No PM on here Fish.

Baken's Boat Shop does great work.

[fish2live]

didn't there you to be a message system here? anyway reccreational repair does good work

[BobT]

Anyone have an answer to the poster's question? I'm curious too. I was looking at my boat carpet too and thinking along the same lines. What might one expect it to cost, roughly?

[herefish101]

i just did mine a couple weeks ago. its a 16 footer, the best deal i found on carpet was at fleet farm, got enough to do the whole boat for 100 bucks plus 15 dollars for the glue. I did it myself with the help of a carpet layer (brother in-law) there just to make sure i diddent screw up and cut it wrong. all in all it was easy, i dont know what that other guy is talking about. tear out the old, clean it up, lay it out, cut it, make sure it fits correctly, glue the floor, staple whatever needs staples, let it dry, re-install seats or whatever else needed to be removed, done. it only took a few hours and it looks as good as new. easy. i had a total of maybe 130 bucks int the whole thing and did i already say it was easy.

[traveler]

ummmm..."only a few hours" is a lot of work for the amount of carpet that goes in a boat, you wouldn't want to pay me what I'd charge you.

[swamptiger]

To do it right, you need a marine grade carpeting and a high temp exterior glue. These materials aren't cheap, and it's putzy work, as traveler said.

[herefish101]

I used marine grade carpet the good stuff with the rubber backing and the professional glue it was'nt super cheep but as far as being putzy, i guess i dont get what you mean about putzy, you cut the carpet and glue it thats pretty strait forward i guess if your intimidated by the job you might start putzing with it but really its quite strait forward and actually quite easy. I know i did it right with the right materials it, as i said in my preavious post, it cost around 130 bucks. and it looks perfect and it was easy, not putzy. i guess you could make it overly complicated by not removing all of your pedistal mounts, side skirting or anything else in your way, trying to cut around all of these things could make it very hard, but calling it putzy makes it sound intimidating and hard when it is one of the easiest things that the average boat owner can do to make his/her boat nicer.

[swamptiger]

Okay - so how much would you charge to re-carpet Umma Gumma's boat?

[John Mickish]

I'm thinking that the boats these guys are talking about have compartments and doors in the floor. That would make the job alot harder and more time consuming.

[wplatehunter]

I talked to a guy who needed a new floor in his 17' boat and carpet they told him $1,800. He is now going to sell the boat.

[Pickelfarmer]

I talked to a guy who needed a new floor in his 17' boat and carpet they told him $1,800. He is now going to sell the boat.

Wow $1800.00!!!! I am for sure in the wrong line of work

I've been looking into this for a little while myself. I have priced the mat list and found that to be around $350.00 for marine grade carpet and hi temp glue. I helped a friend of mine re do the carpet in his 16.5 ft lund Pro V and it took about 2 weeks of on and off night work. It wasn't to hard but like said above, very putsy. lots of detail and disassembly. as well as re-assembly. but $1800.00 worth??? I don't think so. It was actually a fun project that if you have a garage(I don't but my buddy does)you would enjoy doing yourself over a couple bevs and laughs with a friend for less then $500.00. I say less then $500.00 because you might run into some things ( Wires,Wood,Pumps,Hoses) that you might want to replace while you got everything torn apart. Good luck..

Sorry I didn't see the NEW FLOOR (I'm taking that to mean wood) part of my quoted post. Maybe with that included it would bring the price closer to $1800.00?

[swamptiger]

Quote:

I talked to a guy who needed a new floor in his 17' boat and carpet they told him $1,800. He is now going to sell the boat.

I got into a 17 footer re-carpet job a few years ago that had carpeting on the upper deck and the inside upper surface of the gunwales was also carpeted plywood all the way around. And the wood in the floor was also carpeted - and rotted. This boat was only 5 or 6 years old at the time, but it had been left outside uncovered since it was new. To make a long story short, it turned out to be a major job. It had a walk-through windshield and a raised platform in the bow with compartments (also rotted). The boat had to be completely gutted. I don't remember for sure what the bill was, but I don't think $1800 would have covered it.

[herefish101]

just did my brother in laws brothers boat with doors in the floor and all that, took a bit longer but not too bad. i charged him 200 bucks. he did all the tear out, i just helped him get the carpet and then i put it in. again it came out perfect and hes happier than hell because he got some crazy quote from a pro, and he was going to sell his boat. slaped in some new plywood while we were at it, only up to the casting deck. but thats what i charge family members, i dont know this guy, if he can find a way to get a hold of me as im still pretty new to this site and dont know how everything works, but if he can i'll help the guy out.

[traveler]

"he got some crazy quote from a pro"

Yup, we're crazy as loons:)

[herefish101]

not the people just the prices.

[swamptiger]

Still don't see any quote for Umma Gumma....

[Umma Gumma]

Hey all,

Thanks for the information. I can see how it might be time consuming. The "putzy" work, as it was put, was a little bit what I was concerned with. With two kids at home (the oldest one being three!) I didn't know how much time I had to dedicate to it.

The boat does have side lockers and such, but I think I would leave those alone, as the carpet there is in pretty good shape. As I thought about it more, I'd be interested in more the flat surfaces, i.e. the front casting deck, main floor, and rear casting deck. How many boat carpet manufacturers are there out there? I don't know the specific "name" for my carpet color, but I may just get close and let the sun eventually do its thing. Is boat carpet like siding and ceramic tile, i.e. do they change colors every 6 months (I may be exaggerating there), or is it pretty consistent through the years?

Again, thanks for the ideas and help! I'm thinking I might just wait and give myself something to do this winter in the heated garage.

[swamptiger]

Quote:

Is boat carpet like siding and ceramic tile, i.e. do they change colors every 6 months (I may be exaggerating there), or is it pretty consistent through the years?

They come out with some new colors and patterns from time to time, but mostly pretty consistent - you should be able to find something close or maybe even the same thing if you look around.

[traveler]

No way a quote is possible without looking at it. Depending on the type/quality of carpet and the amount of labor, there are just two many variables.

[SkunkedAgain]

On my old boat, a 16.5 foot mid-80s Fisher, I put in new marine-grade carpet. The carpet and glue prices are about as stated above. I turned out pretty good, certainly better than how it looked initially. However, never having carpeted anything before in my life, there were things that I could've done better. Ripping out the old carpet wasn't hard and neither was installing it, but I think that it would help to have someone around who's done it before or is a carpet person. Give them a 12-pack of beers to come over, stand around, and give advice while you do the work.

I can understand why the pros here charge what they do. It's not difficult work but laying it all out right and doing it correctly takes some time. Pay it if you want or do it yourself. It's not that big of a deal.

Whenever the factory carpet dies on my boat, I'm going to put in a vinyl floor. I hate having to worry about having clean-ish boots before stepping into my boat.

[MIKE IN lINO III]

Umma,

I have a 16' Lund that I just refinished. I pulled all the old carpet out and the floor. I have a rod locker and front storage area that I took out when I remodeled. It's not that tough.

I would suggest gutting the boat rather than trying to just refinish the open area, reason being, the rod locker will cover and mistakes.

I bought Marine grade carpet from one of the big box stores, had to order it on line as they do not carry it in the stores. I bought a 6' x 20' roll for $100. I still have 1/2 of it left. The floor I bought from Segwick's in NE Mpls. 2 4 x 8 sheets cost approx $70. With stainless steel screws and carpet glue, I have about $210 into it. It turned out great.

I took pics of it if you want to see the project send me your e-mail.

MStelter at parkprint dot com

Good Luck.