05 RLXI rehab part one

[highlife02]

Well here is the "winter" project I am working on. This project started one night while drinking and seemed like a great idea, but it quickly went from a carpet replacement project into a rehab/upgrade project due largely inpart to all of your projects on here. The reason for the carpet replacement was #1the carpet in the bow was begining to pull away leaving a gap around the bow, #2 the carpet was very worn due to previous owner, and #3 it seemed like a good idea at the time

Well Here are the before pictures sorry about the bad pictures they were an after thought and didn't turn out real well. And the dryer sheets were in there for over a year while the boat sat in the place of moth balls and not one bug was inside the boat plus it smelt good when the cover came off.

[REW]

I am always amazed at the amount of dirt that gets into the crevases that we never see. Can't wait to see the finished project. Keep the pics comeing as you get each stage complete.

[vigwilson]

Tons of work highlife, I redid my 99 sunsetter vlx last spring, as you can imagine "nasty". Although a couple months later she was a gem, keep at it. Seems overwhelming but it pays off!

Before

After

Edited April 23, 2013 by vigwilson

[Bozboat]

Well here is the "winter" project I am working on. This project started one night while drinking and seemed like a great idea, but it quickly went from a carpet replacement project into a rehab/upgrade project due largely inpart to all of your projects on here. The reason for the carpet replacement was #1the carpet in the bow was begining to pull away leaving a gap around the bow, #2 the carpet was very worn due to previous owner, and #3 it seemed like a good idea at the time

Well Here are the before pictures sorry about the bad pictures they were an after thought and didn't turn out real well. And the dryer sheets were in there for over a year while the boat sat in the place of moth balls and not one bug was inside the boat plus it smelt good when the cover came off.

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It appears that tearing your boat down to the hull is contagious!

Have faith, just keep removing and cleaning. When its in this stage it is terrifying. But putting it back together is alot more fun and the end result is going to be awesome.

This is the first time I have seen the cross hose between the exhaust hoses forward of the mufflers. Wonder what that does?

Edited April 24, 2013 by Bozboat

[highlife02]

It appears that tearing your boat down to the hull is contagious!

Have faith, just keep removing and cleaning. When its in this stage it is terrifying. But putting it back together is alot more fun and the end result is going to be awesome.

This is the first time I have seen the cross hose between the exhaust hoses forward of the mufflers. Wonder what that does?

Boz

The only thing I can think of by looking at the hose connecting the two mufflers is a cross over between the two mufflers two help balance the exhaust pressure between both sides of the engine

[onamission]

Boz

The only thing I can think of by looking at the hose connecting the two mufflers is a cross over between the two mufflers two help balance the exhaust pressure between both sides of the engine

That's the Malibu Silent Rider Muffler option.

Took mine apart this winter just to clean out all the nooks and crevasses. Thought the bow was going to be nasty, we have a volleyball court in front of our slips. To my surprise there wasn't much anywhere other then between the rear seat and gas tank. Almost a waste of time, but now a know the boat is cleaner then new.

Edited April 24, 2013 by onamission

[highlife02]

Here are a couple of pictures of the new carpet in. Taking the old adhesive off was about a weeks worth of work. Started with a wire brush on a grinder, followed by Sentinal 787 i believe, followed by acetone, than another coat of sentinal, than power washing and so on. Also a lot of scraping with a putty knife was used throughout. I wasn't able to do a continous carpet piece up to the bow so now there is a seem with old carpet where the observers seat is but will be covered when the interior goes back in and I will finish it at a later date.

Used the old carpet as a template. All the dirt on there came out of the old carpet amazing and that was after a good cleaning before I took it out and getting moved various times after it came out.

Close up of tracing template. THe white line is the actual carpet and the black line is what I cut around giving myself about 2" of extra and some how that came in handy if I had to do it again I waould have left more before the final cut

Laying the carpet out in the garage. Had to do alot oif thinking to make sure the carpet was cut on the right side or it would have been an expensive mistake. Sorry about the mess but there are multiple projects going on at the same time. It is amazing how fast a 1000sq ft garage fills up

Prob the most important step. I marked the entire carpet with arrows to maintain the same direction throughout

[highlife02]

Here is the carpet about 80% done. All the main carpet is done. If I had to do it again I would have put the sides on first and than the floor. I believe I would have got a much better seam on the sides but all in all I am very satisfied with how it turned out.

Picture of the bow. This was the main reason for replacing the carpet. No more gap and peeling. Also putting painters tape on the sides was a great call to keep the glue off while adjusting. Still have old carpet in the storage areas but that will be replaced at a later date. Main focus is getting it back together before the season starts

Floor done

Sides done followed by alot of triming and placing all the floor fittings not fun.

[Woodski]

Super nice work, congrats. Where / what carpet (where did you buy / color / weight) did you get and are you happy with your choice. Does it match the original reasonably well? What glue did you end up using and how many knife blades did you end up using?

Thanks for the tips / post, I am a bit behind you on a carpet install. Your advice on extra would be how much more than 2" all around, then trim once glued down? Any technique tips on cutting the edges in the correct spot (particularly so one does not cut short).

The balance tube in the exhaust ahead of the mufflers does a couple of things: adds a bit of torque and balances the pulses, also will quiet the exhaust a bit more.

Edited April 27, 2013 by Woodski

[Slayer]

Nice wrk. Looks great!

[highlife02]

Super nice work, congrats. Where / what carpet (where did you buy / color / weight) did you get and are you happy with your choice. Does it match the original reasonably well? What glue did you end up using and how many knife blades did you end up using?

Thanks for the tips / post, I am a bit behind you on a carpet install. Your advice on extra would be how much more than 2" all around, then trim once glued down? Any technique tips on cutting the edges in the correct spot (particularly so one does not cut short).

The balance tube in the exhaust ahead of the mufflers does a couple of things: adds a bit of torque and balances the pulses, also will quiet the exhaust a bit more.

#1 The carpet I chose was from Corinthian Marine It was the Deluxe Cut pile sterling http://corinthian-marine-carpet.com/products/9/26 It is a 32oz weight. If you go to the website you can get free samples of carpet sent to you. I am very happy with the choice and it seems to be what is in all the newer boats. The color didn't match the old carpet exactly there seems to be light and dark fiber but it didn't matter since I planned on replacing everything already.

#2 The glue I ended up using for the floor and sides was Roberts 6700 indoor/outdoor carpet adhesive. I think I used about 2 gal so far. It claims it is rated for marine. I did a lot of google studying and people claim it works for them. The reason I did it verse a contact adhesive was the ability to move it around once it was down to get it in final place. Make sure to read the directions and get the right trowel for it or else it wont work. After I got it all down i used a carpet roller and rolled everything out to make sure the glue was spread to the floor and carpet. For the trim and small pieces I am using 3M super 90 spray contact adhesive it works ok nothing to special it is easy to work with but I would not recomend it on the floor as it is expensive and doesnt seem to hold as well if the piece is moved. Since this was my first time doing boat carpet and it was such a big piece, mobility was key. Also when glues make sure to tape off anything you dont want glue on. It will save alot of frustration later on and make the job look alot better. I was glad I did. I also took the side of an empty beer box and placed it under the trowel when I was moving it over the carpet saved me alot of spots on the new carpet.

#3 Knife blades I would probably by stock in the company first you are going to use a lot of them. Currently I am on about 12 right now and still have a ways to go. As soon as the carpet starts pulling out rather than cutting and you have to make multiple pass to cut change blades. I prefered to use a slide box cutter rather than a traditional razor knife because the gave me a better view of the cut. If you want one I might have an extra from my days as a grocery store stocker. I knew they would come in handy.

#4 When cutting "score" the carpet with either a flat head screw driver, pointed pick, or another use for the box cutter since it was small. The reason to do this is the blade will follow the line and you will get a percise cut. When possible cut on a 45 degree angle I will post a picture of the correct way to do it. Take your time cutting, and cut in small strokes to make sure you are in the right spot.

#5 Extra carpet I would say at least 3" min if you can more than do it that way you wont have a problem. Also that leads to an easier time when putting it in there will be less adjusting to make sure everything fits. Remove everything you can ie pylon and anything else that might be in the way.

#6 Floor prep is going to be the deciding factor to great carpet the more old glue you get off the better it is going to take time.

Any more questions fell free to ask I will share anything I can.

[highlife02]

So These were the screws holding the support bar for the motor box. When I opened It the bar just rolled back. I found out the the holes that were drilled through the support are to big for the screws so over time they bored out the mounting holes and bent.

The Marine-Tex on the floor is where the muffler wore through the gel and into the fiberglass

I took some Marin-Tex and filled the old holes in

[highlife02]

Painted the Marine-Tex Black. It could have used another coat since it shrunk when it dried but it is going to be covered up anyhow

[highlife02]

So this was the Idea I came up with It is flat aluminum bar stock that was drilled and threaded. It will be on the under side of the stringer folled by lock washers abd nuts. I was going to use lock nuts but after snapping the first one I decided against it. It was amazing at how hot the stainless screw got after putting it in just by hand

Side view of the new mount

Mount in place

Had the wedge bracket, swim platform mounts, and brackets powder coated raven black

[highlife02]

This is under the observers seat. I left the old carpet in there for right now until I get the rest of the boat back together so I can use it as soon as it gets warm. I didn't take much care to keep the glue off it since it is going to be covered and than replaced. This was the best looking carpet in the whole boat

[Woodski]

So, with a summer hopefully using the boat, how did everything fare over the summer? Thanks for all the tips as I am looking at a similar re-carpet job.

One of my debates is whether the sides really need.to be redone as there is no wear on the carpet, the match becomes the big question.

[Bozboat]

So, with a summer hopefully using the boat, how did everything fare over the summer? Thanks for all the tips as I am looking at a similar re-carpet job.

One of my debates is whether the sides really need.to be redone as there is no wear on the carpet, the match becomes the big question.

The sides are easy compared to the floor. Might as well get her all done.

[highlife02]

So, with a summer hopefully using the boat, how did everything fare over the summer? Thanks for all the tips as I am looking at a similar re-carpet job.

One of my debates is whether the sides really need.to be redone as there is no wear on the carpet, the match becomes the big question.

As Boz said if you are going to go through all the trouble of ripping everything apart to do the floor, you are better off to do the sides as well. The carpet still looks brand new, and everything is holding up. The carpet company I used now ships directly to residential addresses so that made ordering the extra carpet I needed easy.

Also know that everything is winterized I will have to finish posting the pictures and continue with part 2 of the rehab.

If you have any questions on your carpet I will help as much as I can.

The best advice I can give you is to start early so it will be done by spring because I started with the carpet and redid a bunch of other things in the process.

[Woodski]

@highlife: thanks, what color did you choose? I assume the 32 oz. is much plusher than what you removed, I recall the base carpet being around 22-24 oz. but you could upgrade to denser. My expectation is that it will take some time to complete.

[highlife02]

I went with the deluxe cut pile sterling from corinthian marine. It is 32oz very nice on the feet

[smooth as glass]

Nice job. lookin good. I'm thinking of redoing my original carpet on my 2000 SLXI. I'm thinking plush is not a priority but can you change my mind. I was thinking of going plastic outdoor carpet something easy to clean. I've spent way to many hours vacuuming and spent many dollars on carpet cleaning products.

[Nitrousbird]

spent many dollars on carpet cleaning products.

Don't use products. Just use a power washer - works really, really well. I power wash mine 1-2x a year and it is amazing how nasty the carpet really is. Suck dry with a wet vac and dry out in the sun.

[BlastRlxi]

Don't use products. Just use a power washer - works really, really well. I power wash mine 1-2x a year and it is amazing how nasty the carpet really is. Suck dry with a wet vac and dry out in the sun.

[highlife02]

I spend 95% of my time barefoot in my boat and love the way the carpet feels. I wouldn't think the plastic carpet would be comfortable after a while. Power washing is a great way to clean the carpet just make sure the nozzle is on a fan pattern also another way to clean carpet is heat up some water dump it on the carpet and vacuum it up with a wet dry vac. This is the same principal as a carpet extractor

[dtm8119]

I used this last spring and it worked really well.