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Comments
Dream 'Inn III -- 2008 400 Express
Ok so final post unless anyone has any questions. I will tell you that I am definitely happy I tackled this job. You just don’t realize how bad the carpet is or how much it truly contributes to the overall smell of the cabin till you see it out of the boat. If you have carpet that is 15 plus years old. Put this on your to do list. You will be happy you did. The primary tools needed were a Phillips head screw driver, floor scraper, hammer, pry bars, drill and staple gun. On the 342 I had to disassemble the rear berth area and remove all the drawers from everything. Then I unscrewed the dinette seat and backing, table posts and cabinet under the front berth. I did not remove the two tall cabinets. I just back cut the carpet enough so that I could slide the new carpet under the edge.
Removing the carpet is all by hand. A sturdy floor scraper and a hammer. The glue they use could survive a nuclear holocaust. You want to get it out in large sections so you can use it as a template on your new carpet. Cant stress that enough. There just isn’t room in the boat to maneuver a big piece of carpet. There were several items that I broke getting out and just simply rebuilt. The step up to the forward berth, carpeted molding along the port side of the boat, etc… this is all easily rebuilt and recommended to redo with fresh wood. The old wood had absorbed odors and needed to go. You are going to need a staple gun and SS staples. Several pieces have to be covered as if they were upholstery.
As for carpet and glue. I did a lot of research and there really isn’t anything special about the carpet that is in the cabin. Just find a good quality polyester carpet from a local store. It resists mold and mildew better than nylon. Don’t go cheap either. In my boat I used a 12x14 foot piece of carpet This isn’t something you want to redo in a few years. As for glue. Not all glue is created equal. I found out that some just doesn’t do well adhering to fiberglass. I ended up using CMC Marine and outdoor carpet adhesive D113. 2 gallons. Finally, prepare to go buy a bunch of new screws from WM. I stripped many getting them out and I also replace many with shorter ones. I don’t know why Rinker loves using 2 ½ screws when ones that are 1” would work just fine. I mean seriously it is just molding. All in all the job took me 6 days working alone and under $600. Any questions on how to disassemble the entire cabin on a 342 and I can probably answer them.