Faux teak flooring for the cockpit, revisited: Best of breed among Plasdeck, MarineMat and others?

LaRea

Old discussion, need latest.  For cockpit and swim platform flooring, who has good recent experience with products such as PlasDeck, MarineMat, Permateek or others?  

I'm looking for a glue-down solution for the cockpit and swim platform.  Heat is a huge issue here in Virginia.  I want it to be durable, not a 3-year solution.  Slip resistance is also important, but I think most of them are good in that respect.

Ian

I would go with MarineMat any day, very happy with it. They all get hot but it was the coolest of them all after sitting a number of samples in full sun for a while. Has a memory foam content that is very soft on the feet but even if you leave something on it like a tool box, the impressions come out. Stick down platform and steps, snap down the rest. Pull them up every few weeks and wash on dock with boat soap, soft brush and hose off and they dry quick. I posted pics in here somewhere.

LaRea

How would you compare the level of maintenance of MarineMat vs. carpets?

Dream_Inn

I've not found one yet that isn't hot in the sun, even in cockpit.  I've rafted with a few and they always need to put water on it.  Main reason I won't have it, but I also like my cockpit carpet.  We always re move shoes when entering, so it stays clean.  I pressure wash it once a year...sorry, you probably didn't want my rant or opinion.🤗

Liberty44140

LR, my boat came with flexiteak from the factory and that’s what I have. It is the same as Plasteak, it is a vinyl teak. There are things I love about it. Very durable, don’t care about really any stain, regular soap takes care of most spills, decreaser takes out the hard ones and if all out fails you can sand it. You can sand it with no worries as it’s solid, mfg told me I can sand it every year if I want. We gave the entire thing a light sand and it looked like new. You can power wash but I’ve never done that. Don’t care about people coming on board with shoes on, in fact we say leave them on unless going down below. Will last forever, it’s 13 years old now. 

Now the major con, it’s hot on the feet. Not just kinda hot, it is totally Fing hot. I am able to make woven vinyl carpet for boats so I bought scraps on eBay and made a few custom rugs which were a huge help and actually look really nice. Swimming on a hot Saturday we are always trying to keep the swim platform wet so that we can walk and the dogs feet are ok, we have raw water wash back there. That’s really the only con but it’s a big one. 

I can’t tell you right now what I would do given the choice. I made custom woven vinyl for our 342 and absolutely loved it.... but it was kinda hot and like sea deck won’t last forever, after 5 years some binding must be re done. I really like sea deck but I struggle with gluing something like that down in the entire cockpit.

Very personal preference so good luck. 

LaRea

Hah - I just found my own thread on this topic from last year.  Then, as now, I was hoping somebody would suggest a product that doesn't get hot.  Apparently, no such product exists.  It might have something to do with laws of physics.  

I do know that if I cut my own template and install the product myself, I'd spend about $40 per square foot.  That's 4x the cost of carpet, and good carpet will last 6-7 years.  

Aqua_Aura

I love the feel of our SeaDek flooring over the previous carpet we had or just the grip surface on the gel coat. It is easy to clean and so far still looks new after a couple years. The look is much better as well. 

Liberty44140

Templating is crazy easy. Just put down some heavy plastic sheeting from a big hardware store and start marking with a marker..... then trimming  

Dream_Inn

LaRea said:

 That's 4x the cost of carpet, and good carpet will last 6-7 years.  

I bought my carpet when I bought my boat, 2012.  It still looks brand new, seriously.  And you know, I've had 2 kids grow up on the boat.  I also boat with another family from our dock that has younger kids eating a lot on our boat.  I keep a can of Hot Spot for anything that spills (& we've had lots of wine spill, even an entire bottle).  The grey backing is amazing and is just like the day I bought it.  Stays very cool in the summer and no big deal if it gets damp from swimming, although I usually put a towel down at the entrance.  When going barefoot, there isn't stuff that always sticks to your feet cause you didn't sweep 10 minutes ago either.   Man, I could go on...I guess I sure have an opinion. 

But, I will say, I had always liked carpet in the salon area, until I bought this boat.  I do really like my teak floor down below.  So, my mind can change.

Handymans342

@Dream_Inn. Even the light gray is too hot? Hmmmm

YYZRC

I had light grey Chinese SeaDek in my last boat and it was good except that if you dropped something it would nick the surface and looked bad. 

For the Rinker I bought woven vinyl "Flexa" from marinevinylfabric.com and cut to fit and then had it bound. You can either glue it or snap it, I went with snaps because I didn’t want 76 pieces of carpet to allow access to the bilge. 

Photo before binding. 

I'm very happy with it, it's not too hot (but definitely does absorb heat) and it feels great underfoot.  I thought it was very reasonably priced as well.

https://www.marinevinylfabric.com/products/marine-vinyl-woven-flooring-flexa

LaRea

@Dream_Inn who made your carpets?

Handymans342

@LaRea. I got my carpets from Snapincarpets.com

YYZRC

LaRea said:

I do know that if I cut my own template and install the product myself, I'd spend about $40 per square foot.  That's 4x the cost of carpet, and good carpet will last 6-7 years.  

...and it never looks right because the edges aren't finished.  IMO the EVA foam only looks good when it's properly routed/cut from a template.

I made up the CAD templates for my old boat and had them made in China, total cost was under $700 shipped:
https://everythingmarine.myshopify.com/products/1999-2005-four-winns-268-vista-cruiser-swim-platform-cockpit-eva-teak-decking

Dream_Inn

LaRea said:

@Dream_Inn who made your carpets?

Mine were done locally be a place called "Creations by Taylor" in Edgewater.  He just retired though.  It's also why I just finished sewing up my rear canvas myself.  I've been trying to get it thru the guys on here, but Ameritex is not responding. My sewing job doesn't look half bad, but I would order new if I could get it.

davidbrooks

@Dream_Inn Iused to use Creations by Taylor also and was bummed when they told me they were closing shop.  I did find another guy in Silver Spring but the jury is still out if i will recomend him.  Kind of sketchy. @LaRea I had snap in carpet in my last boat which was a bowrider and i really liked it vs what i have now.  I have gone back and forth over replacing mine with carpeting.  The swim deck though would have to be something else.  Carpeting on that just wouldnt work.  My flooring was put down by the PO so i am not sure of the brand.  It can be sanded but it doesnt look quite the same.  It is definitely a plastic material and the heat is crazy.  We have to leave towels down if we bring dogs on board.

LaRea

What I'm hearing is that unless you're north of the 45th parallel, fake teak is too hot for the swim platform, and even too hot for a covered cockpit.  You guys talking about using water and towels ... I'm not down with that.  

YYZRC

@LaRea why do you want to do your swim platform?

Handymans342

Leave it alone. 

LaRea

The swim platform would be to improve appearance, reduce footprints and improve traction for safety.  I mean, fake teak does look really nice when done right.  

mattie

Had PlasDeck installed on our 276BR. Silver with blue lines. Matched really well with the navy hull sides. Looked awesome & very durable. Swim platform & walk-thru. Enjoyed it while we had it.

But HOT.
Thought briefly about doing a different color on our current boat. 

My experience would say leave the swim platform as gelcoat. 

edit: PlasDeck is tough stuff tho, had marina stacking staff drag the pulpit & anchor from another boat across the swim platform. Looked like the deck material was ruined. Smeared the colors, etc.
Watched a repair vid from Plasdeck - heat gun, sandpaper, wirebrush - good as new.

Raven

I would highly recommend CoolTeak by Plasdeck. It’s cool on the feet and stands up to 3 dogs onboard.  We specifically bought it because of the durability and lower temperature in the sun   

davidbrooks

@Raven that looks really nice. Always good to get a firsthand review.

mattie

Hey Raven, if was was gonna install again, Plasdeck CoolTeak for sure. Some neat colors.

Ian

I’d still go with MarineMat again and never had the need to put down extra coverings or water down to cool off. As mentioned earlier I got many different samples and sat out in the sun and MM felt the coolest of all.Even carpet can get hot in full sun and no matter how well you take care of it after a while it will show it’s wear. Mine lasted around 12-13 years but the edges started to fray and the backing crumbled and recoats don’t last. If they get wet it takes a while to dry.

LaRea

Unfortunately, CoolTeak only has a couple of color choices, and they don't work for us.

Liberty44140

LaRea said:

What I'm hearing is that unless you're north of the 45th parallel, fake teak is too hot for the swim platform, and even too hot for a covered cockpit.  You guys talking about using water and towels ... I'm not down with that.  

Yes it is freaking hot, but not where covered. Under the hard top its cool on the feet, but out in the sun like the swim platform - crazy hot. 

I am in the polymer compounding business and am familiar with CoolTeak. We have looked at using it. It keeps the deck 10 degrees F cooler in the sun than it would be if it had no cooling additive. On a hot sunny day in July I don't know that 10 degrees is enough in bare feet, but sure many times that is likely a nice difference. 

If you've ruled out hard plastic, which I'd completely understand given the hot coal feature, I would go with vinyl weave carpet. We just loved ours. First summer I think we talked about what an upgrade it was on the 342 every day! I made the swim platform in to 3 pieces for easy storage, was great to have it back there. Most of the time I took it off while on plane but I left it on a couple of times (used extra hard grip snaps) and it held fine. 

Aqua_Aura

Just look at the difference though, you can't leave the platform naked. It does get pretty warm for the parts that have sun on them however when it's warm we are usually swimming anyway and the floor gets water on it or we can spray it with the wash down sprayer. 

Grahamu

I'm being quoted CDN $2,000 (US$ 1,400) for fitted vynel carpet for the cockpit. How does that compare to a teak alternative. I wouldn't do the swim platform as my dinghy is on it most of the time unless at anchor , flip flops or a bucket of lake water if it's too hot

LaRea

I have an estimate from PlasDeck.  If I create a template, they custom-cut it and send me the pieces, and I install them, it's $40 US ($50 CDN) per square foot.  

They also have a DIY product, ship-lap in 6" strips, for about half that price.

Grahamu

How many square feet would it take for the cockpit? The shapes are so irregular how do they work that out as there is wastage.