Alcanboats Forum

We took the Carpet out of the Carole Ann and want to replace it with something that looks like wood.

We want it to be light weight, durable, and easy to clean. I have shopped around and saw that there are several "strip" vinyl products out there that look great. One variety is adhesive backed and is stuck directly to, in my case, the plywood floor. Another variety is a floating floor concept, where the strips feature overlapping adhesive edges - the strips do not stick directly to the plywood subfloor. This system lets the vinyl floor float as it expands and contracts with temperature changes - the trick is to give a gap to grow under the edge molding.

Trouble is these floor covering systems are intended for controlled environment spaces - suppliers all say you can't put it on a house cruiser which, in my case, will have large temperature swings.

I about ready to damn the torpedoes and install the floating floor and I was curious to know if anybody in Alcanland had words of wisdom, or a better idea.......

Salut, Walt

Hi Walt,

Oddly enough, David and I were just having this same discussion by email . . .
I have carpeted Catherine Ann twice in the time that we have had her, but even good quality, short nap carpet does not seem to last very long and is not very "nautical" looking anyway. Something that installs in strips would certainly be easier to handle than fitting carpet around all the obstacles inside the boat. The additional consideration that we have is dogs. The one area of hardwood that we have at home is very "distressed" from the dogs racing across it. So natural wood is not for us. The one good thing about carpet is that it is very secure underfoot, wet or dry. You would not want to install something that is slippery, or gets slippery when wet. I have considered some of the cork flooring products, but I can't get a good answer on their wet/dry performance. Expansion and contraction should not be as big a concern as in a large rectangular room. All areas are small (by house standards) so expansion per strip will not add up the same as in a large room. I will be interested to learn what you choose and how the installation goes.

Rob

Here's the Allure Traficmater flooring in the Carole Ann.