Carpet vs. Vinyl Deck ?

[ChrisD46]

For those who have bass boats where a vinyl deck was offered as an option - what factored into your decision and if you started over would you choose vinyl decking again ?

For those who stayed with the standard carpeted decking - are you happy with your decision and if you could start over would you choose carpet decking again ?

[S Hovanec]

I've had both.  Vinyl is easy to clean and dries quickly. It's great for winter fishing. It's also hard on the knees when you kneel down.

My current boat has carpet.  If I ever get another boat, it will have vinyl with the optional snap in carpet.  Best of both worlds.

[S. Sass]

I was just watching some videos on this and some are using coatings with a grit in them. Something like paint with sand in it but it wasn't sand. They raved about how it works so good. It did look awesome as far as cleaning with a hose should be a snap. But I was thinking about my knees and was like not a chance. 

[IndianaFinesse]

I prefer carpet as it is easier to kneel on and it dampens the noise a little.  The down side to it is that it doesn't last forever, gets dirty easily, and is hard to clean.  Even with all of the downsides, the good things about carpet out weigh the bad.

[ChrisD46]

So far , I am in the carpet camp... Aprevious boat with a vinyl deck was slippery and marred easily . I would be concerned a paint with grit in it for traction would be harde to clean as the grit would hold dirt . In the end I thin I'd reather just scotch guuard  the heck out of the carpet and do my best to keep it clean .

[Robeng]

Agree with above.  I have 25 year old carpet -original in Lund.  Still going strong.  Though like idea of rinsing out like a fiberglass boat.  Next time I'd get snap in carpet.  

[gim]

I have the polymer-vinyl-non skid coating material in my bass boat.  I actually wanted marine carpet simply because that's what I had been used for 15 years in the previous boat, but the salesman talked me into the hard surface when I bought the boat.  It usually costs more for the hard surface and he gave it to me at no charge.  It is a grayish color with grip flakes in it.  I have been able to wash it down like a car from front to back more easily than carpet and it does not stain.  Also, I have a yellow lab and we all know labs shed, so that was another selling point.  I've been out in the hot sun for a max of about 5 hours and it does not get hot (my seats actually do get noticeably hot, but not the floors).  Its definitely harder on my feet and knees but I'm still young so that is not a huge issue (yet).  Another disadvantage of the hard surface is that some items "slide" on it more easily.  It does not get slippery when wet because of the grip flakes.  My parents have a deep V tournament walleye fishing boat (Warrior 2090) and they have the hard surface on the floor but they have carpet up on the front deck.

[crypt]

went with carpet for the reason that it won't scratch the hell out of my rods and reels.plus I like to fish barefooted and it's better on my feet.also quieter,softer to sleep on, whenever the club does our annual 24 hour tourney,you gotta take a nap !