putting in my seats???

[haskell112]

Hey,

      I" am going to be putting in carpet and seats into my 12 ft. fiberglass semi v shap boat, and i was woundering how you think i should put them in i was thinking to get some wood and stapple the carpet on the wood but how should i atach the wood to the fibergass seat

[Skwerl]

Stainless steel wood screws should work fine. My entire boat was assembled with screws. Every tiedown, hand rail, door hinge, seat mount, center console, windshield and rod holder is attached with stainless screws.

[Madhouse27]

I'd glue your carpet to the wood. Wrap it right around and then staple the back edges. Probably be a good idea to completely seal the wood before you start. I got some stuff at West Marine that did a great job on my last boat. If I remember right it was a two part deal, like an epoxy. You mixed it up and then just brushed it on like paint. Skwert had a good point. Go with stainless screws. They look good and will last.

[haskell112]

Thanks for the suggestions, how thick should the wood be, and what type, also how long should the screws be?

[Skwerl]

Is the plywood spanning a gap to create a raised floor? How big of a span between supports? You want as light as possible but still strong enough to not bow or crack. You can also build some lightweight support or bracing under the widest unsupported spans. Usually 3/8" or even 1/4" will work fine.

Screws need to be long enough to pass through the plywood and get a good bite on the underlying material. I'd think about 1/2" penetration into the fiberglass is good. Be aware of whatever might be behind what you're screwing into.

[haskell112]

Im not making a platform, i was only going to put swivle seats ontop of my benches and i wantes to carpet underneath the seats and i was woundering how to do this. i just painted the insid so it does not look that bad now

[Skwerl]

On my jon boat and my first gas powered boat I used the Swivel-Ease seat bases and pedestals. Personally I'd skip the plywood and mount the seat bases directly to the bench. Carpet can be installed afterwards with a razor knife and spray adhesive/ contact cement. Just cut out where the seat posts drop into the holes.

What I did in my 14" aluminum boat to eliminate stepping on the ribs in the floor was to use 1/4" plywood and wrap it in carpet after cutting it to fit the floor area. Made a perfect drop-in floor and eliminated stepping in puddles or dropping fish hooks down into the cracks. Made it very comfortable to go barefoot in the boat.

[haskell112]

I was thinking that but when the caroet gets all gross, and moldy and smelly, and i want to replace it when i rip it off ill have all the glue stuck on the seat, and i was thinking with the plyewood i aould just redo the carpet on the plye wood and avoid the mess of the glue

[haskell112]

Yeah your right ill forget about the plywood but you think you could help me out with this

http://www.bassresource.com/bass_fishing_forums/YaBB.pl?num=1145239550

[Madhouse27]

I was thinking that but when the caroet gets all gross, and moldy and smelly, and i want to replace it when i rip it off ill have all the glue stuck on the seat, and i was thinking with the plyewood i aould just redo the carpet on the plye wood and avoid the mess of the glue

Haskell, this carpet is probably going to last you five or six years if not longer. You may not even still have this boat at that point. If you do it would probably be just as easy to simply unscrew your carpeted plywood seat covers and replace them with completely new ones. At that point I think the wood is going to probably be in worse shape than the carpet is. Personally I think you would be happier with the results by glueing them to the plywood. I like skwerl's floor idea for your boat. I did a similar thing to my last boat and it really tied the whole project together nicely. It's just like when you are looking at a house. The first thing you notice whethere you realize it or not is the floor. With a carpeted mini floor put in and the seat tops done this thing will look tight.