HELP Cabin Carpet Removal

[Andy]

I must be whacked. I do not mind my carpet, liked it the first time I saw it.

I too 'like' the carpet; I don't 'love' it. It's harder to keep clean than just plain, bare gel-coat and/or painted fiberglass, but it adds a nice sound-deadening benefit, and is less likely to sweat/condense moisture when running in cold weather.... It's a cost-saving way to build; Parker and others just do it to save money. It is in no way considered a 'premium' feature on a boat. In the 1970's-1980's some cheaper boat builders used a cheaper type of the 'carpet' that was generally referred to as 'bunny fur'.... because, well it looked and felt like 'bunny fur'!

 

[dcunniff]

I can add to the furry story, a bit.

I actually feel fine with the carpet. The color. My one prior was another make's '86 22' after cabin, older but luxury blue down below and in non- vinyl cushions. But it was too small and more, I could not wait to switch it out.

Before that for a short time had a many owner traikerable coastal sailboat from the early 70s. Interior was laid out nice but one had done the interior in a rusty maroon with less focus on detail.. ... it was an out of business brand but I found a paper printout it. When new you could pick from 3 shag colors!!

 

[Macho]

I must be whacked. I do not mind my carpet, liked it the first time I saw it.

Wait until it looks like mangy donkey fur & smells like roadkill. I couldn't take it anymore. My '94 looks so much cleaner inside now but it was definitely not a fun project.

 

[dcunniff]

I am still admiring a '96! To each his own. Still looks beyond good.

But I understand the thought of carpet and boats.

 

[Davey D]

Well I finally finished my carpet removal and paint job of the pilot house of my 04 2520 XL and I just want to thank everyone on this amazing thread that has been so helpful. You all gave me the confidence to tackle this job. The glue removal was by far the worst part. I used wood chisels and a grinder with an 80 grit flap disc. Chemical removal did not work at all. It just made a gooey mess. Wearing a good quality respirator is really important. Anyway once the glue was removed, I wiped down the surface thoroughly with acetone and Pettit 120 thinner. I rolled/painted on two coats of Pettit EZ Prime and then finished with two coats of Pettit Hatteras Off-white Easy Poxy. I am very please with the final result. So clean and fresh. I hope this info is helpful to anyone attempting this job and thanks again to all. Much appreciated. Some pics attached. Any questions, happy to help.

 

[lougio]

I searched for a VERY long time to find a carpet (hull liner) that was an exact match to the original hull liner Parker used. When I started that project I wasnt sure I was gonna do more than the cabin ceiling, so matching it was very important to me.
I just went on the website of where I bought it, they are out of stock right now.
Here is a link:
https://jjautofabrics.com/rontex-marine-hull-liner-sand-blend-72-sold-by-the-continuous-yard/

Hey Warren, reviving your post from a few years ago. How many yards of this did you need? I'm about to get into the project and weighing my options on whether to re-carpet or to paint. Thanks!

Lou

 

[WarrenD]

Hi Lou, I guess it kind of depends on how much of your boat you are planning to do, and is it a 2320, 2520....? The difficult areas to do and come out looking professional and clean are the areas that require a seam. The cabin area is pretty straight forward, because the way I did it there are only a few very short (1"-2") seams. Try to plan it out so and seams you have are as short as possible. In the photo I am attaching, you will see how I placed the seam in a very short area.
If you plan to do the v-berth, the sidewalls are very easy. The ceiling is tricky since it has a big seam all the way across it, and if not done right it will show out like a sore thumb. I hired an upholstery guy to do my lid after realizing it was more difficult than I thought it would be.
When I started my project, I wasn't planning to do the v-berth, so I tried very hard to match the original hull liner. If I had it to do over again, and knew I was gonna do the entire interior, I wouldn't be so concerned with matching the original material. I would be more concerned with finding a material that came in wider rolls to eliminate the seam on the v-berth lid. I think I would also try to find something slightly darker, to not show dirt.
To answer your question though, you will need to measure the width of you Cabin lid and ad maybe 20%. You can use the same dimension for the back wall and side walls.

 

[lougio]

Thanks bro, I used Total Boat-Wet Edge Top Side Paint and I also used their primer. Picked it up on Amazon. For the primer I just went with white, and for the topside paint I went with Hatteras Off White. The Hatteras Off White matched my boat color perfectly.

Hey Gobbi, revisiting this thread like I do every year and was leaning toward going back with the carpet but now after seeing the pics of the painted interior I'll think I'll go that route. How many gallons of each did you go through? Thanks!

Lou

 

[Gobbi_Fishing]

Hey Gobbi, revisiting this thread like I do every year and was leaning toward going back with the carpet but now after seeing the pics of the painted interior I'll think I'll go that route. How many gallons of each did you go through? Thanks!

Lou

One gallon of primer and one gallon of paint should be sufficient for two coats of each.

 

[Ana]

This project was so sooo difficult for us. Granted it is just my husband and I, both being old and slow.

Last year I posted how we tried just one section, to see if we had what it takes to accomplish this. https://www.classicparker.com/threads/help-cabin-carpet-removal.19808/post-156231

At the time it felt the result of that section was ok, and we should go for it. That was February last year, we did remove the rest of the carpet right away, not because we were so eager to get it done but the thing was disgusting and just disintegrating more each day.
However we didn't want to stop using the boat, after a blink of an eye it was lobster mini-season, right away regular season and we just used the boat even if it looked like a ghetto cabin, with that red crap half removed. It is only my husband an I so the embarrassment wasn't public, but it was nasty. The thing is, we truly didn't love the result of the test section, even after all the sanding the surface wasn't nice. It was ok for that small area, specially since we added the cushion, plus that back bulkhead isn't a focal point when you're seated in the bench, at the helm or even if laying on the V-berth, but to have the the top that is such a big (ish) area with all those imperfections may bug us until the end of times, we both knew something different had to happen.
This January things got out of hand, the shade canvas also started to fall apart, making the ghetto feeling level up ten-fold. So we decided to add lightweight filler like they do on cars.
I can't stress enough what a horrible, time consuming, shoulder and knee killer, patience eating, almost divorce inducing, generally $htty job, that was.

I'll post some photos latter, it came up acceptable, not great by any means, but better that the test section. Honestly don't care about whatever details are less than perfect any more, it is done, it is a pleasure to clean, doesn't smell, our eyesight is declining anyway, and the bright white makes the cabin look bigger.

Just want to say if you have carpet in your cabin, the boat is out in the weather 24/7, you are younger than 50 or have younger than 50 people willing to help you, go ahead and deal with that carpet now. Don't wait until you are older even if you are in reasonable shape. This project is no joke.

Finally I can check this off the long to do list, now we can move on to cushions and new electronics. Before the 20th birthday (2026) this baby will shine like the day it came from the dealer.

 

[lougio]

Let the games begin! I started the carpet removal process this past weekend and I got most of the carpet out fairly easy. I was going to remove some hardware but I chickened out as some of the screws broke on the side portholes. I was able to cut out around the hardware and trim edges pretty neat with a blade however. I like the way Davey D's cabin turned out and may go with the Petit products he suggested. Gobbi's also looks nice. Any other suggestions? Thanks!

 

[lougio]

Have 90% of the crusty adhesive grinded away. What tip or tricks did you guys do to get all the hard to reach areas sanded and then painted? Thanks for any input.

 

[Davey D]

For the hard to reach places I used a ryobi die grinder with 2 inch 60-80 grit flap disks. I also bought a series of small wood chisels (1/4 inch and half inch) that worked pretty well. I saw your comment about the broken bolts, I had a few of those but most of them came out ok.

 

[afitzray]

Have 90% of the crusty adhesive grinded away. What tip or tricks did you guys do to get all the hard to reach areas sanded and then painted? Thanks for any input.

I hit all that adhesive with 80 grit to knock most of the easy loose stuff off then vacuumed all the left over dust. Sand paper in hand for the corners but don't get too picky. Primer will cover it so don't worry about getting every last bit of the adhesive. I used rustoleum boat primer and rustoleum topside paint from homedepot (not the best stuff but worked great for me). I figured you can be really thorough and use high end paints but the extra work and cost is not worth it.

You can start with a test area before you do the whole thing- do the minimum sanding and paint it. Then decide if you want to get really detailed with it.

 

[lougio]

I hit all that adhesive with 80 grit to knock most of the easy loose stuff off then vacuumed all the left over dust. Sand paper in hand for the corners but don't get too picky. Primer will cover it so don't worry about getting every last bit of the adhesive. I used rustoleum boat primer and rustoleum topside paint from homedepot (not the best stuff but worked great for me). I figured you can be really thorough and use high end paints but the extra work and cost is not worth it.

You can start with a test area before you do the whole thing- do the minimum sanding and paint it. Then decide if you want to get really detailed with it.

Yeah, that's what I've been hitting it with and even got the Dremel tool out and bought a bag of various shapes of 80 grit sanding wheels to get the tight spots. Priming and painting next week.

 

[Bodick93]

Man, that is beautiful. I have always had a dream of having the first Line-X Parker Pilothouse. You can get it in colors too.

 

[H3018]

Did the same thing to my 2320 few years ago, (page 1 of this post). You did an excellent job prepping. One tip, I removed all of the window frames, hatches, outside rails and and grab handle on cabin where studs and nuts were exposed on inside. Other than the hardware the only thing I had to reseal were the small side windows up front over the berths. Made finishing much easier.

 

[lougio]

First coat of primer. Total Boat primer.

 

[lougio]

First coat of Total Boat Topside paint.