I am investing into a full canopy for fly bridge and back raised deck of Californian. I would enjoy some comfortable indoor/outdoor carpeting, but will not be glueing to deck. Probably will use some industrial Velcro strips along edge. Suggestions for carpet without breaking the bank? One price I received was $1,000 for 8x10 piece. Ugh. I want carpet to be heavier as compared to lightweight. Suggestions.
We got our replacement cockpit and bridge carpet from Corinthian Marine Carpet (Corinthian Textile Solutions; corinthiantextiles.com) and we've been very pleased with it. The one we chose is called Cabo Desert Sand (color; it's a sort of Berber weave) and with their AquaLoc backing. We also did a binding upgrade, to Sunbrella.
It was not inexpensive, but...
The backing is a big deal, for us, especially given the exposed cockpit. Our original carpet had some kind of black rubber backing that eventually deteriorated, and it was just nasty stuff. Ground into the non-skid; even with a floor cleaner, power washer, and hand scrubbing, it was a bear to finally get all that off...
And the AquaLoc is said to be wonderful. So far (since 2012, in the cockpit) so good.
In fact, great. We re-did the bridge in 2014, and while we were at it, we also have a couple pieces made to fit/cover the "wood" (Amtico) floor surfaces in the galley and head.
The carpet is substantial enough to provide some useful cushioning (I have an issue that requires cushioning), it's heavy enough that we don't usually bother to snap it down, and we can just hose it down with our electric power washer occasionally to remove whatever dirt (and usually pollen) that may have built up over time. (Or vacuum, on the bridge or the interior pieces.) It dries quickly enough, after a hard rain (or a powerwashing)... but that usually means over the course of a dry day or so.
We also found it useful to be able to supply our own templates. I could have ordered from the OEM provider -- and would have, except they had no better backing at the time -- but the original OEM design for our cockpit was absolutely stupid. (Had to move all 3 sections to open a hatch.) Our redesign fixed that.
The current carpet shows no wear at all. In fact, I just powerwashed the cockpit sections 2 days ago, and yesterday it was dry and looked like new.
The original carpet was beginning to be hosed (the backing) when we got the boat in 2005, approx 3 years old... We put up with it for a long time after that, but it was just a major pain in the a$$... so I didn't mind springing for a few more buck$ to try to get something less irritating.
-Chris
