rhino89523

In the words of the late Guru of Gang Starr......Skills. Dam thats some series work and the results are sick. I like your second steering wheel.

I had to do a similar repair to my wifes jeep when I backed it into the garage door...yeah I'm an idiot. Hardest part on the jeep was matching the stipple finish they use on the new tops after making the fiberglass repair.

Great video quality, I like the time spent messing with angles and placement...very scientific. Want to know what that song is as well.

Man that looks nice!!! You make me feel lucky, my boat had snap in carpet.

Figured I would update this a little. I ended up pulling all of this out and prepping the floor at the end of last summer. I waited a bit and ended up going with Gatorstep in similar colors. Sort of anticlimactic as it looks almost the same as before but better. Since gatorstep starts off with a blank slate and CNC,s the whole thing it has cleaner nicer lines. Gatorstep cuts on a 45 instead of 90 and I like that a lot too. The Chinese stuff was soooo slick I was originally going to go with the molded stuff that has a bunch of little dimples and got talked out of it by Gatorstep's rep named Mason Obray. The Gatorstep isn't slick at all and it stays cleaner and cleans up easier than the knock off stuff did. I have no signs of any delam and we are almost done with a full year, by this point last year I was missing full strips and it looked like crap. I definitely recommend spending the extra dollars on Gatorstep..... I don't know about seadeck but I am sure it would be quality as well. The process for Gatorstep is simple. If they have your boat as a template you have them send you the templates, they charge you like $50 but it is applied to your order if you go with their flooring. You make sure it fits the way you want and if you like it cool. In my case it needed some small adjustments. I made the adjustments and sent back the templates. They sent me back a new set of templates with the changes....at this point I was happy so they sent over the "artwork" which is just how the design will look on each sheet. I gave the O.K. sent my money and a week later it showed up. It really isn't a project to install, you pull off the backing and stick it, it fits perfect, Gatorstep has some deal with the adhesive where you can pull it and restick it....I did that in a few spots and it worked out cool, I like that feature. I am super happy with my flooring, I don't slip on it and it looks sweet, it stays cool and clean and I have a 100% satisfaction rating.

Think I have made up my mind...of course it's going to cost me more and be way less of a DIY project. I think I am going with the molded Gatorstep. I can still have my spongy feel, I can still have the grey I liked, I can still have sort of the teak look with the 2 tone greay and black but the top sheet has all these little dimpled bubbles that I think will keep old clumsy from slamming the deck again. I'm getting too old to be taking diggers for no reason, If I'm going to take a slam I want it to be worth it, not stepping through with a tube in my hands....Lame!!!

Yeah when I was talking with them I was hoping they would replace a few sheets for free...that wasn't offered so I'm pretty much thinking different brand. I am just not feeling the look of the dimpled stuff the way I love the look of this faux teak...but I am a function over fashion kind of guy.

In my above post, where I was asking if anyone has dealt with the adhesive between the EVA and the floor I was talking about removing this stuff. The connection between the material and the floor is so solid I picture it coming up in little foam pieces and being a royal pain, then trying to get the glue off after removing the EVA being a pain as well. I kind of see that being the "nobody wants to talk about it but gasoline takes it off the best" sort of deal that you then have to with some other product to get the gas residue before trying to stick down whatever you are putting on there next.....all of the removal I think might take as long as the install so when I add that to the time of this whole project....you get the idea.

The adhesive isn't an issue on the floor prep part of it, the stuff stuck down to the floor awesome. My issue is between the black base EVA and the grey upper layer EVA it has separated at corners and in some instances the whole strip. I have two rows that I just pulled that are now just black runs. I feel this is full on the Chinese knock off issue. The company has been pretty cool about it, assured me they have updated there laminating process and offered me a discount on a reorder. They also have a new product that the router is set at a 45 so the edges might be less likely to lift. All that said I am having trouble going back to this brand. The material was a substantial discount over other brands for sure, but the time involved in the install was really the cost. I busted this out basically in one long work day (like sun up to late night), but I have so many projects and so many different toys I try to keep running that I need a one day project like this to last longer and I am willing to double the materials cost to achieve this if that's what it takes. My boat also has the cooler in the windshield walkthrough so whatever material I use I think I would like it to glue down. I think I am pretty well set on running some sort of EVA again, but I am leaning towards something with some bumps.

So I have to come back to this project....Yeah it's time for a redo Things I like about this product: The look when completed Things I didn't like: It de- laminated between the 2 sheets really soon after install and I was having to glue it back together, it can be kind of slick, it doesn't offer as much grip as I thought it would, it can show dirt really easy, just jumping in and out of the boat taking my shoes off it can show dirt on the grey. So I am kicking around my next move. If anyone has dealt with the adhesive that holds it to the floor I am all ears, would love to hear how that went. For the next go around, I do like the spongy feel under my feet so I have been thinking of doing something more like the molded stuff that has more of a grippy shape, like the jet ski hydroturf or whatever that stuff is called. I really dig the look of the faux teak in the grey and black...thought it looked way cool but I have slipped on my ass from it and the delam issue sucks. I think I could fix the delam issue by going with a different brand but I feel like it might still be slick. We never wear shoes on our boat and I have seen others slip...I may be the only one who hit the deck, at least it was soft I guess. I don't really want to go back to carpet and I don't really love the fuzzy look of the miners moss (No offense to those who have it, I'm not trying to be that guy) Thoughts????

My project started from the needing the shaft bearing side and deciding to do the seal at the same time. I'm a full summer in now and have not even had to think about that seal. Your write up and pictures are killer and will be helpful I'm sure. For me the bearing went really easy, I used a really long sawzall blade and just kept it flat...didn't cut into the strut at all. Tapped the rubber/bronze deal out...had the glides in the freezer and just tapped those in, think I had to use a piece of wood on the top side to slam it in.

Thats kind of a good call, I end up all twisted laying in my locker almost dislocating my shoulder to grease that sucker up and there is plenty of room to remote zerk that thing...adding remote zerk to my little list.

When I did my Glide bearings I had to pull the rudder to clear the shaft, I did a very similar ghetto floor jack lift procedure to get it out. I should have done this while it was out but didn't. Now I think this is on my list just because. $50 for the re seal kit seems steep for what is provided, they are proud of those parts. Nice write up, great job. You say you are not an expert but in one of the photos it is clear that you are wearing latex gloves...It just doesn't get more pro than that Doctor Rugger...haha.

I would love to have closed cooling. I run in Pyramid that is Briny so I wouldn't be running salt through my motor. Like you said car motors like antifreeze. In my dirtbikes I usually run distilled water but you always add water wetter to lube up all the seals and keep the water pump alive, our boats are not getting any love in the lube department. The 5 minute winterization would be sweet as well just pop a plug or 2 and dump the manifolds, I keep my boat in my back garage/man cave so it's not too bad of a deal because I don't really have to worry too much about it freezing but I would love to know I have coolant flowing around in my motor instead of salty water or dirty abrasive water. I winterized on my way back from Powell once because I couldn't drive anymore (too tired) and it was supposed to Freeze that night....anything to make that process go a little quicker and be more sure I'm not going to crack anything I am into.

I'm joking, project people are always their own worst critics. I look at it and think "man that looks sweet!!!!!!" you see every flaw and pitfall you fell into along the way. It's like the curse of doing everything yourself. It looks really great and has given me some Ideas for something I might want to do in the future. I appreciate the offer....pretty darn cool of you.