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  • Centurion Avalanche Floor Update


    rhino89523
    • Year: 2005 Brand: Centurion Model / Trim: Avalanche Cost: $250-$499 DIY or Professional Install: I installed it

    So After getting onto this website and being the project junky I am I decided to take on this flooring project. I used the seadeck copy stuff from China and my experience was the same as everyone else, 2 weeks, showed up, well packaged, seems pretty nice. I had studied a little bit on here and decided to go with a straight plunge router bit as I felt it matched the factory lines the best. I used a router table for all the straight lines and a trim router for the curves.596390d5b66f2_floor2.JPG.01aba65227331fdc71d29f376c36d90a.JPG596390ac5753e_floor4.JPG.386b6ee4e8dbf6f8f9dd79e433100e7d.JPG

    So for the curves I just free handed them, I would run all the straights and then mark where I wanted it all to go with a sharpie then free hand it looking through the trim router cage.596391698530c_floor9.JPG.b1ddd249b603525f2a56ba69ff89c5c5.JPGfloor10.JPG.3840a88261cd3c9e7a46c95306664e48.JPG

    A59639280e1585_floor7.JPG.9dcfb602a9d0aca3a2ade111c9cd3b61.JPG

    After kind of roughing it in I would go back and hit it again in the spots needed, or you can sand it a little too

    floor.JPG.49908f50dd439004535d73d5bce9a2f7.JPG

    This was my first little tester piece.

    596393444a3e4_floor8.JPG.bb4683daee47d8b78b963360bed18f21.JPG

    So this project took me probably 10 hours, getting the old crap off there and cleaning up the glue took some time, and templeting took a bunch of time. I used Mylar and tape and my patterns were one time use, I guess I could have used them again but I didn't save them. I do not think this is the best way to do this, I think the wood templets used as a guide for the router provides the best results but in all honesty if I had done it that way this is a project I wouldn't be getting to for a while. I went for it and am happy with the results, it looks good but not perfect, I had trouble placing the pieces, this stuff is sticky and once you start a piece you are stuck with where it lays....or fresh cut. I got better at everything as the project progressed. The tighter the corner the harder it was (for me anyway) to make the cut. The final results are great on the feet, this stuff doesn't get hot and feels nice. I had 2 issues with the material itself. 1 piece was not squared up meaning the lines did not run perpendicular to the sheet so i had to square up the cuts, not a big deal but had to pay attention. I had another sheet that had some seam separation between layers, of course I didn't find it until we used the boat and some started looking like crap. I have since glued it down but that was a bit disappointing, hopefully that is the only piece, it separated in the middle of a full strip, not on one of my router lines. All and all I am very happy.....is it as full on pimping as a fully custom CNC cut seadeck job?....No, but for less than $500 and how hard we use our boat, this is just what the doctor ordered.  The very last picture here is pre cleaning, this is how it looked with the work finished before I put a little elbow grease back in it. I cleaned it all pretty thoroughly, and we used it the next day. I have 2 full sheets left over and a bunch of pieces, I think I could get pretty close to doing this again. Probably should have just cut doubles of everything...hindsight!!!! 


    User Feedback

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    Number9

    Posted

    That is awesome.  $500 is nuts.  Thanks for sharing it

    rhino89523

    Posted

    probably less than $500, the materials were a little over $300, I bought a new router bit for $20 and some Mylar for $20, I bought a couple rolls of blue tape.....then added my 10 hours of labor so it's probably a wash with the price of Seadeck...haha

    Rugger

    Posted

    7 hours ago, formulaben said:

    Where do you find the Chinese knockoff?

    Look on the Resources page under flooring. This one is marine deck factory.   

    rhino89523

    Posted

    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????

     

     

    Rugger

    Posted

    How much of adhesive issue was due to floor prep vs the brand do you think?  Thoughts would be to prep it differently... but that depends on answer above.  

    That miners Moss is growing on me to be honest.   The simplicity of it might win me over... but it certainly doesn’t look as good as the brown/reddish teak and black EVA

     

    rhino89523

    Posted

    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.

    Rugger

    Posted

    Gotcha... in that case then, I think the decision is made.   I agree... I'd go w/ different brand unless they are wiling to replace order for free.   Bummer.

    I'm a clutz, so if you slipped I probably would too.  Good info.   

    rhino89523

    Posted

    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.

    rhino89523

    Posted

    2 minutes ago, Rugger said:

    Gotcha... in that case then, I think the decision is made.   I agree... I'd go w/ different brand unless they are wiling to replace order for free.   Bummer.

    I'm a clutz, so if you slipped I probably would too.  Good info.   

    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.

    Rugger

    Posted

    16 minutes ago, rhino89523 said:

    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.

    You could call or email them and point a link to these projects --  they should pay attention.   I know people here and other sites were staying away from it after Hyperryd mentioned his diamond pattern peeling.    If they now have a better product at a much better price than most, then perhaps they'll want to get that message out there?   Worth a shot. 

    Or just turn the page and get something else.   I hear you on the teak... looks sooo awesome.

    rhino89523

    Posted

    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!!!

    Dangib

    Posted

    Wow glad I found this I was about to pull the trigger on the  marine deck factory but I’m thinking I will hold out for something better. Everyone says how they love something but never reports back after some use so thanks.

    rhino89523

    Posted

    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.

    • Like 1


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