EDIT: For some reason the iphone pics didn't load. I converted to jpg and reuploaded.
Saw someone else's project on here (conwaylale) and had to do mine.
I mulled the options around for a while, order the raw material and cut it out myself or do the Seadek or Gatorstep "templates". Seadek didn't have a template and I didn't want to do the plastic thing. Gatorstep already had a template for the 21v which I though might be the same as 2100v but wasn't sure...and they wanted $1600 with a 2 month+ lead time so that was hardly even considered. But I figured there was something in-between, so after seeing decent review about the adhesion quality of Melors, I googled them which turned up their website. I have CAD experience from school so I sent them a message about doing my own dimensions and asked whether I could just send them the file and get the machined material. They agreed.
So I went out and ripped the old carpet up, took about 3hrs max, including time scraping old glue chunks off. My center piece had deteriorated wood and was smaller than the opening it filled due to the carpet spacing, so got a 4x8 sheet of green treated plywood from Home Depot and made a double layered center piece similar to the original except the top piece filled the entire gap. Epoxied all the wood (2-3hrs). Ended up using black epoxy dye on some of the edges because I though it might help if there was spots the EVA foam didn't cover, since they would be black in stead of brown.
I just used FreeCAD (kind of buggy) to create a sketch, took about an hour to learn the software (I've done a lot of CAD), and about 6 hours of measurements with a lot of triangulation, to create the .dwg file. They had offered me a price of ~$300 but then said shipping would be another $300, total $600. Once I paid them they quickly set to work figuring out the styling for the pattern and were really friendly people. They had the product created within 3 days but they didn't ship it for another 3 days (dissapointing), and it had a 5 business day delivery time. Still way better than Gatorsteps 2 months.
Once I got the stuff, it fit quite good, although there are a couple small gaps along the edges, likely due to measurement errors. It's helpful that the stuff is a little stretchy. It took probably 30 hrs of my time total, with the research required. I was super happy with the results. The stuff I got does get pretty hot on the feet in the Texas sun at 100 degrees, but it's not that bad.
I think it probably increased the value of my boat by $5k+.
Recommended Comments
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now