Durabak bed liner for boat floor

Anyone ever been in or own a boat that has bedliner instead of carpet? Carpet gets so dirty, so fast...

The "new" boat I bought has to have the carpet replaced with something. I'm seriously considering a bedliner product. It seems the Durabak is somewhat popular online as a boat floor covering. I can get a urethane coating that would be tougher, but it will be a hard coating. I don't want a rigid covering, I want it to have some flex to it.

So, discuss....

To each, their own, but I like carpet. If it is done wright and looks factory color matched would be the only exception. But that's my opinion. If you plan on keeping it, do what makes you happy.

I like both. No preference. Much easier to keep the bedliner style cleaner

Don't get a dark color and nothing that would be slippery when wet.

Ben, I'd probably feel more comfortable about using the bedliner if I'd ever been in a boat that it had been used in. If I go that route I'll have to modify the deck lids so they'll still sit flush with the deck when closed but that won't be hard to do.

I fished out of a flat top (think thats the name) the entire deck (whole boat) was the truck bed type liner. It was really easy to spray off after use and was not slippery at all. Carpet does seem quieter to me though

Bed liner will be slick when wet. I didn't like it. We had to sandblast it out of a boat and used a roll in for boats. It was actually cheaper and was a lot better. Also check out seadeck when I carpet my boat I think that's what I'm goin with.

Linex is not slick.

Stick with carpet. Not a fan at all of the bedliner.

get some wear on it then get it wet. It's like ice.

Mines 11 yrs old, is that old enough? Mine is like sandpaper.

The Xpress I owned for 2 years had a roll on bedliner on the floor done by the previous owner.
I liked it except it was black. If it had been gray instead of black it would have been perfect.
The guy who did it said hardest part was getting the glue up to put the liner down. He and a buddy worked 2-3 days on the project.

his didn't have any grit. It was slick before it was wet. When it was wet you couldn't stand. What we put back in had a little.

My Dad has a 18' Xpress and he on purpose bought a camo one for the Linex rough texture. There are a few spots that the camo is coming off but that does not bother him.

Buddy and I rebuilt an old flats boat from the bare hull up, and used a tan roll on bedliner with the little micro beads for traction, and it was a breeze to clean up and looked great.

I've got bed liner in my Sea Ark. The whole thing is aluminum tread plate sprayed with bed liner. It's been fine. Mine is a bone color and shows dirt quick. It's a catfish boat though,so I wouldn't have wanted carper to throw net fulls of bait on and land 50lb slimy catfish,not to mention all the shad guts and other catfish bait that would already have ruined carpet.

If I was a fancy bass fisherman who never got dirty,I would probably have a shiny boat with high quality carpet.

The carpet in my bassboat was in terrible shape especially in the floor area. My boat is a dual console so there wasn't much room to move around while working in the floor. I carpeted the decks, but I used the textured grey Durabak for the floor. I am very satisfied with it. All the dirt from the front deck carpet eventually ends up in the floor area. Now, I just hose out the floor, and it matches the carpet and boat well. Don't be afraid to give the Durabak a try.

If you decide to go with Durabak, make sure to follow the manufacturers instructions. The prep work is key. I used a roller and brush to apply the Durabak. Make sure you wear a good pair of rubber gloves. If you get it on your skin, it won't come off without pulling your skin with it. I found this out the hard way.

If it's the same one I'm thinking of, the "flattop" is made here in Alabama and is as you described: the whole deck was a bedliner-type covering, either with grit or some kind of tackiness that helped prevent slippage. I fished out of one several times with sneakers, sandals and bare feet with no problems.

http://www.flatopboats.com/


For giant lakes where you might just want a trolling motor or a 10/20 hp stick on the back, they were great. Not as much fun to paddle when the t'motor battery dies, though.

I got my toolbox Linexed to match my bed. The second dealer was terrible. They didn't do proper prep and it has been peeling the last four years. When painting metal prep is everything. Furthermore, they won't warranty tool boxes.

it was my favorite pond boat I ever fished out of it was awesome having a flat deck for the entire boat

Yep, I really enjoyed it, too. If I had a big lake I'd probably have one or two with trolling motors, maybe a kicker motor if the lake was really large, and that's all I'd need.

Snob

Thanks very much for all the replies.

Here’s my predicament. I’d really rather have carpet. It looks better, it’s warmer in the winter, probably cooler in the summer, and deadens sound.

The problem is, when I go fish I’m wearing my work boots that have grease, oil, dirt and mud all over them. Not to mention minnows getting stepped on, etc... That WRECKS carpet. We have a steam cleaner at the shop so I can get it clean but carpet isn’t going to hold up well to being steamed cleaned 2-4 times a year.

If SeaDeck is what I looked at online last week it would cost nearly a grand to do my boat. Ain’t gonna happen. I could carpet for $350 and Duraback would be less than that

The real question is, why the heck are you wearing work boots when fishing?

Fur the easy solution is a clean pair of shoes and an extra pair of clothes.

I don't think steam cleaning will hurt your carpet imo

Cause that's how I roll.

Yes, that does seem like the easy solution, but being me ain't easy, and clean shoes and extra clothes takes extra thought, and I'm usually so distracted by work that I would rarely pull that off....

Taking clean clothes and extra shoes fishing makes the wife suspicious.

If you get on sea deck website you can get blemish sheets for 1/4 the price. We bought carpet form my brothers boat in Florence. Day one I set something on the deck that had grease on it. Blue coral makes lift 1 carpet cleaner. Best stuff ever to get rid of grease

Well, that's probably true in many instances, but the only thing that would make my wife suspicious is if I went fishing or hunting and came home early.

Thanks for the info, I'll check that out.

Well, I think I'm gonna have to go with carpet. I just can't make myself be at peace with using anything else. I know it's harder to keep clean but I want it to look nice even if it is just a dang ol crappie boat.