When it’s time to replace the flooring in your boat, you’ve got more choices than you might expect, including non-skid fiberglass, marine carpet, EVA/PE foam, sheet vinyl flooring, and woven vinyl flooring. One isn’t necessarily better than another, but each has unique strengths and weaknesses that make it suited for particular applications.
Before making a decision, here are five important questions to ask that will help you choose the best boat flooring for you.
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1. How Hard Do You Use Your Boat?
The amount of dirt, grime, mud, and blood your boat flooring is subjected to is one of the biggest factors. Do you have people or dogs with muddy feet getting in and out of the boat? Do you fish offshore for big fish like mahi, tuna, or wahoo? Do you load things like firewood in your boat? Do you toss weight belts over the gunwale and onto the deck?
If any of those apply, you want flooring that is hard to get dirty, easy to clean, and resistant to damage from dock claws, fishing weights, dropped tools, etc. At the top of your list — assuming your boat is fiberglass — should be putting a new non-skid finish on your deck. Non-skid is tough and easy to clean. On aluminum boats, consider simply repainting your decks.
The amount of dirt, grime, mud, and blood your boat flooring is subjected to is one of the biggest factors.
Modern foam decking (EVA, PE, and EVA-PE blends) is reasonably stain-resistant, and there are plenty of fishing boats out there with foam flooring. Some formulations are easier to keep clean than others, and some are more resistant to cuts and nicks than others. But none are as easy to clean nor as tough as plain old non-skid.
Marine carpet doesn’t belong on saltwater boats, and it’s hard to clean if it gets muddy, bloody, or oily. Sheet vinyl is tough, stain-resistant, and easy to clean, but only certain materials are UV-resistant. Woven vinyl is also tough and stain resistant but aesthetically tends not to work well with the types of boats that get hard use.
2. How Often do you or Your Crew go Barefoot on Board?
If you spend a lot of time barefoot on your boat, you want flooring that feels soft underfoot, stays relatively cool, and provides good grip even in wet conditions such as bare wet feet. On the other hand, if you typically wear boat shoes, deck boots, or even flip-flops on board, the feel of your flooring underfoot shouldn’t be as big a factor in your decision. For barefoot comfort, your best choices are foam flooring, marine carpet, and woven vinyl boat flooring.
Peel-and-stick foam decking material is soft, cool, cushiony, and grippy. EVA foam flooring, such as SeaDek, tends to be the nicest feeling underfoot. PE foam decking is a little firmer and less plush but also more stain-resistant and easier to clean. EVA-PE blends to balance the benefits of both types of foam flooring.
Marine carpet is the tried-and-true option for the barefoot bunch — grippy and soft with a little bit of cushion. Darker color options can get hot, and the carpet is harder to keep clean than foam. Quality carpet is a good option for freshwater fishing boats, tow boats, runabouts, and Ski pontoons.
Woven vinyl flooring combines the appearance and textured feel of carpet with great resistance to mold, mildew, stains, and UV. It doesn’t absorb water like carpet and can be cleaned with a pressure washer if needed to get grime out from down in the fibers. Some — but not all — woven vinyl boat flooring has an integrated cushioned surface. Woven vinyl is essentially an upgraded alternative to carpet.
Non-skid and sheet vinyl are both grippy but lack the cushy feel underfoot of the other boat flooring options.
3. Where Does Your Boat Live When You’re not Using it?
Does your boat live uncovered on a trailer, in a slip, or in outdoor rack storage, where it gets daily sun exposure? Does it sit covered in a hot, humid climate? Or is it pampered with indoor storage? The way your boat is stored should factor significantly into your decision about what marine flooring to choose
The way your boat is stored should factor significantly into your decision about what marine flooring to choose
If your boat flooring will be blasted by the sun daily, you should rule out marine carpet, most types of sheet vinyl flooring, and foam decking. Most quality marine carpet is reasonably UV resistant but still not the right choice for sitting out in the weather month after month. Most sheet vinyl flooring is intended for indoor or indoor/outdoor use. The indoor/outdoor products are fine for boats that are stored covered or under a roof, but not uncovered.
Quality foam decking is resistant to fading from UV, but enough sustained heat can weaken the adhesive that holds it in place. Instead, for boats that are stored uncovered, simple non-skid fiberglass, painted aluminum, or woven vinyl are best suited to stand up to the UV.
On the other hand, if your boat is stored covered in a humid climate, mold and mildew are your biggest concerns. Marine carpet is generally the most susceptible, followed by foam decking. Mold and mildew can grow on most surfaces, so it’s more a question of how easily you can clean them off. Sheet vinyl and nonskid fiberglass are easy to clean since they’re less permeable and have a smoother surface than foam or carpet. Most quality woven vinyl boat flooring is treated with mold and mildew blockers, and since it can be safely cleaned with a pressure washer, it’s another good choice.
If your boat lives most of the time out of the sun and weather in a well-ventilated area, almost any flooring option will work for you.
4. Who’s Going to Install Your New Boat Flooring?
Some kinds of boat flooring are better suited to DIY installations than others. Certain kinds of non-skid finishes, sheet vinyl, woven vinyl, and carpet are generally your best choices for DIY.
Several aftermarket non-skid applications, including KiwiGrip and TuffCoat, are reasonably easy to apply yourself with a roller. They require significant prep work, of course, and careful taping, but the application is simply a matter of rolling them on like paint. Other non-skid products need to be sprayed, and this is best done by somebody who has experience with shooting paint.
Sheet and woven vinyl are popular options due to their ease of installation, at least on relatively simple decks, like those of pontoon boats. For more complex shapes, you’ll need to make a detailed template with cardboard and then transfer the shape to your flooring. Both sheet and woven vinyl flooring need to be glued down and require you to work quickly before the adhesive dries, but no special skills are needed. Carpet is installed similarly, by simply cutting to shape and gluing down. All of these types of glue-down boat flooring, though, require thorough preparation and cleaning of the deck to ensure adhesion.
Stay Away from DIY Foam Installs
Despite its peel-and-stick application, foam boat flooring is actually the most difficult to install yourself. Making clean, accurate cuts to fit your deck on your own is challenging. For some boat models, foam flooring can be purchased as a pre-cut kit, which makes the process dramatically easier. But that’s only an option if your boat has already been “templated” by a foam dealer or manufacturer.
Additionally, achieving the clean, finished look that comes from borders around edges requires a CNC router and a good bit of know-how. The bottom line is that if you want to cover a limited area with a fairly simple shape, DIY is easy enough. But if you want to do your whole deck, you’ll need to either purchase a pre-cut kit or hire a professional installer.
5. How Big a Factor Is Cost?
It’s difficult to accurately state the cost of various kinds of boat flooring since there are so many variables. One material might be less expensive off the shelf, but more expensive if it has to be professionally installed. Or one might be available only in large sheets, leading to more waste than an alternative that can be painted on. One might require costly primers or adhesives, while another can be installed with no specialized materials or tools. Still, some generalizations can be made.
Strictly in terms of cost per square foot of material — not considering installation costs, shipping, waste, etc — marine carpet is generally the least expensive option. DIY roll-on non-skid is the next least expensive, followed by vinyl flooring and then EVA, PE, or blended foam decking, which is the most expensive. Again, these are very generalized comparisons but should at least give you an idea.
All types of boat flooring are good choices for the right boat, boat owner, and application.
At the end of the day, there isn’t truly a “best” marine flooring option. All types of boat flooring are good choices for the right boat, boat owner, and application. Asking yourself these five questions should point in the direction of the best choice for your boat.