Pros & cons of 3 boat flooring options of carpet, woven vinyl & EVA foam when upgrading your boat cockpit or boat decking
Most boats – from cruiser style to fishing or pontoon boats – have some sort of flooring to cover their fiberglass cockpit floor.
Flooring helps protect the fiberglass from scratches or chips, and its much more slip resistant than a fiberglass deck. The right flooring can make your boat deck feel much more comfortable and cozy, making it a great upgrade for your boat.
But it can also be a big investment, so you want to make sure you’re making the best decision for your boat and how you like to use your boat. When its time to upgrade you’ll want to consider all the pros & cons of different flooring options to pick the best boat flooring for your boat’s cockpit.
Boat Flooring Option #1 – Marine Carpet
The first option is to use marine grade carpet. Typically it is a Berber style carpet with a rubber backing.
PROS of CARPET
It has a soft cozy feel
Its easy to buy online for your boat model, or get it cut to size
Its easy to install, you can do it yourself, typically just requires snaps
Its easy to remove
You can get a rubber backing that keeps it from slipping & helps if it gets wet.
CONS of CARPET
It gets worn out
It gets stained
It takes forever to dry if it gets wet
It is heavy
Boat Flooring Option #2 – Woven Vinyl
Woven Vinyl is another good option to consider, that has some of the same pros as carpet, but a lot more marine-friendly qualities. You see a lot of new boats using this material, but you can also get it for your boat aftermarket.
PROS OF VINYL
The PVC marine material is stain, mildew & UV resistant
More durable – holds it shape & doesn’t get flattened out, indented or scratched
It drys fast & you can literally just wash it down with a hose… and its slip resistant
And the woven look is really nice with lots of colors & patterns to match your boat
And like carpet…
Its easy to buy online for your boat model, or get it cut to size
Its easy to install, you can do it yourself, typically just requires snaps – but it can also be glued down if you wanted
Its easy to remove
You can get a rubber backing that helps with water flow & gives it some extra cushion in addition to the woven vinyl material
CONS of VINYL
Not as soft or cushy on your feet as carpet
Cost a bit more than carpet
Boat Flooring Option #3 – EVA Foam
Most EVA flooring is closed-cell, polyethylene (PE) foam, but can vary a bit depending on what supplier you use. The most popular brand is SeaDek – a lot of boat builders use it & a lot of people get it installed aftermarket.
PROS of EV FOAM
Water resistant
Cushioned & comfortable
Really good traction
shock & sound absorbent
Highly customizable – lots of color & design options & they can do some really cool custom laser patterns or logos
CONS of EVA Foam
Some people say it can get stained, marked or dinged up if you aren’t careful
Cost – higher price point then both carpet & vinyl flooring
Additional cost of installer, because its very hard to do a good DIY install
Its not removable – once it is affixed to your boat it is not easy to remove, in fact you may even have to hire someone & likely need to use chemicals to scrape it completely clean – and your non-skid can be ruined in the process
Those are the main 3 flooring options you can choose from when upgrading your boat deck flooring. So which one is the best? That will be up to you to decide which is best for how you boat based on the pros & cons of each type of boat flooring.
For us, we chose to upgrade our marine carpet to a Woven Vinyl flooring product.
Too biggest selling points for us? We liked that it was practically indestructible with marine grade qualities. We also like the fact that we can snap it in or take it out easily.
We chose Corinthian Marine and selected their AquaMat® woven vinyl product. We reviewed samples to ensure we loved the color & quality and then ordered it online. They had our boat’s template on file, which made it super easy to order the right layout for our boat.
Check out the full video of our install process!
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