Hello -
I have a 20' G3 center console - camo. Man can the metal interior get hot! Any suggestions on a floor coating that could help me out some? I looked at Seadek and it's around $4k to have it done. While I would consider it, I almost think it's too fancy for my boat. My G3 is new, but it's camo and it gets used and it scratches easily. I was hoping to have someone professional do it, but stay in the $1-3k range. Any suggestions or pics?

Look at Hydro-Turf. It comes in 4' x 8' sheets with 3m adhesive. Its very light and extremely durable. You can walk barefoot on it in the summer. Just hose out if dirty. Easy install.

You might price SafeFloor, I know its cheaper than SeaDek but not sure how much. Could maybe price a lighter colored Line-X also

I love the SeaDek in my buddies boat

I pulled the dark grey carpet out of my X19 and installed a light colored line x type coating. Doesn't get hot at all and not too rough to walk on bare foot.

Where did you get the material? What was the cost?

Durabak No slip coating. It's used on navy ships, commercial boats, etc. $124 / gallon. I cleaned the [censored] out of the aluminum, rough scuffed it with a wire wheel then applied a self etching primer for aluminum first per the manufacturer's recommendation. I ordered mine off Amazon, blew in with an undercoating gun I bought for less than $30.

That looks real nice , How long is your boat ? How much paint did you end up using . A undercoat gun can go through a lot of product in a big hurry .

https://slipdoctors.store/collectio...ABEgIkLfD_BwE&variant=20047567749190

Look at this. Its what I am going to use I think.

My boat is an X19, so 19'. I did the entire topside and all of the rod lockers, storage, and engine bay using 1 gallon and a quart and still had a little left over for touch ups later if needed. The undercoating gun I have is adjustable and doesn't really waste product. I turn it down and blow a base coat that is thin then come back with a heavier coating and the first coat keeps if from sagging.
The key with aluminum is surface prep.

Thank you , your boat looks real nice .

Appreciate it, not a big fan of carpet even in my bass boat.

It�s simple to use a bottle to spray directly for a while.

This is what you need. Like above it is hydro turf that was bought in rolls. I did not buy it with the adhesive back. i took it to Danny at Lake Fork boat carpet and he cut to match then took it to his guy and had the black trim sewn in which looks awesome. 1 year of really hard fishing on it and it still looks new!! all said and done it was probably 2k, but worth every penny!
the rose that grew from concrete meaning

That looks really nice , and I would really like something like that but I just have a 4 thousand dollar boat thats due for carpet . I want something nice but I don't want it to look awful . After a few catfish barfing and pooping on the carpet I know I want to be able to hose it down and be done .

This hydro turf is the real deal! I use the boat to duck hunt too, so the blood that gets in it just washes right off with a hose, as you can see too no problem fishing barefoot in the Texas heat! Plenty of colors you can get too!

Might put my boat up forsale soon too if you just want to buy something with it already installed! haha!

Great question!

I have a huge seaark 2472 and I asked the same question to several ppl. I ended up doing a Professional bedliner (Armorthane). Cost about $2000. They didn�t prep it right the first time so it peeled like a bad cheap tape. They did it right the second time but still has some minor blemishes just a year later. Difficult to keep clean. I got very tired of trying to keep the flooring looking decent so I bought 1/8 inch rubber floor matting from American floor mats.com which cost about $700 to cover the entire floor surfaces. I applied it with some Velcro. The rubber flooring feels way better on the feet, absolutely no slipping, and SOoooo much easier to keep clean and presentable.

If I could do it all over again, I would have painted the raw aluminum I put in my boat and never bedliner it and I would have applied the rubber mats.

I bought an aluminum boat because I don�t want to baby my stuff but I want it to be presentable. Bedliner is something I will always have to baby from now on when I should have just painted it or left it as is.

Just my two cents.

That looks nice!
On the original coating you should have picked a marine type coating instead of bed liner....
I hit mine (Durabak) with a little soap, give it 5-10 minutes, then it sprays clean as new. I catfish, bowfish, bass fish, the whole deal off of it.
I also priced having mine done professionally with a bed liner material but laughed at them when they quoted $2500. They then told me for a marine application I probably wouldn't be all that pleased with a bedliner anyway. I feel that I probably did a better job than they would have, especially on the prep work, and was turn key at less than $500.
Not slamming your boat, it looks great but just food for thought for those making a decision.

I agree, bed liner probably wasn't the best decision. I have a buddy that did his with rhinoliner and it has held up for years so that's why I tried what I did. A marine specific coating probably would be better.

ToasterWEyes : Which primer did you use ? There are several to choose from . I would like to use a product that others are getting good results . Thanks .

I used Duram NS5 Metcote Etching Primer. I followed the instructions Durabak recommends exactly except where they said to sand paper scuff the surfaces I used a wheel on a 4 1/2" grinder and actually scuffed everything up really well, especially high traffic areas. I then cleaned again and xylene cleansed everything before priming. This is probably a little redundant since the etching primer is supposed to etch the surface, but it allows it to bite better and the cleanse gets rid of any oil or oxidation on the aluminum itself. After cleaning and prepping, I primed it right away.
That's my method, no expert but it produced excellent results and a tough finish. It is pretty labor intensive though, that's for sure. Good luck!

*** I cleaned all the surfaces with acetone as a final step before priming, not xylene. ***

Check out this link for manufacturer's recommended installation.

https://www.durabakcompany.com/pages/aluminum-boat-application-bare-aluminum

When I say clean, this is mine in the final prep.....

ToasterWEyes : Thank you . I have done enough auto painting to be familiar with the value of a good surface prep , but I have never messed with painting aluminum .