Has anyone ever carpeted a piece of starboard and if so, how, and with what kind? Glue, staples?

I want to carpet a panel under my helm storage where my stereo amps get mounted (new ones going in) to hopefully lessen vibration and possible condensation. Any thoughts?

For some reason I can't post pics on this site anymore otherwise I'd show what I'm talking about.

I have not specifically tried to carpet Starboard, but glue doesn't stick too well.

I needed to glue some Starboard together a few years ago, and could find no glue, including Gorilla Glue, epoxy, super glue, 5200, nor even chewed gum to be adequate at sticking to Starboard. There was a 3M glue that was $40 per tube that the King Starboard said might work, but I didn't want to spend that much money for glue.

Basically, nothing sticks to Starboard.

However, West Epoxy has a new formulation called G/Flex that is supposed to glue anything. I have not tried it, so it might be an option.

I have not tried the typical carpet glue, rubber-based cements, or contact cement because I figure if the high-performance glues I tried did not work, probably nothing would.

If you used staples, you would have to find stainless ones, and probably have to use a pneumatic stapler, as I don't think a hand stapler would be powerful enough to sink a staple in Starboard.

Without the experience Al has I was going to say adhesive probably won't hold too well.

If it is something that is concealed pretty well what about using small screws with the washer like fittings(I don't know what they are called) that will allow it to bite without pulling through the carpet.

Finish washers? Thats an idea.

There's a lot of starboard-esque material in my boat's construction. Much of it is carpeted. It is glued on, but some is peeling in the corners and it would seem the board was roughed a little first.
Has anyone tried a urethane based glue for this. It may etch itself into the HDPE surface for adhesion.

Thanks for the heads up! I'm glad I didn't bother trying glue first. That screw and washer idea sounds pretty good. SS Counter sunk finishing washers would seem too be just the right thing.



And, NO, I didn't know what they were called until I googled thingy-type-washers . .. .

The screws should actually look nice.

Polypropylene and Polyethylene are very difficult to bond to, PE is virtually impossible. The bits of starboard type material on my 225 looked and felt like PP or PE. PP dashboard armatures in the Automotive industry are flame or plasma treated to increase their surface energy, to allow PU foam to stick to them; neither process is easy at home! If you do try flaming the surface prior to using glue, you need an oxidising flame; the idea being to just about not burn/ melt the surface.

If you do go the way of using screws, if they are being used on a non show surface, rather than use the washers, I'd use a strip of aluminium or stainless steel. It would spread the load a lot more evenly, point loadings with screws and washers may allow the carpet to "pucker up" between the fixings with time.

I must adnit I wasn't too impressed with the starboard type material on my FW225; it seemed to warp on unsupported spans and on the engine compartment sides, all the screws attaching the floor brackets pulled out; maybe they'd been overtightened before I got the boat. I replaced them with stainless machine screws/ locknuts, with the screw heads countersunk into the starboard. Much more robust!

Graham

Yeah thats what I meant.

yeah, starboard doesn't hold any fasteners well. Thru bolting is best, but probably not doable in Cincy's case.

Thanks Graham! Definitely mounting hardware is the way to go. I can probably find an aluminum strip to use with the screws but also may just try the washers. Its only an area of maybe 3x1 plus it will have two amps mounted covering most of the surface area. So, those alone should keep it in place. I will probably mount the amps to it with through way machine screws and vinyl tip nuts before putting it back on. I also thought I might add hinge or two so it can be flipped up to see the bottom of the amps where the adjustments will be.

Here's a pic of the board I'm talking about. those two amps are being replaced but this was before i finished up wiring them.

Another effective method of attaching things to starboard is to use some stainless "pronged T nuts", which allow machine screws to be used. These are fitted to the opposite side to which the machine screw enters. A "to size" or clearance hole drilled in the starboard for the centre section, with small diameter pilot holes drilled for the prongs to enter ( this is easier than just trying to force the prongs into the starboard, which can bend them; the position for the pilot holes can be determined by putting the T nut in place and lightly tapping it, so the prongs mark the surface). The disadvantage is that the surface of the T nut is slightly proud of the starboard surface, but it's easy to countersink it if it's a potential issue with readthrough.

Graham

That sounds complicated Graham, but exactly the way I would do it. You get the benefits of "thru bolting" but not the heads of bolts sticking out on both sides.

Well, I decided to go the simple route of using those finishing washers and some ss staples with my electric stapler. Before and after pics.







I think it turned out well.

Looks good. What kind of stapler did you use? Some of the lesser powered ones aren't a match for starboard.

I don't remember the exact model but its a pretty heavy duty Stanley. I bought it when I re-carpeted some bunks on my old boat.

and btw, yes, I just noticed that I had caught my effort at loosening up the waist line on my pants in those pics. Wonderful.