Opinions: Carpet or bed liner.

[JD1]

Just picked up a new to me Polarkraft 176. Needs carpet. I am considering a heavy coat (or 2) of bed liner. If you have experience with these products I would like to hear some of the pro's and cons to them. I think it would help dampen the vibration noise associated with trolling which really irritates me but I would like to hear some experience talk. Thanks

[Fishin Dave]

Bed liner in direct sunlight is like standing on asphalt if you go with a dark color.

[JD1]

Thought about that also. It will be a light grey whichever way I go. Am also considering doing the liner and making snap in carpet. Thanks for your input.

[HaleDamage]

I fished with a guy that had bed liner on his decks. Said he loved it . But if he went fishing in the rain and he got mud on the deck, it was really slippery.

[JD1]

Thank you. That is my main concern. Iv'e had it in a truck and it seemed ok. But never got it muddy. Don't want anything that I can't get decent traction. Do you know how it was when just wet and not muddy? I could keep a scrub brush and install a washdown pump easy enough. Really would like to get away from carpet but don't want vinyl. I have some monsterliner samples coming that will help me decide also. It will be wet all of the time so that is my concern. I like to swim but only when it's intentional.

[jimp]

If you fish barefooted, bedliner will be rough on the paws for sure. I would think it would be hard to clean due to the uneven/textured surface but never had it in a boat.

[dkv]

You might also look into special non skid paint for boats, or even put the bedliner down and then non skid paint over that to take of slippery surface when wet and muddy.

[JD1]

Thanks for the input guys. I'm going to go ahead with the bedliner. If I decide I don't like it, I'll just carpet over it. I do fish barefoot a lot. There are quite a few threads on tinboat.com where people have used it. I'll let you know. Hope to have it done by spring camp, but alot of things have to happen first.

[huntinslabs]

If you intend to keep the boat a while Seadek or one of its copies would be a great alternative.

[zummy]

Hydroturf with the bedliner.