I need to re-carpet my boat and was wondering where I can buy some cheap Marine carpet.  I live in Michigan and would prefer to buy from someone in the detroit metro area.  I need about 80 sq. feet of carpet and if anyone knows where I can get please reply.  

Thanks,

Jenga

Not sure about Detroit, but the dealers in Houston sell it by the foot. Not sure how wide the roll is but it is plenty wide to do a bass boat. My dealer sells it for 11.00 a foot.

I'm a carpet installer and a small RV dealership owner. Strange combination I know but it works out pretty well.

You can get marine carpet at most carpet retailers, Home Depot and even at most upholstery shops.

Most marine carpet is either 6 feet wide or 2 meters wide (about 6' 6") depending on where it's made although I have seen some marine carpet 9 feet and even 12 feet wide. A lot of marine carpet is now made elsewhere. Hence the 2 meter carpet.

It's generally sold by the lineal foot. However wide the carpet is that you're interested in, every foot is X amount. Some place will try and sell it by the square yard but usually it's by the foot. So if you need 80 square feet, if you are looking at 6 foot wide carpet, you would need 14 lineal feet by 6 feet wide. (84 square feet) Be sure to factor in that there will be lots of waste when installing in a boat.

Be sure not to get any carpet that has loops. The best marine carpet looks fuzzy, not like it has individual strands of yarn although that kind of carpet works too. As long as you get the type of carpet that won't allow hooks to embed themselves into the yarn when you drop a lure onto the carpet.

There are two kinds of backing that you'll see when shopping for Marine carpet. One kind is a rubber backed carpet. This will be the least expensive, the most pliable and easiest to install but it doesn't wear quite as well as an "action back" carpet.

Action back is stronger but also a LOT stiffer so therefore it's much more difficult to install than the rubber backed stuff. It looks like little tiny squares. Kind of a woven backing.

Either carpet will work fine. The rubber backed stuff will tear easier but once installed if it's glued down, it's pretty tough stuff.

If you choose the action backed carpet, if it isn't pliable enough around corners or tight spots, you can use a blow dryer to warm it up. That softens it up quite a bit and will help getting to bend and conform to whatever curves you might have in your boat.

Also, be sure to use a good quality glue when installing. I very sharp blade is essential when installing either type of carpet. A regular utility knife will work fine but keep the blade sharp. You can use a fine sharpening stone to keep the blades sharp or just change blades often. Once the blades get dull, cutting the carpet really becomes a chore.

Getting the old carpet off is a huge pain and there just isn't much of anything to make it any easier. Scraping, pulling, using heat, using a chemical that reacts to the original glue, it's still the hardest part of putting carpet in a marine application.

Probably the cheapest place to get marine carpet would be Home Depot or Lowes if you have them there. Any large retail outlet like Home Depot should have it at a good price. Also, if you happen to know any carpet installers, they usually have an "in" with a carpet store that will sell to them at cost plus 10%. You might try that as well.

The last time I checked, a good marine carpet was about 6 bucks a foot but that was a while ago. Carpet is made from petroleum products so I can only guess how much it is right now.

I hope this helps.

If you have any other questions, just PM me.

            Good luck.

I actually just found out thet Lowe's is surrently carrying high quality marine grade carpet (in grey only) but will no longer be carrying the carpet in store so it ison super sale.  The Store by my house in MD has it at $0.54 per square foot.  Doing an 18 foot bass boat would run about $92 buck with some left over.

Not sure if every Lowe's has that deal but the 4 within driving distance of my houe all have it with the largest amount being a full role at 100 foot long and 6 foot wide.

It's worth a shot.