Need Opinions
 

Ok so I have a 24 Outlaw that I am pretty much redoing. Now I redid the back seat frame to change the speaker layout from an old system that I am replacing with a whole new system, and I need to recover the front which was covered by carpet same color thats in the boat. So I just said screw it I'll put new carpet on the seat face where it had it before, and I'll just re carpet the rest of the boat to match. Here is the boat with the old carpet:
http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/x...esh33/Boat.jpg

To give some information on the new layout: I re did the dash in all new livorsi blue rimmed platinum faced gauges with polished bezels, and made the dash panel carbon fiber along with all of the switch panels. I powder coated the throttle base in blue with polished bezel to match livorsi's blue and powder coated the levers platinum. Tied it together with a spargi style platinum steering wheel.

Now I am 2nd guessing the original plan, and thinking I should just gelcoat the front face of the seat which was covered in carpet, along with the inside storage area of the seat white, and leave the blue carpet in there just give it a good cleaning. If I do all of the carpet my plan is to go away from the blue, and was going to use a solid grey(I have blue LEDs in the gunnels that I think the blue will look good with, but unsure about the grey). The blue cockpit carpet doesn't match the cuddy carpet currently, so doing new carpet would make it all match, but you can't really see the cuddy carpet cause its pretty much covered by cushions, so not sure how big of a deal them not matching is?, and cuddy is in fine shape.

I do have the carpet picked out that i would use, it is 20 oz boat carpet in Graphite, and would cost me about $250 for 160 sq/ft of the carpet and glue, which I think would be more then enough to do the whole boat. I got samples of all of there greys from marinecarpeting.com and the greys that boatcarpet.com has and I like the Graphite one the best. Here is the link to the carpet colors with the graphite in there:
http://www.marinecarpeting.com/catal...57/image/1194/

What do you guys think of the blue? do you think replacing the blue with the grey is a bad idea? do you think gel coating the back seat face where the speakers are and inside the seat storage area is a good idea or bad idea? Any suggestions, thoughts, or things i may haven't thought of feel free to let me know. Thanks guys

Man. I think your boat looks nice in the pic! This is before you did any work?

Yes, this is actually the pic in the add the guy posted that I purchased it from. I got carried away, and did alot of stuff that honestly could have been left alone. But gotta make it yours and nicer I guess lol. I replaced the system cause it had some mismatching stuff, and had a 4 8" sub set up, and I went to a 2 10" set up with bigger mid/highs in the back and added 6.5's up high in the gunnels. Also got better more efficient running amps to push the system. The whole carpet scenario is only brought on cause I have to find a solution to re cover the back seat, and the more I look at it I am back and forth. Am more leaning towards just re doing all the carpet to freshen it up, and bring more focus to the blue's in the boat. Right now its alot of blue

Stick with the blue, I have alot of purple in mine but, purple carpet is the only way to go with it.

[IMG]http://i1266.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0f47876a.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i1266.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0d68b3ff.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i1266.photobucket.com/albums/...psdc09a3e8.jpg[/IMG]

Here is the dash with gauges
http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/x...esh33/dash.jpg
http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/x...sh33/dash2.jpg

Here are the controls
http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/x...3/controls.jpg

I did blue LED lighting down the gunnels in the cockpit, in the engine compartment, and under the swim platform. I had my battery boxes, diamond plating for the boxes in the engine room, and upper plenum all done in blue. And I did a complete Memphis Marine system with 2 6X9's, 2 8's, 2 6.5's, and 2 10" subs. Powered by 2 ARC Audio XDi805 amps which gives me the ability to add another set of speakers if I want to. Guy before me had interior redone a year or so ago except for bolsters so I had the bolsters redone.I bought the boat with no motor, so put a freshened gen VI 502 MPI in it with an arizona speed package and lightening headers with dry tails, should be about 540hp, and re painted the bilge before motor goes in. Also, put on a Mayfair add on steering system. There as some other small things I did like cleaning up all the wiring, bilge pump, blower hoses, etc... Its coming together though, and the carpet is like the final decision.

The dash looks sweet!

Yea turned out nice, I cut a new one out at work, and spaced them all out to add bezels and add 2 more gauges to the dash. Then had it hydro dipped carbon fiber, it isn't perfect, but I am happy with how it turned out, not to mention the savings of doing it myself.

I see you cut speakers up higher, how difficult was that? The 6.5's I have I was going to put either above the handle at the rear seat, or below like you did. Any reason you picked below? For the front ones is the wood 1 piece or did you have to cut 2 pieces where the vinyl is seamed? Is there a concern at that seam where the vinyl could come unsitched? And where did you put the one on the drivers side?

Stereo was already installed when I bought the boat, and to be honest I have never really looked very close at it. I was told that the new stereo was done at the same time as the interior redo.

Here is the driver's side.

[IMG]http://i1266.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3e083acb.jpg[/IMG]

That makes sense, they probably wrapped around the holes then. Unfortunately I don't have that luxury.

Ok, yea i was looking at there or behind the controls right above the seat arm in that spot. I wanted livorsi controls, I thought and thought about it and finally decided that money would serve better use in another place and to redo my current ones. I didn't pick up ones for the front up high, just got 6X9's to replace the ones in the boxes under the dash. I have the ability to add another pair of speakers, and if I do more then likely it will be 6.5's upfront like yours

That's pretty slick. Where'd you get the carbon done and how much was it?

Should of went with 4 10's lol They fit fine! :lolhit:

Oh and there is room to add them lol

Were did you mount your amps?

Its hydro dipped, and I had it done by a local graphic vinyl/hydro dipping business called Hi-Def Customs. It was $150 to have the dash, switch panel, fuse panel, drive trim panel, and trim tab panel done. It has automotive grade clear over top, so it is durable and can be cleaned. Then I picked up all new labeled switch covers from New Wire Marine so all of my switches were labeled on the cover since the hydro dip would cover them on the panels.

The system that was in the boat when I purchased it, the amps are mounted right on the other side of the dash in the cuddy on the bulkhead wall. I am going to put the new ones in the same spot.

You just dipped the factory piece? How'd you fill the holes so you could drill new ones for the 2 extra gauges?

I made a new dash panel at work, I made it all by hand. Here is a photo of the old dash and the new .

http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/x.../dashpanel.jpg

Here are all of the panels after being dipped and cleared

http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/x...dashpanels.jpg

Nice, I look forward to seeing your progress on this.

I will post up some pics when its all done, but damn this carpet situation has me so back and forth. It would be easy if I knew what kind of carpet was in there and could just get a piece that matches the current carpet. The blues that are available that are reasonably priced are just not going to work. Plus its going to be about 2-3 days in work to re carpet the whole boat.

Gotcha. Yea it looks like you're doing a great job. Keep the pics coming.

Why not something like pirelli flooring?

Buddy your boat is looking great. Nice work. I will look forward to seeing it this summer. Ill be lurking around the bay.

Gel coating that lower part of the seat would be a pain and it would mostly develop cracks unless there was a lot of glass laid on it first.

Have you thought about possibly using a piece of white acrylic or lexan over the front???

Didn't know about the pirelli or lonseal till you mentioned. Seems like a good option, but after some research I think that this may not be for me. Alot of back and forth on cleaning, fading, epoxy to use and not to use, how easily it conforms, comfort to walk on. One larger problem is it needs to be warm to apply, and its just not warm right now. I am under a small deadline as my boats time in the barn is running out. Also it can be pricey. I need to get whatever i am going to use here by the end of next week, so I can start doing the project next weekend. Baja uses the color Mariner Blue that may be a match to whats currently in there, which corinthians carries, so was thinking that I could just get enough to redo the speaker panel on the back seat where I need it, well smallest I can get it is 8X12 and at $3.33 per sq ft thats more then to do my whole boat with the other stuff I have lined up. I am really just leaning towards doing the whole boat in the Graphite color. That way the cuddy and cockpit will match, this grey is pretty much the same color grey as my dash mold, and the 2 grab handles for the back seats, so should blend well. I was thinking the grey will make the boat look cleaner, and less cramped with it being a lighter color, as a lighter color makes spaces look larger vs darker making them look smaller. Also by getting rid of the massive amount of blue it will draw more attention or accent the things I want to stick out. The grey would also not be as hot. I am unsure how old the current carpet is, atleast 8+ years old, hell could be original, but the cuddy being a different color is leading me to believe this is aftermarket carpet? so it may be its time to be replaced anyway? I do think the blue looks good, but the question is in your opinion would the grey look as good if not better?

Yea I spoke to the guy that has the shop where my boat is, and he said gel coating wouldn't be the best option. I did not consider that, that could be a simple fix right? You think that could glue on, or would have to be screwed on? Here is the seat, the front panel, and the actual seat panel with the hole in it I just did. I did the seat portion because the hole was cut position further back, and the seat is suppose to be hinged from the front part of the seat. Well the hinges are no longer there, and when you would step on the back seat there wasn't enough wood towards the back to support the seat so it would slide into the hole and the seat would really flex, so I just positioned the hole more forward so there is more of overlap in the back to support the seat cushion. Here is a photo of the seat all finished with the new panels.
http://i746.photobucket.com/albums/x...BackSeat-1.jpg

Thank you, and I look forward to it. Never can have too many boating friends, the more the merrier. I tend to spend most of the time at Lloyds Creek. Will be making the occasional trip to Jellyfish Joels, and redeyes this summer. My buddy just bought a 38ft AVS so we plan some poker runs as well.

Im using some diamond plate foam antifatigue stuff on my floor.

I would think some white, non transparent 1/4" lexan or acrylic glued on with 5200 would work just fine and never move.

Since your seat bottom just sits on there(just like my 32 AT), you can screw a piece of 2" x 2", about 18" long, to the underside bottom of the seat cushion wood.
The 2x2 sits down in the hole right at the front edge and will keep the seat bottom from sliding forward.

Thats exactly what I was going to do before I decided to do the new stereo system, and had to redo the panel for the speakers. If the extra 1.5 inches of wood in the back from the new piece doesn't work I will do that. I may do it anyway. I am going to see what I can find for white acrylic or lexan

The scarab I had came from the factory with formica along the front of the seat. It seemed to hold up fine. It comes in shiny white, is cheap, and installs easily with contact cement and a router.

Awesome man, thanks. So no screws or anything required, just contact cement or 5200?

Formica as in countertop material?

What about upholstering the panel, or upholstering a thin piece of plywood and mounting it to the front of the seat. You can just get a white piece of vinyl and some thin foam and glue/staple it in place. If you do the thin plywood, you can either glue or screw it to the seat front.
Eddie

Yes as in countertop Home depo available. Have to install with contact cement. Roughcut, brush glue on back of formica and front of seat base, let dry to the touch and apply formica. It will stick instantly. You will be able to trim all the edges and the speaker holes in about two minutes with a router.

Whats up Eddie, my name is Eddie as well lol. That was the original plan and already have the vinyl that matches my other white vinyl as I have to wrap the rest of the seat base. Only the front where the speakers are was carpet the rest was vinyl. I kinda veered away from that idea due to where it is and thinking that the vinyl would get ripped, scuffed, etc...Was thinking I needed something more durable there. You don't think so?

I don't think so. The vinyl is VERY durable, not to mention, it's really cheap to replace if needed. There are quite a few boats out there with the front of the seat base upholstered. I've made some panels in the past to do just what you want to do. We used a piece of Luan plywood, cut out the speaker holes, upholstered it, and mounted it to the front of the seat. The speakers are mounted to the seat base and just poke through the upholstered panel.

Awesome name by the way :)
Eddie

Is there a particular reason why you use a separate piece of wood wrapped and not just wrap the actual front?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]519029[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]519030[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]519031[/ATTACH]I am redoing the interior in my Eliminator & built a new pedestal for the rear seat. The original had 2 8" woofers, whereas the new one houses 4 10" subs. I decided to cover it in the same material as the rest of the interior. I think it looks good & took about an hour to cover. Randy