Carver Owners Forum

Happy days. The shrink wrap came our boat today. All is well in our world.. well almost.

One of the Carver's less that inspirational features of our model is that padded skirt around the aft of the cockpit. Something that was replaced by a SS rail in later years. Cleaning it, drying it, protecting it for another season over and over again and it still looks like crap every time we get back to the boat. The admiral and I have had enough of it. I am thinking about removing it and replacing it with something.... maybe teak. The two portions on each side of the transom door look very easy to remove but the piece on the door is held on by a couple of screw but it also seems to be firmly attached, perhaps glued.
Has anyone ever take this off before? Any insight would be great.

Thanks
Fraser

The piece on the door is screwed with the two screws you see and glued along the top. It's a little difficult to remove (3M 5200 or Sikaflex). Honestly, IMO, I wouldn't go with teak...probably the same amount of upkeep as your vinyl and would age the look of the boat. I would probably look at starboard.

Thank for the feedback Kenny. Is not familiar with starboard. Could you give me some more info on it?

Thanks
Fraser

I found the product on king plastics website

We have had a number of boats with different treatments of the cockpit coaming....this one which we like ,just need to clean a bit...we have had the teak ( 12 coats of spar varnish,looked fantastic, always good comments,maintenance you bet ),one had a stainless flat raised rail ( probably the best ) ,another with teak which we sanded and oiled every month....the thing in common which made the ones most comfortable to lean against was the padded bolster, even the stainless one had the bolster...that is the one thing I would keep.....

Took the wrap off just in time for the biblical downpour heh.??........ ...

bud37 wrote:Source of the post Took the wrap off just in time for the biblical downpour heh.??........ ...

We left the marina and I could feel that coming..... Glad I got the canvas water proofing done before.... LOL. This padded combing is just looking tired and got pretty messed up over the winter.... long story. At minimum it needs to be re-done..... we shall see what happens. This Starboard product looks pretty good

I am just searching around for a supplier up here.

F

I know what you mean....mine had a tear so I replaced them all...$1000
After 4 years, they look tired again.
I bought Caver White vinyl spray paint two years ago and it came out fine.
I like the stainless railing best and have considered replacing them with a stainless rail.

have you thought of having a sunbrella cover made for the cockpit top rail. I have one for my 350 and it looks clean and gives the boat a bit of detail (and it didn't cost $1000.00)

PeterS wrote:Source of the post

boat stern.jpg

have you thought of having a sunbrella cover made for the cockpit top rail. I have one for my 350 and it looks clean and gives the boat a bit of detail (and it didn't cost $1000.00)

That was our first thought. I found a couple of pics of this and it just didn't catch our eye. I thing we have decided to try the vinyl paint and if that does not pan out we will probably replace the padding with starboard anti skid marine lumber.

Cheers
Fraser

Starboard is good in that there's no regular finishing required, but something to keep in mind is that it gets dirty, stains easily, and is not always the easiest thing to clean sometimes. In some cases it has to be sanded to get everything off so you're down to a fresh surface again. Some will use it as a core then cover it with that plastic woven mesh fabric that's getting popular for floors and walls, comes in different colours and patterns. Can't remember the name but I'll get it and re-post. You can also use a composite structural core material instead of Starboard if you're going to cover it. This will give you colour and pattern options and nothing will rot.

Got it:
http://infinitylwv.com/view-our-collections/