Slow forward progress.
I got the carpet on the benches today. It was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be - which scares the hell out of me and makes me think I did something wrong.
Troweled out the glue with the notched trowel they gave me, and let it flash for 30 minuted before applying the carpet. I rolled it out as best as I could with a hand-held that I bought to do the vinyl.
I feel like I used 1,000 stainless staples, hitting the carpet what felt like every other inch. I didn't glue the underside of the carpet. Just the top, and whatever slopped over the edges. I'm getting a bit lazy, admittedly. But I figure I can always fix these later if needed, as plywood is cheap, and I over-bought glue and carpet.
I even wrapped the edges on the bench for the console seats. This too was easier than I thought. I folded to a point, trimmed the excess, and finished the stapling. I was surprised to see that there was no puckering on the top side when I flipped it over.
I had the wood, carpet and glue inside the house for 36 hours before starting, so it had ample time to warm. The finsihed product will stay in the house another 48 so the glue can set properly.
I am a bit ahead of myself right now. To keep things moving forward, I had to cut, seal and carpet the benches without taking exact measurements. I'm sure it's going to bite me in the future. Unfortunately, without the boat going to the metal guy for the back bench fabrication, I basically had to use the old bench tops as templates for the new plywood.
The middle portion of the front and back benches will flip open for storage access. That's why I cut off the end pieces you see in the pictures, and carpeted them separately. The end pieces will be permanently attached to the benches, while the middle portion will open. I'm hoping that the benches are the right size, or even a bit short, so there's enough of a gap between the ends and middle that the bench top opens and closes without contacting one another.
Fingers crossed for me, gentlemen!
I leave for a work trip to Europe for two weeks, and am hoping to get the boat to the metal guy before I leave. Then I have to figure out when my engine shop is going to be done with the O/B. I have no real idea how much either guy is going to charge me, which has me nervous. But hopefully they will be the last big expenses for the build.
Thanks for your feedback!
