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Bennington flooring options

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JBMorgan

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Looking at buying a Bennington pontoon ("S" series) and one of the options is a faux wood floor.  Looks like wood grain but it's some type of vinyl (?) with a clear coating on it.  Just wondering if any users out there have any pros vs. cons about this type of flooring.  I like the idea of just being able to spray/wash it down instead of dealing with carpet. But I am concerned about (a) how hot does this flooring get in the summer and ( B) how slick is it when it gets wet?  I'm in Texas and summer's can be brutal hot.  The local dealer says this flooring is actually cooler than carpet but I find that hard to believe.  It also looks like it would be very slick when it gets wet, but the dealer says that's not the case. 

I did get on their boat outside with barefeet and it seemed pretty darn hot to me but it was also 100+ outside so I don't know if that was really a fair test.  Coudn't really test how slick it would be because I didn't think the dealer would appreciate it if I threw a bucket of water on the floor of their new boats. ha!

So I'd love to hear from people that have this type of flooring and find out what they do or don't like about it.

JB
 
We have Seagrass flooring on both the aft deck (faux teak) and the weaved version through out of the rest of the boat.  It does get somewhat hot in the blazing sun when compared to the carpet we had in our old pontoon boat.  I would guess that to color is the most important factor in deciding how hot it will get whether you choose carpet or something else.
 
I have seagrass aft. It gets hot, but not as bad as the vinyl we had on our 22 SSX. I don't think it is slippery at all. I wish my boat was full seagrass. I don't have any input on the faux wood vinyl, but I would think it would get hotter than the light tan vinyl I had since it is darker. 
 
Since everything except carpet gets hot, I went with vinyl. ...seagrass on the swim platform. ...since I usually have flip-flops on, it isn't an issue
 
JBmorgan, I have Seagrass through out my Bennington. This past weekend the temp was in the upper 90's. The floor got hot.  We put water on it no problem.  I've had carpet in my other boats in the past. This seagrass is the best. Cons is it can get hot. The Pro, easy to clean, spill something, no problem clean right up. Most of all, I come in from a day on the water. Use a towel to wipe up any water that may be on the floor, put the cover on and no worry about wet carpet getting moldy. No mold is a great thing my friend. I'll take a hear any day in place of having to fright mold and or wet carpet. Good luck. You'll love you new Bennington for sure. They're great boats.   
 
Thank you to everyone for the quick replies!  I definitely don't like the idea of wet, dirty carpet and like the ease of cleaning that the vinyl floor would provide.  I guess the only drawback would be a slightly hotter floor but then again, I'm floating on water(!) so that should be easy enough to overcome. ha!  Now just have to figure out what color/finish to go with .  All the dealers in this area tend to have the faux woodgrain options but I'll do some more checking around and see if I can find a "seagrass" one just so I can see what it looks like.  

I do have to say that while it appears that Bennington knows how to make a great boat, they really need to do something about their website.  What a beating that thing is!  Hundreds of options with no explanations or pictures of 90% of them so you don't even know what they are when you're trying to "build a boat".  But that's a whole other topic... :)

Again, thanks to everyone for their replies.

JB
 
Hey JBMorgan,

We also have the full sea grass floor and love it. I agree that it does get warmer than carpet but is EASY to maintain and no moldy carpet. If you are close, come look at mine to see what the floor looks and feels like!!!!

Marc
 
Another vote for full sea grass. We do a lot of tubing, skiing, knee boarding, so the floor is wet most of the time. I wouldn't want carpet. Never had an issue with it being too hot or slippery.
 
We have full sea grass and enjoy it. I do not like carpet. Carpet gets hotter than the sea grass.

Cheers, Steve
 
I have the full marine vinyl and love it. Just hose it off. We don't hit the 100's here in michigan. The only time I found it extremely hot is when the cover has been on after that it Ok to walk on bare feet.
 
Bennington has 2 new colors for Sea Grass for '15

Platinum & Linen.

The Linen is an off-white & I would think that would be the coolest flooring option.

Cool as in temp, not cool-groovy, or cool-neato.

The linen looks sweet w/Ivory interior. Real classy. Maybe even groovy or neato.
 
The Seagrass floor cools right off once the boat is moving. I noticed it only gets noticeably hot when not moving.
 
If looks was the determining factor, I'd choose Seagrass! That said, we love our full vinyl flooring & everytime after a day of fishing we're glad it's not carpet or Seagrass. Reason: inevitable dirt from worm containers & anchors (minimal since we work out of a shallow bin for the worms and our box anchor gets put directly into the larger bin). We scrub out any spots at the end of each outing. I don't know firsthand, but not sure how easy it'd be if dealing with the courser texture of Seagrass (& carpet fergetaboutit). The vinyl even has a little texture but I just use a spray bottle of soap & water with a medium bristle brush and/or cloth. Just food for thought.

As for hot, I think vinyl or Seagrass is hot if in full sun. (Under the bimini it's nice). (& I agree with rwatts1205, it does cool off some once the boat is moving). We have complimentary colored carpet we put down in the walkways which we roll up at the end of each day. Comfy on bare feet. Works out great for us.
 
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Love, love, love my floor. No issues, not hot. Clean up is simple weather you use a broom, scrub brush and 50/50 vinegar/water or a power washer.  Only time it is slippery is when you get 303 over spray from doing the seats.

Let me clarify on the "hottness"...it's not hot to the touch of my feet. Other tender footed individuals may feel differently. But I can say in the 104.3 hours on my boat, not one person has commented about the floor being hot.
 
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Jared,

104.3 hours?!  That's pretty funny.  Maybe a bit OCD, but funny! 

After reading everyone's comments, looks like I'm going to go with the vinyl flooring instead of carpet.  Either the seagrass color or the faux wood color.  Wife likes the faux wood option so that's probably what we'll be going with.

Thanks again to everyone.  It's certainly nice to see that "benny" owners are happy with their boats and I hope to a bennyite (?) soon!
 
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