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Sea Grass Flooring Versus Designer Vinyl ?

T

Tooncrazy

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Tellico Lake, TN
About ready to submit my 2275 GCW build and need to finalize flooring material for full floor coverage.

Now trying to decide between Sea Grass and Designer Vinyl. The cost difference to us is about $650. Issues are the stern of the boat because of the way the boat house is situated gets full sun for several hours every day so there is concern about what the sun will do to the floor material. We also have a mildew problem because of heavy evening dew. We live on a lake. Because of frequent use the boat does not get covered May-September.

Which material might be a better pick under the circumstances and in general? Is there some thing else we should consider?

Thank you.
 
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I'm not sure what designer vinyl is, but the standard vinyl does tend to get hot. It's extremely durable, great for fishing messes, with easy washdown, etc. so always a good choice. Snap in carpet gives you the best of both, but it gets a bit pricey. I've also heard a few people complain about getting stains off of standard vinyl.

We have full Seagrass and would never get carpet again. It is very soft and cushy underfoot, cleans very easily, and we don't find it gets hot at all in our climate. It's too soon to talk much about durability, but so far I have no concerns about it, even with the dogs running around on it. I'd get it again in heartbeat.
 
Why would you NOT cover your boat?
 
If by designer vinyl you mean the floor like mine. I have no problems. As for the "it gets hot debate"... I have no problems. I love my floor and if I were to order a boat today, I'd get the same. As for not covering your boat... I think you should consider covering it. Takes less than ten minuets and protects a lot.
 
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We are out on the boat every day it is not raining ,May-October . We cover it every day .

Not covering may void parts of your warranty .
 
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Designer vinyl is so new, I don't think you are going to find anyone with any warm weather or long term experience yet. We just took delivery on ours and really like it as a (hopefully) good compromise between platinum seagrass (some complain about heat in the sun) and HD tuff-ply vinyl (complaints about showing dirt, hard to clean, and some say can get hot too). Obviously, use and climate will make a difference on recommendations...

For the best of both worlds and to give us options, we also did snap-out platinum carpet and to us it looks great with that and the sandstone / graphite pillowtop seats. But as mentioned, both can get pricey. By itself, we saw the Designer Vinyl as a very reasonably priced upgrade and much better looking than the tan HD vinyl on our color configuration.

Will report back once we get more use but still a couple months off before real summer weather where we're located. :(
 
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I don't cover my boat except using the mooring cover for Winter.  Our boathouse has a large overhang so we don't even get blowing rain--boat stays dry.

Our biggest problem is fighting spiders and their droppings.  I have fabricated Surlast seat covers held on by straps.

It sure is nice having a 16,000 acre lake in your front yard.  But maintenance is extremely high when doing Spring Cleaning.
 
Also, seagrass is a 'coarser' weave in slightly darker colors (for platinum) but both are molded materials. Your dealer should have a sample. At the Chicago boat show, I tried to detatch a 'thread' from a Designer Vinyl sample edge for several minutes and could not.

Inquiries to durability were responded with 'typical extensive testing was done by Bennington as with all materials used'. Not sure I've heard of any durability issues with any other of their flooring (as far as it holding up anyway) so we bought off on that.

FYI - it is only listed on the S and G series builds but they honored our request for it on an R series Blackout with no pushback. Curious as to why only shown on the S and G's though, especially since the Bennington rep said they like it a lot and really see it taking off as a very popular option.
 
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Other images of the new boat posted in my gallery as a thank you to all those that helped us spend our money B)

First outing earlier today and only wished the heater worked better :) . Seriously, so far with the way we spec'd this out and the seemingly infinite number of options, wouldn't change a thing!
 
That is great looking stuff and congrats!
 
Thanks. Lots of beautiful boats on this forum. Glad we could add to the 'collection'.
 
I like that designer vinyl. Looks comfy. 
 
Your vinyl looks amazing! Keep us posted on how it heats up in direct sunlight.
 
Thanks Spin!

Will post back once it finally warms up. Funny we're talking about concerns for flooring being too warm :)
 
gnc1017 said:
Funny we're talking about concerns for flooring being too warm :)
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I swore I wouldn't complain about the heat after this winter.

My standard vinyl gets obnoxiously hot in the middle of summer. My boat detail guy says our red clay soil is impossible to get out of the seagrass stuff that boat manufacturers are using and the faux teak doesn't have enough give underneath for me.

Mrs. Spin is onboard with a PADS investment in 24 months and right now your setup is my favorite.
 
spinzone said:
Mrs. Spin is onboard with a PADS investment in 24 months and right now your setup is my favorite.
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We obviously have similar tastes. Had plans for JL subs and the M-series JL digital amps before we even had the boat spec'd out so was glad to see another JL fan on the forum. We'll rewire and install those next winter during the off-season and will 'suffer' through this summer with only head unit power. Although, I must admit, the Sony sounds much better than I expected by itself, all things considered. We did the Wetsounds speakers so Derrick should at least partially approve too. B)   I just cringe to think that in the meantime, we're powering such speakers off a head unit but for now, it's more about enjoying the boat until we can get back to the system we're used to and we'll just have to control ourselves (and the kids) with the volume knob...

Back on topic... Will be happy to post back this summer on the Designer Vinyl. Real heat should hit by end of May or June at the latest to give a reference. If you are looking for more padding, you may check the samples at your dealer (and going forward, would expect for dealers to have boats with this installed) as I can't specifically say which has more cushion (std HD vinyl, seagrass, or Designer Vinyl and I don't think it is the DV). We have the snap-out carpet to soften it up so we were going more for looks and maintenance and didn't look that closely at cushion.
 
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