Re Carpeting ChampioN 184 Bilge Compartment Cover

[Rojo]

I decided to put this in a separate thread as all the work applies to re carpeting a Hatch cover also.



I have standards, can't help it. I could not bring myself to install my batteries on top of this carpet. Not being critical of my Bud who I bought the boat from as he was tired of it and wanted something new. That was good for me.



This boat is pre-4 stroke and so this is where the 2 stroke injection tanks were mounted and this carpet is saturated with oil. The cover was very oily so after a serious scrubbing it was placed in the sun to dry completely.



After the oily was removed all the hardened carpet glue was removed inside & out then using s surfacing disc I smoothed the topside down slick for glue.



On my sewing table I rolled out some marine carpet leftover from the Blazer build and positioned the Cover for minimal waste before using the ruler to layout enough extra carpet to fully overlap to the insides. I think ChampioN designed in the carpet to prevent the aluminum from rubbing into the gelcoat in the bilge area.



I keep this box of clamps for pattering new Tops. Here they are used to firmly hold the carpet in the correct position so I can flip it off to apply the contact cement.



From here after working the carpet down very well I flip the Cover over for the underside work.



I first make some relief cuts in the carpet to make folding over the edges easier. Then liberally apply glue to both the carpet and the inside of the cover allowing to dry well before folding the edges over.



Before returning the cover to the bilge area I installed the two battery trays, installed the cover back in the bilge, and started the install of the Odyssey batteries.