Hobie Cat Forums

Finally cleaned off 31 years of old contact cement from the rails on our new (to me) 1981 H16, used in abundance to glue down the carpet.

Any recommendations on replacing this -

with carpet:
http://sailsportmarine.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=673

or neoprene:
http://www.murrays.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=MS&Product_Code=30-210&Category_Code=

or... ?

Suggestions welcome!

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1981 Hobie 16 Tequila Sunrise

You can spend the $$ for a kit but this is what I used. It's been on my boat for over a year and holding up very well.

http://www.lowes.com/pd_97913-1761-ST10 ... oor+carpet

..and I have enough left over to do it again.

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Garrett

94' H16 - 100403

Garret has a good solution - the end result would be the same as the carpet kit and you save $$. We opted for the neoprene kit from Murrays. Does not hold water so your backside stays drier.

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Jonathan
'85 H16 __/) 87468 Tidal Wave

Surprisingly the carpet holds very little water but Neoprene is good stuff too. If your backside isn't wet you are not on a H16.

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Garrett

94' H16 - 100403

True that

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Jonathan
'85 H16 __/) 87468 Tidal Wave

This is what I did. It turned out that the width of the carpet (8' I believe) was about 6" short to cover the entire rail. So we went back into lowes and borrowed a few 6"x6" samples to finish it off Can't tell and it has been holding for a year .

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-Zach
Hobie 16 for sale
West Lafayette, IN (school)
Melbourne, FL (summer)

NEOPRENE every day have used carpet did not like
Just put on a kit from Murrays Marine very nice
Former Hobie Admiral Gary

Two choices to avoid that. Use 12ft
Width or they also sell 30" runners on a big roll. I went with the runner. It also gives you two nice factory edges to work with. You can put the edge you cut under the rail.

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Garrett

94' H16 - 100403

One word:

Hydroturf

http://hydroturf.com/products.php?cat=S ... Hydro-Turf

Lighter than neoprene, with none of the bad habits (water retention) of carpet.

Bit pricey, though, especially when you add in the adhesive.

But your backside dries faster than carpet. And getting your shirt or shorts wet long after you finished sailing and dried out is just enough of a pain to make me go with neoprene.

+1 on the Hydroturf. I've installed it on both of my H18s and really like it. Very good grip and quite durable, after 2 summers of sailing it really isn't showing any signs of wear.

I bought a full roll of the long diamond cut (4.5mm thick) that was on close-out for $40 and used rubber cement to install it. Certainly took longer than the 3M adhesive backing would have, but being careful it ended up just as clean and it hasn't started to pull up at all. Plus, I still have enough left for at least another boat, maybe 2. Even at full price, a roll is a pretty good value, and you can always sell your left overs.



-Pete

I had the carpet on my boat and when it deteriorated I bought the neoprene kit. I really like it a lot. Haven't had the desire to explore the DIY options.

My only gripe (and this probably applies to any rail rug) is that the trap shock cords hang up on it. But so far it hasn't torn; it just gets indentations.

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'78 H16 - 32692 ex-rental
'00 H16 - 104691
Old Holsclaw trailer

I put the neoprene kit from Murrays on about 4 years ago, and still very happy though as one said it got a few little indents in it, I think from the straps I used to squeeze the rails when I put on a new tramp.

I sailed a boat once that had some stinky mildewed carpet on it. Did not like that.

The Murrays kit also came with pieces you can put on the back decks if you want to trap out way back on a reach, which I don't. I should probably put them on the boom for my annual accidental jibe.

scott

Jimrude, what did you find to be the most effective method of removing the old contact cement? I'm about to replace the old carpet on my 14 with neoprene.

Thanks,

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Mark Van Doren
Division 9 Chairman
H20 #647
H14 #47787
H16 #112205

MVD - we recently replaced the carpet with neoprene. The carpet was rotten so the rail looked more like a mangy dog than something that would pull off in one piece. We used acetone and gently scraped it while wet with a putty knife and steel wool. Then cleaned it well one more time with acetone before applying the new cement. (make sure you are working in a well ventilated area or better yet outdoors).

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Jonathan
'85 H16 __/) 87468 Tidal Wave