How to Make a Custom Boat Floor Mat With Woven Vinyl

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If you have a small space in your boat that could use a rug or a mat, you can create your own custom-shaped floor mat using woven vinyl marine flooring. This flooring option can just be cut or you can add binding to the edges for a fully finished look. We're going to demonstrate how to create a custom, shapely floor mat for the galley on a powerboat in this how-to video.

Video Chapters:

Making a Pattern – 0:39 min.
Patterning Floor Covering Fabric – 1:57 min.
Sewing Binding on Edges – 9:46 min.
Laying Flooring in Place – 28:42 min.
Materials List – 29:13 min.

Materials List:

Dura-Skrim^® Patterning Material 74" – #103134
Chilewich^® Basketweave Oyster 72" Floor Covering Fabric – #106735
Sunbrella^® Acrylic Bias Binding Tape Black – #124900
Sailrite^® Tex 92 Black PTFE Lifetime Thread 4 oz. (825 yds.) – #107130
Seamstick 1/2" Basting Tape for Canvas (50 yds.) – #104984
Tape

Tools List:

Gingher^® 8" Scissors Right Handed – #19104
Sailrite^® Ultrafeed^® LSZ Walking Foot Sewing Machine (110V) – #311602
Sailrite^® 1-1/4" Swing-Away Binder – #120474
Sailrite^® Edge Hotknife Package (110V) – #103800
Soapstone Fabric Marking Pencil White – #102766
Permanent Marker, Straightedge, L-Square

How to Make a Custom Boat Floor Mat With Woven Vinyl 2

Woven vinyl flooring is a great option for mats and complete flooring both in your cabin and on deck. At Sailrite^®, we carry two brands of woven vinyl flooring: Infinity and Chilewich. Woven vinyl flooring is a great alternative to carpet because it is stain resistant, quick drying and easy to clean while still being soft underfoot. These flooring options are also antimicrobial, meaning they prevent the growth of mold and mildew. For our mat application we chose to use a Chilewich in a basket weave design.

Woven vinyl flooring can be installed without binding as the edges won’t fray, but if the edges of the mat will be exposed, they will wear faster without a binding. We really like the stylish, finished look that the binding provides, so we decided to add a 1-1/4" Sunbrella^® binding to the edges of our mat. To help easily install binding, we recommend using our 1-1/4" Swing-Away Binder (#120474). This binder has an extra-wide jaw to perfectly accommodate the thickness of marine flooring. In the video, we demonstrate how to install binding both with and without the binder.

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To learn more about using woven vinyl flooring on your boat as snap-in mats, be sure to check out our "How to Replace Boat Carpet With Woven Flooring" blog (#200674XHT). Shop our selection of marine flooring in the fabric department, right here at Sailrite.