Got a little more done with the carpeting this weekend. After looking at some of the other builds here it seems like I've taken a bit of a different approach to the carpeting. Just wanted to share how I've attacked it and what I've learned so far.
1- air temp makes a difference, being that I'm doing this in the middle of winter up here and using a kerosene heater to heat the garage it makes a difference, If i'm not sweating its not warm enough, and if I don't go back out after an hour or so to heat the garage back up for a bit after I'm done, I'm going to have a better chance of crappy results
2- It may take longer for large amount of glue to dry but when you're carpeting a large surface with a lot of small changes in height, such as the back deck of my boat, on those changes in elevation don't be afraid to put down A LOT of glue! Otherwise odds are you won't have a great bond, it's almost like using it as a bondo to transition some of the elevation changes you're carpeting over. after it gets set up and tacky...2-3 hours later, go back and work those large deposits of glue around in the areas by pressing with your fingers. The glue is already tacked to the carpet so you shouldn't get any lift but this will help distribute the excess glue around those areas
3- Plan everything out as best you can and measure 4 or 5 times to make sure! If you're unsure of how something might lay down around a corner or something, get a newspaper and make the corners cut you want to and lay down the newspaper to see how it's going to work
4-Equally distributed pressure especially all the way to the edges and adequate glue is a must! Also, let it sit longer than it calls for, I've had two separate times now where I either didn't have pressure all the way across an area or took it off after just a few hours because it was tacking up. Both time on an edge that was folded, both times I had to apply more glue and re-clamp it and let it sit for a while. They both came out great but needed extra attention because I screwed up.
5- Lastly, do it in sections if you're unsure of yourself. I've done almost all of my pieces now in multiple sections, especially if it's a complex piece or I don't have enough clamps to do all the edges. Take your time with it, I'm doing my back deck now and It's 1 large piece with one filler piece in two corners. I opted for the one large piece because it minimizes the number of carpet seams on the deck and therefore minimizes how many areas there are for it to lift up. However just doing this one large piece, I've broken up and is going to be 4 different sections, I have sections 1 and 2 done, 3 is happening tonight and 4 is going on Wednesday which should complete the back deck carpeting.
Hope this helps someone, this is the exact approach I've been taking and to be honest I'm extremely happy with how it's been coming out so far. Here is where I am with the back deck so far, I'll probably update again later this week.
