Bed Liner on the inside of the boat

[sconnie12]

Has anyone done this on the inside of their tin, and are you happy with it? I need to do something with the inside of my boat, and I'm kind of tempted to explore this option. Just wondering if people have done it themsleves and have enjoyed the decision. I'm still trying to find a spray or brush on liner that I can do myself instead of paying for it to be done.

Any advice is appreciated, thanks so much.

-Brian

 

[spotco2]

It's been covered many, many times.

It can stop leaks, but can also flake off if the surface is not prepped properly.

Black will be so hot you can not stand on it. Tan, white or beige works better.

That stuff is HEAVY and adds a lot of weight to the boat.

It's a major PITA to remove if you have an issue down the road or decide you don't like it.

 

[sconnie12]

Well I tried searching the topic and I couldn't land any results...sorry

 

[Buddychrist]

If you decided to go the bed liner route I would highly recommend going to a professional and having rhino liner done. They know exactly how to prep it and in order for bed liner to stick it needs to be VERY clean.

Just my .02

 

[DaveInGA]

For the inside of a boat, instead of using standard bed liner, go with aliphatic Grizzly Grip in the color of your choice. You can also select coarse or fine for the textured non slip material.

Here is a link to their website, which is down temporarily so they can catch up on backorders. Good stuff: https://www.grizzlygrip.com/

 

[jigngrub]

Bed liner is a poor choice for a hull coating, most if not all of the people that put it on their boat regret it afterwards... and the boat gets sold with that junk on it instead of trying to remove it.

Bed liner only stops leaks temporarily, another one of the reasons that the boat gets sold with the bed liner on it. Bed liner makes it very difficult to find out exactly where the boat is leaking... and you spend more time chasing leaks and removing bed liner trying to find the leak.

... but don't take my word for this, go ahead and apply it to your boat and find out for yourself.

Gluvit or Coat-it to stop leaks and the a couple good coats of tractor and implement paint over self etching primer is a much better option and it looks a lot nicer too.

 

[DaveInGA]

Bed liner is a poor choice for a hull coating,OP said "inside," not hull coating.

most if not all of the people that put it on their boat regret it afterwards... and the boat gets sold with that junk on it instead of trying to remove it.That's why you use it on your decks, not on your hull and you use some thing like Grizzly Grip that designed for boats instead of "bed liner." Different chemical makeup.

Bed liner only stops leaks temporarily, another one of the reasons that the boat gets sold with the bed liner on it. Bed liner makes it very difficult to find out exactly where the boat is leaking... and you spend more time chasing leaks and removing bed liner trying to find the leak.Don't see anywhere original poster mentioned leaks or dealing with leaks.

... but don't take my word for this, go ahead and apply it to your boat and find out for yourself.

Gluvit or Coat-it to stop leaksAgain, no leaks mentioned in OP.

a couple good coats of tractor and implement paint over self etching primer is a much better option and it looks a lot nicer too. Looks are subjective and a matter of opinion. I'm using oil based enamel paint with aliphatic additive (Which is what tractor and implement paint is.) and I've seen in person what the aliphatic Grizzly Grip looks like and have a different color from what I've seen applied in my garage right now I'm about to put on. The Grizzly Grip looks as good or better than the paint and hides flaws much, much better in addition to having a much better grip to walk on. Not only that, but if it's applied PROPERLY by those using it and a two part epoxy primer is used, it adheres better than paint and does not flake off.

Just like any other paint or marine carpet/vinyl, the prep work needs to be done. No, it is not appropriate to use as a hull coating, but is an excellent deck coating when applied correctly.

 

[jigngrub]

Bed liner is a poor choice for a hull coating,OP said "inside," not hull coating.

most if not all of the people that put it on their boat regret it afterwards... and the boat gets sold with that junk on it instead of trying to remove it.That's why you use it on your decks, not on your hull and you use some thing like Grizzly Grip that designed for boats instead of "bed liner." Different chemical makeup.

Bed liner only stops leaks temporarily, another one of the reasons that the boat gets sold with the bed liner on it. Bed liner makes it very difficult to find out exactly where the boat is leaking... and you spend more time chasing leaks and removing bed liner trying to find the leak.Don't see anywhere original poster mentioned leaks or dealing with leaks.

... but don't take my word for this, go ahead and apply it to your boat and find out for yourself.

Gluvit or Coat-it to stop leaksAgain, no leaks mentioned in OP.

a couple good coats of tractor and implement paint over self etching primer is a much better option and it looks a lot nicer too. Looks are subjective and a matter of opinion. I'm using oil based enamel paint with aliphatic additive (Which is what tractor and implement paint is.) and I've seen in person what the aliphatic Grizzly Grip looks like and have a different color from what I've seen applied in my garage right now I'm about to put on. The Grizzly Grip looks as good or better than the paint and hides flaws much, much better in addition to having a much better grip to walk on. Not only that, but if it's applied PROPERLY by those using it and a two part epoxy primer is used, it adheres better than paint and does not flake off.

Just like any other paint or marine carpet/vinyl, the prep work needs to be done. No, it is not appropriate to use as a hull coating, but is an excellent deck coating when applied correctly.

The OP didn't say deck or "floor", he said on the inside of his tin... and the inside of the hull is still the hull.

The main reason most people want to bed liner the inside of their hull is because they don't know how to stop leaks the right way. No... the OP didn't say anything about leaks, but I mentioned Gluvit and Coat-it in case he was thiking the liner would stop leaks.

Bed liner doesn't look too bad on plywood decking, but the OP never said anything about plywood. I've seen a couple of builds with bed liner on plywood decking that looked fairly decent and it's a much better choice than carpet for sure... and it takes very little skill to apply it.

I just try to warn people about putting bed liner on the inside or outside of their hull because I've never heard of anyone that was satisfied with it after the first year... and if those people are the same people I tried to warn I have a good chuckle about it.

 

[UtahBassKicker]

I have bed-liner on the inside of my boat and have had for several years and I still like it very much.

 

[coltday]

I'm about to put Ultra Tuff down on my boat, there are some people on the forum that have used it. Same concept, but a little different and they have their own primer they recommend. Look up tuffcoat.net and read about it. It can be bought from bass pro or cabela's, but it is cheaper ordering it straight from the company on their ebay store. I'm about to put it on my 16' footer's floors and decks as I HATE carpet.

 

[DaveInGA]

The OP didn't say deck or "floor", he said on the inside of his tin... and the inside of the hull is still the hull.According to you, but your definitions aren't the world's definitions, unless you are the Webster Dictionary of the boating world. (NOT)

The main reason most people want to bed liner the inside of their hull is because they don't know how to stop leaks the right way. No... the OP didn't say anything about leaks, but I mentioned Gluvit and Coat-it in case he was thiking the liner would stop leaks.Again, your opinion he was talking about hull.

Bed liner doesn't look too bad on plywood decking, but the OP never said anything about plywood. I've seen a couple of builds with bed liner on plywood decking that looked fairly decent and it's a much better choice than carpet for sure... and it takes very little skill to apply it.Exactly, all you have to do is do the simple prep steps and it works great. BTW, all tin boats DO NOT have plywood decking. Yours might, but others do not. Particularly newer boats.

I just try to warn people about putting bed liner on the inside or outside of their hull because I've never heard of anyone that was satisfied with it after the first year... and if those people are the same people I tried to warn I have a good chuckle about it.I posted about the Grizzly Grip and their long term experience: https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=25601

And here's another thread: https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=26763

It would appear the long term experiences of those that apply the Grizzly Grip (Whom also makes bed liner and the Grizzly Grip is a similar product) and follow the instructions do not coincide with your statements.

 

[DaveInGA]

I'm about to put Ultra Tuff down on my boat, there are some people on the forum that have used it. Same concept, but a little different and they have their own primer they recommend. Look up tuffcoat.net and read about it. It can be bought from bass pro or cabela's, but it is cheaper ordering it straight from the company on their ebay store. I'm about to put it on my 16' footer's floors and decks as I HATE carpet.

I hate carpet too. One thing I found and preferred ordering straight from the company vs. from a retailer is they take your order, then they make the batch you ordered and ship it straight to you. So when you get the stuff, the chemicals are fresh and work their best. I've used bedliner that sat for quite a while on a retailers shelf with less than desirable results, so getting it fresh was important to me.

I do think it's worth while, if you're going to use a bed liner type material in a boat, that you prep properly and use the recommended primer for the material you are putting it on. The aliphatic blend I mentioned in my earlier post is preferred for boats due to it becomes harder and stands up to heat/sun/moisture/traffic much better.

 

[Bugpac]

I prefer grizzly grip over tuffcoat myself, have used grizzly grip myself, and have fished over a tuffcoat deck.

 

[bassboy1]

I prefer grizzly grip over tuffcoat myself...

I do too. I've installed the Tuff Coat in a boat I've owned, but I'm not the biggest fan of the texture.

I had a customer Line-X a boat after I finished the fabrication, and last I've heard, he was very pleased with the results.

Now, I say all this in regard to the deck surface for traction/ease of cleanup, NOT as a leak repair/preventative on hull.

 

[coltday]

Until now, I hadn't really looked at Grizzly Grip. I had before when I bought the boat, but forgot about it when I found Ultra Tuff. Without calling seeing as the website is down, how much does a kit run? Gallon of grip, and the primer?

 

[DaveInGA]

I can't say. I bought the 1.25 gallon with a quart of the primer kit. It ran me $182.00 delivered, but included gloves, a couple of the rollers and some other stuff I can't bring to mine. I'll look and post later. Showed up here in 5 1 quart bottles. So you can open each bottle as you need it, rather than having to rush things.

This was an aliphatic kit with the coarser grit rubber in their camo tan. Bear in mind their coarse grit isn't quite as coarse as the most bedliner coarses are and don't have the over all density/quantity of rubber chunks per container, which was something I liked about it.

 

[bigwave]

If your trying to keep the hull from leaking I would address the leaks first from the outside seams and rivets ....then move to the inside. The glove it products and the like are a good choice for added insurance against leaks. If you properly seal the leaks with either welds, marine sealants like 5200 or other means then you should not have to worry about leaks in the future no matter what you do to the inside of the hull. In my case I used the cheap ole spray on bed liner for a corrosion resistant barrier only, since my boat is primarily saltwater use. I will cover the inside hull with bed liner and will be applying some two part expanding foam in the future. You should check out a little snookered by fool4fish, he has some very detailed ways to fix your leaks and how to put the foam under the deck. I have never been a fan of using the paint products to seal the leaks.....since the hull is always flexing. I would much rather have either a patch, new rivet or a thick bead of 5200 to prevent penetration. If you bite the bullet and fix the leaks properly you should not have to worry about putting anything but paint on the inside of the hull. As far as wood decks, the sky is the limit as to the finish you desire. Good luck with your boat.

 

[sconnie12]

Thanks for all of the feedback everyone, there is no leaking at all, I just need to address the inside somehow as I have painted the entire outside and haven't done anything on the inside yet. I'm planning on putting a deck in at the front, and I really don't want carpet, so I thought it might make sense to explore this option...from what I've seen online it looks like it would be great for my needs.

Thanks again for all the help.