Making my own Traction Mats..

[Wavfact]

I have a 2000 LS2000 which has a bare deck.. I wanted to buy SeaDek but the price was too high.. Yes, I know there is a group buy right now but I started this project already and going to see it thru..

I used a software called PhotoModeler to get my deck layout.. I did not do a very good job of it. Dimensions were way off but at least it got my over 50% there.. After printing our full scale images in a wide format printer, I test fitted, marked up areas needing fixed and test fitted again, and again.. I pretty much have it near perfect now!

I have a wood shop in my garage with a 4ft x 8ft CNC Router which I plan to use for cutting the mat. I bought my 2 layer EVA material on Amazon, light gray top with black bottom, 6mm thick, each layer is 3mm.. I don't have a vacuum table which is ideal, so plan to use 3" wide painters tape on the adhesive layer, then use double sided carpet tape to hold it down to my table.. I do this method all the time when machining thin plastics so this should work.. Using the painters tape so I can remove the carpet tape without destroying the adhesive backing.

I reproduced the "Naked Feet Only" graphic for the swim platform and also going to cut the YAMAHA logo on the ski locker. Not going to machine lines, just a 1/4" black border around all pieces, the material I have has a brushed texture on the surface. Should look good when I am done (I hope!). I will post more in this thread as I progress..

Will take 4 sheets to do the boat.. Possible 3, thinking of breaking up the footwells to a 2 piece design, doing it one piece will cause me to use a 4th sheet.. ugh I am making 2 cooler tops (Yeti 35L) as well to match the boat design

The material I bought is from Amazon for $72 a sheet

 

[84rzv500r]

very cool...

 

[UnorthodoxCreations]

Do you know what type/size bit you'll use or any idea on feed rates or rpm? I also have a CNC table and would love to do this on my AR230. I love the Seadek look but not the Seadek price and I generally like doing stuff myself. It will take 4 sheets to do my boat with some material left over.

 

[HawaiiBreeze]

Looks like a killer DIY project. Hope to see the finished work.

 

[itsdgm]

Wow, youve got access to some great tools.

I cut out my own traction mats on a previous boat years ago. It really brought that boat to life. One thing that I learned is that since the traction mat that I was using had a diamond cut pattern on it, I needed to cut out all of the pieces with the diamond pattern running the same direction. Otherwise it wouldn’t look right once laid onto the boat. Also, I used simple templates that I made out of poster board, traced with a sharpie (onto the backside of the mat, then I cut it out with a simple razor blade. I was able to actually sand The edges of the mat that I used in areas that needed to be smoothed out.

post up pics if/when your done. I’d love to see the finished product.