Ripping up carpet and install Alure flooring in 80s era sundancer 300

The three large ones are the restore/resale boats. (But I like playin with them too) The Ranger is my Bass Boat and the Maxum is my son's wakeboard boat.
Jim
 
Quint, that looks great. Hey I have a question, have you noticed any odor associated with the new flooring? My weather here in Boston is still too cold to install flooring in my boat, so I decided to give it a whirl in my kitchen. It looks great, but the house has a very strong chemical odor afet install. I called Halstrand....the parent company for Alure flooring products, and told them I was having a problem with odor. The woman was very helpfull and surprisingly honest. She said because this product is made from recycled material, some batches have an odor that is not harmfull, non toxic and will go away in 2-3 days. She then told me that if I was not happy after 3 days, with the outcome, they would send me out another batch of flooring free. After reading about this on the internet, there are quite a few people out there with the same complaints. Now, I'm not sure if I even want to blow all the time on the boat install if its going to stink up the boat. I mean, the smell in my house is so strong....I have all the widows open. I'm ripping it out if the stink does not go away ! Sorry to be so long winded. Thanx.
 
I did not notice any smell at all.
 
:huh:Thats good. If you have a minute, take a look at this blog I found during a search for Allure flooring problems. The blog is under the title."ottoblotto's blog, Allure flooring stinks". Make sure you read it to the end of the blog. There is a potential TOXIC chemical off gassing issue with this product. I did about 3 hours of research on this product and found the main distributor to be in CT, HALSTEAD flooring products. I contacted them, and they were very aware of the smell issue but rather evasive on the topic. With no questions asked, they asked me how many boxes I bought, and that I could go back to home depot, show my reciept, and they would give me replacement flooring at no charge. They did not even ask for a sample of the smelly flooring. They just told me to tear up the old, and replace it. She said some batches did have an odor problem but she did not know why. But she reasured me that it was non toxic. I don't buy it. I think they just want me to go away. She is also sending me out a special Allure sealer kit at no charge. Something is fishy....Why do I have to seal a brand new floor. What am I covering up? I did however find out that it is manufactured in Asia using unspecified recycled plastic, rubber and vinyl. It is a little scary, given China's track record on tracability of raw material and chemicals used in some of their exported goods. Also, many customers have installed this in basements and had seam problems. When they lifted the floor to replace the affected planks, they discovered large quantities of MOLD growing under the flooring. Our boats may experience some of the same conditions as a basement!!
 
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Iprof said:
The carpeting has been replaced with a nice Berber on our boat about 4 years ago and it still looks good but I love wood floors. I was looking on the net and found this about Allure floors, interesting read.

http://ottoblotto.blogspot.com/2009/08/allure-flooring-stinks.html

You might want to open all the boxes and check the odor before you put it down. The smell seems to be a hit or miss thing after a few days. It is a blog from 2009/08 don't know if the product has changed since then.

Ken
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Here I am quoting myself....
The fumes would do me in, I have a very serious lung condition and must be careful of things like this.

Ken
 
Wow, you found this blog quite a while ago, wish I saw it before I got my hopes up. Well, I tore it all out of my kitchen today, the smell was horrible, like some really bad chemical smell, I have been in the auto body repair business for many years and have smelled some pretty strong chemicals, but nothing like this. I still have a nasty taste in my mouth 5 hours later. Plus I have 3 boxes of special ordered material for the boat that is on backorder, that I will be canceling in the morning. Im very dissapointed, I really like the look of the wood, now dont know what I will do. Its probably going to be carpet again (berber), makes sense though....the carpet breathes, no trapped mold underneath. sucks.
 
What about an engineered wood laminate? I saw some very nice stuff at Lowes the other day, was on a plywood type backing about the thinkness of Pergo but not pressed cardboard.
 
Yea, I need to do some homework, I really want the wood look, now I have it in my head. What a shame on the Allure. I knew it was too good to be true. I did find a commercial supplier that does sheet vinyl that is designed to be used in damp locations...No seams, one piece instalation. The best part is, they have it available in teak and holly ! and also have all the matching trim, mouldings and transition peices. Very realistic. They are sending me some samples. It is a glue down application, and will eliminate any possibility of mold growing under it. Im exited about this prospect.
 
Wow, what a development. I will read the blog later. I have no odor whatsoever.....I wonder if I am okay?....jeez.
 
Yea, this really burst my bubble. From what I read, even if does not stink, it is still toxic. Also, keep an eye out for mold issues under the floor.
 
Check ebay, MarineMax is selling several lots of maple and other Sea Ray flooring, not cheap but very nice material.
 
88dancer300 said:
Wow, you found this blog quite a while ago, wish I saw it before I got my hopes up. Well, I tore it all out of my kitchen today, the smell was horrible, like some really bad chemical smell, I have been in the auto body repair business for many years and have smelled some pretty strong chemicals, but nothing like this. I still have a nasty taste in my mouth 5 hours later. Plus I have 3 boxes of special ordered material for the boat that is on backorder, that I will be canceling in the morning. Im very dissapointed, I really like the look of the wood, now dont know what I will do. Its probably going to be carpet again (berber), makes sense though....the carpet breathes, no trapped mold underneath. sucks.
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I grew up in the Autobody business, my dad still owns a body shop in Keswick but he leases the building out he is retired. For the past 28 years I have taught apprentices at a college in Toronto, the hardener did my lungs in, it took 4 years of testing to find out that the isocyanate's had damaged my lungs. I can't go near the school and wear a full face fresh air supplied respirator when working with any chemicals or wood working. I volunteer for Skills Ontario and am the Co-Chair for the Auto Collision. When the nationals skills are held in Ontario I am also the Provincial Technical Adviser to Skills Canada. A lot of work and no pay for either position but a lot of fun and I get to travel one month a year to different places in Canada. This might be my last year doing this I see retirement coming very quickly. Thought it funny we did/do body work and both have 88 300da that we do a lot of work on.

Ken
 
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Yes Ken , it is funny. I do not do it for a living any longer either, My back is shot from too much time up on the frame machine,2 ruptured discs, my knees are gone, and have had them both operated on, I get chronic bronchitis alot, and both of my hands are full of artheritis and have carpal tunnel sydrom. Its too bad, I loved the work but between the risk of isocynate poisioning from all of the new urethane based paints, the poor shop air quality due to all of the related dusts and adhesives and a body thats too beat up, I just cant do it any longer. I'm actually in the middle of a bout of pnumonia as we speak.
 
Makes three of us ,i unfortunately am still working after nearly 37 years in a body shop.currently we are changed over to enviro based painting system (waterbased) but the clears are still the same.we do have a downdraft bakeing booth and the body dept is seperated from the paint dept.but i gotta think with the economy changing the cost of doing bussines increasing and the fact insurance companies are not giving any increases in labor amounts ,no raises in five plus years it may be time to find a different venue.I am currently working with a hernia because my boss runs his household from the shop bank account which means he paid his bills before paying our health insurance ,which is why it went up almost 200% and he now wont pay it at all.He told us we would have insurance by april 1st but now his wife says may 1st.I hate conartists am thinking of sueing but then how do i get another job with a hernia going on? oh well i took today off to piss in his cherioos,i am going to the boat to buff and fiddle f%$k around.
 
That stinks Olds. I am also recovering from a huge abdominal hernia as a result of colon surgury last year. They had to open me up again, and insert a gortex mesh patch the size of a paper plate. Another 13" incission to recover from. Unfortunately they have cut and disturbed so many of my abdominal muscles, it is making extremely difficult for me to work in my bilge. For the first time in my life, I am going to have to hire someone to do some work in there. Tough when the body starts to let go.
 
Regarding your alternate flooring considerations, perhaps first realize that you do not have a lot of square footage to cover – relatively speaking. This means that to purchase top quality materials will not cost an extravagant amount and may only be about $2.00 more per square foot over and above the material you are returning. Also, the labor to install the best material is typically about the same as the low end products, so it makes good sense to whenever possible procure not only the best grade but best type of material as well.

To avoid the “off gassing” problem that plagues most of the synthetic products, I would suggest staying with the natural materials. There are an abundance of them that can be installed in a boat such as, all types of hardwood and softwood, cork and bamboo which has become very popular and can look similar to some maple flooring.

One other comment and then I will “get out of your kitchen”. Stay away from all floating floor products. Unless your substrate is absolutely flat the floor will have significant and very noticeable vertical movement after the install. My totally biased opinion is that these products are a made as a gimmick to sell to the inexperienced, touting effortless installation, but the finished job is less than acceptable.
 
Hey Jim, you are welcome in my kitchen anytime. Its good to get opinions and advice from all angles, thats what this place is all about. You are right on a couple of points.....1. given the small area, its worth buying a good product. 2. The floating floor idea in a boat of any damp or potentially damp area is a bad idea because its floating...it will be growing mold between the floor and subfloor within one season. 3. The companies that advertize these inexpensive flooring products as being ideal for damp areas are offering false information, do not care if your home stinks or warn you against mold problems. And they are preying on their inexperience, and will use the term improper instalation tecniques when its time for them to honor any warranty claims. My problem is I want a cherry or mahoghany look, and cant find what I want. I would gladly pay the extra $ if I could find something. The other thing I have found after talking to numerous installers is, what ever flooring product that is used in a damp enviroment, it must be glued down to eliminate a place for mold to grow. Thats why most boat MFGs used carpet, it breathes and will dry if it gets wet. I'm really in a pickle here, about what to do with this floor. I have a bunch of leftover patio blocks in the back yard?? LOL
 
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I posted a reply to this thread and it is not here so I will try it again????? Over the years we are exposed to a lot of chemical sometimes the MSDS can have dangers hidden by using CAS numbers. Most hardeners or driers in paint belong to the isocyanate family, a lot of paint spray bombs contain these hardeners and for me cause me to grab my epipen. Long term exposure can result in some serious illness 30 years down the road as the 3 of us are aware of. I am doing a kitchen reno and a new front entrance in the house. We picked out 2 very nice porcelain tiles from samples at a warehouse, we did not notice that we had picked a tile from Italy and one from China. Our friend that is doing the job told us to forget about the tile from China, he won't put it in a friends house. They have no standards of what goes into their product, drop 2 tiles from China that are identical and they break way different sometimes lumps like stones inside sometimes sand like material. We went with the 3.00 more a square foot Italian porcelain tile.

Ken
 
I do not know how our country can allow substandard products to be imported from China, who does not give a **** about whats in their products! Remember last year when they pulled a bunch of childrens toys that were painted with lead based paints, and there was a similar problem with christmas ornaments. Thos damned dollar stores are the worst places, they are loaded with product from china.
 
osd9 said:
Ron:
.....I'll make you a deal....I'll help you do your hatches and floors if you help me do mine.....You can bring the boat around to my dock so that we can have all the tools on hand.
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BUT.......after reading the stories above, I will NOT be using Alure on my boat.

btw...the Alure flooring I used in a rental bathroom had/has no unusual odor....no bathroom joke pleas.....and is holding up well to daily use by tenants.
 
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