What are some of the good alternatives to carpet that folks have seen for the cabin/ baggage floor? I'm looking for durability, light weight, and easy to clean. Specific product info appreciated.

Many thanks,

-DP

I'm in the same boat, let me know what you find out. I took out the crappy old carpet and right now it's just bare aluminum.

gb

The solution you seek is definitely a dry-cell firewall mounted battery.

Now Zane...

I was thinking the same thing a little while ago. I really like the flooring in our Bushhawk, kind of a tactile diamond plate. Much better than carpet IMO. Best I could find was something that appears to be designed for airliners, but I don't see why it wouldn't work...except you might have to buy a minimum order amount that is cost prohibitive.

denalipilot wrote:What are some of the good alternatives to carpet that folks have seen for the cabin/ baggage floor? I'm looking for durability, light weight, and easy to clean. Specific product info appreciated.

Many thanks,

-DP

Several years ago I saw some "foam pad" about 3/8" thick in 4' ft. square pieces -has interlocking tabs. Cut out slots for seat rails and velcroed down .

I really need to put out the effort to post pictures. yada yada yada

I owe Sullyco a pic of my plane interior also.

My 170B has a gray, diamond tread plastic on the floor. Inexpensive and easy to clean.

Bill

A friend of mine has his floor covered in corrugated cardboard- cheap, light, easy to replace (instead of clean). The trouble is that it feels like the inside of a bag lady's skid-row hideaway. But it is functional.
The floor in my 150TD is bare, but my 170 had old funky 1970's-looking "sunset orange" carpet, so I never worried about wiping off my muddy feet on it. Took it out every annual & just shook the dried up dirt out of it, then reinstalled.

Eric

I got some of that diamond plate patterned rubber matting to put in my 172 tw like I've seen other do up here. I finally ended up not using it because it just seemed too heavy...ended up with just the green chromated floor---very utilitarian look with a 2 seat 172 tw.

Has anyone tried a spray on bed liner type coating?

Be careful of using something flammable. I know that fireproof stuff is not REQUIRED for a non-commercial airplane, but please think safe folks. Oily corrugated cardboard is tinder in my humble opinion. The foam stuff is a good idea if it does not burn fast or would not make a fire worse than it already was. The spray-on bedliner idea is a GREAT idea if the stuff will stick to sluminum and not burn rapidly. The diamond plastic is kinda heavy, very attractive, and needs to be checked for fire in my opinion.

mauleCFI wrote:Has anyone tried a spray on bed liner type coating?

I don't know about that stuff. At least in my pick up, bedliner can be slippery when wet and muddy. Also can be a pain to clean. Plus, it's permanent.

I like the bed liner option. But maybe look at the roll on brush on option rather than spraying it on.
Downside is that its seem permanant, or dang hard to get off in the future.

The diamond plastic is kinda heavy, very attractive, and needs to be checked for fire in my opinion.

I disagree that its heavy. What I have is way lighter than carpet. But it depends on which product you buy.
I agree with the burn test. No doubt plastic will melt, flames would not be good.

EZFlap, is that a yawning dog in your avatar?

Be careful of using something flammable. I know that fireproof stuff is not REQUIRED for a non-commercial airplane, but please think safe folks. Oily corrugated cardboard is tinder in my humble opinion. The foam stuff is a good idea if it does not burn fast or would not make a fire worse than it already was. The spray-on bedliner idea is a GREAT idea if the stuff will stick to sluminum and not burn rapidly. The diamond plastic is kinda heavy, very attractive, and needs to be checked for fire in my opinion.

This sounds like a GREAT excuse to go in the backyard and burn things...
I read an article in Kitplanes a while back where the author was using a sort of sound reducing foam, not too heavy, and fire retardant, and it helped reduce cabin nosie. I'll have to dig up the issue and see what he was using.

Flat Country Pilot wrote:
EZFlap, is that a yawning dog in your avatar?

Yep, that's my dog laughing at the photographer (the wife) while sitting on my head after I passed out one day. I came back from a long XC ferry flight in a T-craft, really bushed after 9 days, and fell on the bed. His Majesty decided to plant himself on top of me so I couldn't get away any more. My wife started to take the required cutesy-pie picture of us sleeping together and he woke up and yawned just as she pushed the button.

mIf you're worried about fire, etc, plastic might melt instead of burn (OK) but just might give off toxic fumes in the process. Lotsa bad shit in plastic.
For a utilitarian finish- heavy coat of spray paint onto which you sift fine sand (bead-blasting media maybe?). Non-skid, fairly light, but hard to clean. How about those non-slip floor mats for bath tubs?

plywood?

ccurrie wrote:plywood?

Joecub used that for his Breezy. Not sure what grade and size, though. After cutting to size, I believe he varnished the plywood. I would think it would still be slippery when wet or muddy.

Cheap thin indoor/outdoor walkway carpeting... the thin cheap stuff that comes on a roll at the local hardware store. Cut to shape, hold it in place with a couple of squares of carpet tape in the corners. When it gets dirty take it out and wash it. When it gets worn out throw it in the trash and cut up another one. Soak it with the fireproofing liquid/spray sold at Aircraft Spruce so it meets FAR 25.853. Probably not the lightest of all but likely the easiest.

I've used a product called DashMat on several homebuilts, available at any good auto parts store. They make dashboard replacements, you've seen them, they velcro on over the old dash. But, they also sell complete rolls of the stuff....its very light and a 54' by 60" roll is 50 bucks or so. Many different colors are available. But here's the trick part:it just happens to be the "loop" to velcro's "hook". I use some hook velcro, the self adhesive type, and have my plotter, flight guide, sunglasses container, and other misc cabin junk so equipped. Then I can put them anywhere on the carpeted area and they stay put, if you had a seatcover of this stuff and hook velcro on your pants, you would not need a seatbelt, it sticks that good!
I seem to vaguely remember testing it for fire years ago, but don't take my work for it. It has to help a little with sound versus a harder surface. I have NOT used it for carpet, more lining the sidewalls of my baggage compartment, the door insides, below the panel etc. I use spray adhesive to secure it to the poly fiber fabric.

My Sportsman has Plywood floor. I don't know how slippery it is.....I don't get to walk around much in the cabin on it And my feet are always on the rudder pedals where they are supposed to be anyhow