Carpeting the back half of the Cockpit

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Yes yes, I said no more updates until the 17th, but I found a bit of time tonight and took on the carpeting.

After about 15 minutes I realised I wouldn’t have enough to do the full thing – sigh! I managed to do the back half with a few scraps left over. So I will need to order a bit more.

I started off by measuring the base, adding an extra inch or two at both ends and top and bottom. This would be so it would rise up the sides a little and also hang over the edge, so I could ensure a better line down the front of the cockpit.

I cut this out, sprayed the back with adhesive – which incidentally ran out after covering this piece. Luckily I had a second can, well, my Dad did.  I pushed the bottom piece into place, squeezed it into the corners and made sure it was completely stuck on.  I had to cut the corners off at the back, so the carpet didn’t scrunch up. For now, I left the overhang in place.

I chose to do the back next, this would overlap the bottom piece and run along the sides of the cockpit by an inch or so.  I trimmed the edges slightly to fit in with the two pieces of wood. I didn’t want any scrunching or folds, so this made it need. I used a combination of scissors and a knife.

Next, I chose to do the two small uprights, but only up to the top of the first piece of wood – not the whole side. I used the same process as the bottom. This side bit overlapped the bottom piece than ran an inch up the side. Once this was stuck down, I used a knife to cut at 45 degrees into the edge (corner) to take the excess off this section. I repeated this for the other side.

Following this, the only remaining pieces were the two main sides. Again, I used exactly the same process as before. overlapping each end and then cutting it at 45 degrees in the join to keep it neat.

The final thing to do was to cut the front overlapping sections off. I used scissors for this. There were still a few bits to touch up, mainly at the back with the angled wood. I just cut off small pieces of carpet and stuck them in. Because the carpet is black it totally absorbs any lines.

I don’t think it’s perfect and I will never be a carpeter, but it does the job and it looks the business. All I need now is more carpet for the front!