There's just something lovely about a fine-grained expanse of wood underfoot! The many patterns are beautiful and the rich, sleek color they invite to any space make this flooring well worth the investment. On our forum page, beechjetguy posted that he was thinking about upgrading to wood floors but wanted to handle the installation himself. He asked all houseboaters out there what tips they have from their own experiences. 

beechjetguy: I’m thinking about putting wood floors in my 75-foot Fantasy. Has anyone done this? I’m wondering if it would be best to use laminate or solid; float the floor, glue the floor, or nail. Thank you in advance!

42gibson: We have put wood floors in two boats now with no problems. We nailed both down. My brother put it down in his and glued it, but I like nailing in case I ever want to take it up.

desimulacra: I used engineered mahogany and floated it over a vapor proof barrier, then put quarter round all around the edges. It’s three to four years old now and still looks great!

easttnboater: I have seen it in several boats. Some look good, some don't. Hatches seem to be the difficult part. Also, you need to look closely at how you use your boat. If you have wet people coming in and out of it, I would be really careful what type of flooring I put in it. Some of the thick vinyl plank product looks really close to real wood.

barrenriver: One thing to look for before you start is the space between the floor and the bottom edge of the base trim. In a lot of houseboats you'll find the space 3/8 inches and the 3/8-inch engineered flooring fits nicely. If the flooring is thicker than the space between the flooring and base trim, you'll have lots of inside and outside corners to trim. The hardest part is prepping....whoever shoots staples in the carpet pad must think they have a machine gun....

Have you installed wood flooring—or do you want to? Check out everyone’s experiences and add your own at www.houseboatmagazine.com/forum!