Anyone ever install marine carpet in their ute tray? If so, how? I am thinking about laying a loose sheet of plywood on the tray, cut it to shape, and glue some marine carpet to it with a troweled adhesive. Or just glue directly to the metal tray? Or install a rubber mat instead? Not sure what to do...any thoughts/recommendations? Cheers.

marine carpet will give massive carpet burns on ur knees...

Depends if its exposed to the elements and what you use it for I guess.
Carpet and plywood combo would result in a soggy warp if you got no tonneau cover. likewise gluing carpet to tray is asking for it to rust out quickly.
If no cover then Id go some good heavy duty rubber matting, easy to put in and clean out while protecting yr tray.
...but if its watertight...then go a nice shagpile or crushed velvet ;)

Thanks wurzel...I do have a tonneau cover but I agree that the plywood will probably warp and look like rubbish. Maybe use MDF ? that would probably warp too. I see loads of people with marine carpet in their utes, there must be a proper way of doing it?

I have no experience in this; but maybe seal the plywood with a few coats of varnish and then bolt it down neatly to the bed with some nice recessed bolts. Then apply the adhesive and see how it holds. I guess it'll hold pretty well but that depends on usage.

If you can get a sheet of plywood out of a shipping container floor that may be of some use? It's marine grade (so pretty resistant to moisture) and pretty nice and thick 28-35mm depending. This thickness would allow for decent bolt recesses too without worrying about it all coming apart. I guess it can be a bit heavy though.

Otherwise do a joist or batten system tack welded to the tray floor that you can screw the fiberboard/plywood sheets to, the more fixings the less it will/can warp.

EDIT: be careful with MDF, will turn to weetbix if not treated/coated/sealed.

EDIT: You could fill the bolt hole recesses (after you've bolted then down) with some quality filler/adhesive to make it flush. This can all be done before sticking the carpet down so that everything is neat and flat.

I woulda thought you could get marine carpet that would be thick and heavy enough to lay in there without the need for any board,either way id steer clear of mdf.
Like Chris suggested you could maybe just pin the corners of it with some kind of fastener if you were worried about it lifting out during driving.
It would be good to leave it removable just so you could keep it clean and dry under there and make sure it didnt harbor any rust.

hahahaha zigzag if this was facebook i would have liked that comment soo damn fast!

try marine ply better for wheather conditions.cheers

i used a thing sheet of aluminium for the bottom of the tray. i then made 2 wooden trapezium shaped boxes to go over the wheel wells and marine carpeted over them so the carpet doesnt bubble due to the shape of the wheel well. carpeted all the rest.i glued the carpet to the aluminium on the bottom but i used double sided velcro so stick the sides on as they were painted and the glue can wreck your paint.

Sounds sweet louix. Only thing there is that I was told aluminium is known to chemically react with steel over time. Just wondering how did you fix the aluminium sheet to the tray?

Thought of a new alternative method today...using stainless steel or galvanized steel tack strips glued across the tray and then fixing the carpet to them. Would probably need foam strips in between to level the carpet out. Anyone ever hear of installing it this way?