EDIT – I forgot that I had this post started with all kinds of background history and photos! CLICK HERE to see the final version!

This boat has had a rough life so far with one hurricane induced sinking and some additional leaks that really did a number on the finish of the wood floors.

This is what it looks like with flaking varnish and water stains

Eventually I want to refinish the floors to make them beautiful, but it might be a while and I think rugs are nice.  I did some research and found a good deal on a 5×7 rug on the internet.

Thanks Wayfair!

So now I have a large (and very soft!) rectangular rug… if you looked at the photo of my boat you will have noticed that the living room isn’t square at all.  I plan on cutting the rug to fit and finishing the edges for my own very cool (and Pinterest inspired, I suppose) custom carpeting!

I started my adventure by measuring as well as I could on the boat.  Hard to do when none of the surfaces are square…

This is messy. Don’t judge me.

Then I put it into Sketchup to see how best to trim the rug.

Align right?
Align left?

With the rug on the left, I have less edges to cut and bind, so that one wins!

this is what the final rug will look like! (hopefully)

…and in case you missed it HERE is the rug cut and installed!