Castaway Customs — Local services in Rockledge

Where to start. I purchased a new 2017 Tahoe 215 XI this past 2019 year (showroom model). During the summer of 2019 I took the boat out approximately 20 times. This summer I was on the boat every weekend it was not raining.

One thing my guests and I learned very quickly is that walking on white fiberglass floors with wet feet or sandals is a detriment to ones health. More people slipped on my boat than I care to admit. And most of those slips where while sober. I won’t dare mention names for those who slipped while a bit inebriated.

Another very time consuming lesson is how quickly white fiberglass gets dirty. It takes one person not taking their sandals off while getting in the boat to totally trash the floors with dirty looking lake water from the dock. I spent more time cleaning the boat than actually using it, or at least it seemed that way. Suffice it to say, boating had become more stressful and time consuming, not to mention dangerous, than what it was worth.

My salvation came this summer when tying up to other boats at party cove here at Smithville Lake in Missouri. I saw most other boats had a non-slip comfy gorgeous looking designer type flooring in them. And I noticed that many of these boats had different color flooring as well as various designs embedded in their floor. As you can imagine, I knew I had to have it. But what was this flooring that made regular boats look like $100,000 luxury liners? Seadek!

When doing my research into Seadek providers in my area as well as checking out cost for this “from the future flooring”, one company kept showing up time and time again. You guessed it, Castaway Customs. I picked up the phone, spoke to this very knowledgeable person named Ellie and an appointment was set.

Within 2 weeks of my call, her team was at my boats location (they had to travel quite a distance to get to me) to begin the scanning process of my boat. During this process they provided to me all my options, samples and even made some amazing suggestions to really take my boat to the next level. Fast forward less than two weeks later and they are back out for the Seadek install.

This was what I was looking forward to the most. The day of install required a floor cleaning unlike anything it had ever had before. I did my best to pre-clean the floor for them, but they brought out special chemicals to clean the floor to prep for placement. Because of all the “extras” I purchased, the install took 4 hours at a cost of $2500 on a 21.6’ boat. Suffice it to say, after install, there were a couple more areas I wanted scanned to add to my final package and they obliged me without question.

I have never met a more friendly yet professional team of experts anywhere in the boating industry. These people are truly the best. I would highly recommend them for your boat. However, you don’t have to take my word for it. Their work speaks...

Out of the plethora of decking options, we decided to go with Seadek for our boat. Castaway Customs was the only company to return our request for a quote in a timely manner, and answer questions without demanding commitment. Once we picked the color and options we wanted, had the boat laser measured and the product cut and ready to install; we were hit with a major engine issue which required both engines to be pulled. We called Castaway (Ches) and requested a delay in the install with an open ended date. Ches was not only friendly and understanding, he bent over backward to work with us and two months later they installed the decking. Not only was the installer extremely professional and thorough, he was quick as well. It looks absolutely beautiful!! We can whole heartedly recommend Castaway Customs!!

Updated 16 April 2019*:

So we used Castaway Customs once again to add Seadek to our new boat and it looks great!! Now, I deleted a star because this time the wrong color was installed. It was corrected, however I felt that the follow up after install was non-existent. We dealt with Ryan Kimerer; who had excellent communication with us up until the wrong color was installed and then we heard nothing from him. Even sent an email after the install to try an give a hint that we had zero follow up and nothing. No worries though, the product is awesome, the installers are spot on!! If you are wanting this product, don’t hesitate to order. The office folks are only who you set up through, your installer is the...

After a small previous job using SeaDek on my poling platform, I decided to install the product on the rear, cockpit, and forward deck of my 16-foot MFI Islander. Being nearly 20 years old, there were numerous stains, worn non-skid areas, and spider cracks that detracted from the otherwise nice appearance of the hull. My experience with Castaway Customs in Bradenton was both informative (neat cell phone-based software that makes the measurement and CAD layout quick and very accurate) and a very pleasurable experience with staff, and I received the numerous cut out pieces within a week. Austin Vore and the other staff were especially helpful during the process of getting a cost estimate, layout design, and answering all my questions about installation. I installed the product myself (easy for a person with moderate skills) on my boat. The end result is both fantastic looking (the blue aqua camo on black really makes the deck pop) and easy on bare feet. Here is a tip for you do-it-yourselfers: larger pieces (1.5 x 3 feet) of foam will move a bit while you peel off the backing paper to exposed the glue prior to pressing the pad down, even with numerous pieces of masking tape, so I found that a 12 volt battery or 2-3 20-pound weights will hold half of the piece firmly in place as you lay down the other half of the pad. Finally, since I target snook and redfish in shallow water, the foam makes for quite walking...