No, the carpet is not that dirty. The lighting and timing of that picture made it appear real muddy.
In the rest of the boat, I used the stainless pedestal bases. The old ones that came out of the boat had bronze bushings. The one I bought to use up in the bow had a plastic bushing. But, the stainless bases I bought had some form of regular steel for the tube for the pin. I had to paint the base to keep them from rusting. However, I got this base at Wallyworld. It is cast aluminum, but still has the plastic bushing. I do, however, like these aluminum ones much better.