I don't know how typical for other models, but my boat has a vinyl headlinings in the saloon and aft cabin. The foam backed vinyl is mounted on plywood panels joined and supported by hardwood coupling channels - creates a tudoresque sort of look! Inevitably after 20 years the foam backing has disintegrated and turned to powder. The vinyl is now unsupported and hangs loose coming away from the frames. I have been watching it getting worse thinking about a solution. I had this problem on a previous boat - a Moody, but it also common on Westerlys.
The easiest way to sort the problem would be to remove the panels and frames and just leave the gel coated inner liner with some caps over the cut outs for the down lights - When I started I did not know that was an option. However I am glad to have maintained the original appearance.
Taking down the panels started well - the centre panel is the smallest: with only one of the frames unscrewed (stainless), the panel could be slid out - however, as I was to find, all panels were fixed to the fiberglass inner liner with steel screws. Some of these were troublesome to remove (replaced with stainless). I wished to reuse the vinyl - new too difficult to source in Turkey - Cleaning off the old foam from the plywood and the vinyl was easy using paint scrapper, toy plastic dustpan and kitchen pan scourer pad. Wear a mask as the power is toxic. The vinyl was turned at the edges of the panel and stapled into
the plywood. I partially removed staples so that I could clean away the old foam but left the vinyl attached to the plywood
After clearing the foam residue the plywood surface remained furrowed with the original glue - it was too tough to remove but served as a good key to glue for the new backing for the retained vinyl. The glue I used was an aerosol contact adhesive - Dunlop J-40 foam and upholstery adhesive (locally sourced and much cheaper then the 3M alternative. The backing was laminate flooring underlay a dense polystyrene type material 5mm thick. First I glued the foam to the plywood then sprayed the vinyl and stuck to the new backing material. The vinyl is quite stretchy and the adhesive allowed adjustment without destroying the backing material or creating lumps. I did not have new samples of the same size (about 2mm deep) but was able to glue the vinyl on the edges with just hand pressure. To ensure good adhesion with the backing I used a paint roller. The backing material is delicate and non elastic so depressions from finger pressure will show permanently.
It was a little tricky refixing the panels to the inner lining - being on my own - , connecting wires for lights etc but the thickness was just right to slot into the frames. I just hope I wont have to the saloon headling for a year or so - those panels are twice the length of the panel in the aft cabin!
cabinpanels
