HELP! NEED HELP WITH VINYL WALLCOVERING IN HEAD

[JERRY MITCHELL]

I NEED SOME HELP IN FINDING THE VINYL WALLPAPER USED IN THE HEAD OF OLDER MODEL SAILBOATS. MINE IS A 1977 COLUMBIA 8.7 AND I NEED TO REPLAVE THE VINYL BUT WHAT I REMOVED SEEMS TO BE MUCH THICKER THAN NORMAL HOUSEHOLD PAPER AND THE GLUE WAS VERY AGGRESSIVE. CAN ANYONE TELL ME WHERE I CAN GET THIS VINYL AND WHAT TYPE OF ADHESIVE I SHOULD USE. ANY HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED.

 

[Tim]

Headliner Material

Jerry,First off, just so you know, all CAPS in postings are considered "yelling", so unless you meant to, please unlock the caps!Now as to your dilemma...not sure what you mean by "wallpaper", but vinyl headliner material with and without foam backing can be purchased at www.sailrite.com.I have an old Beneteau with the foam-backed headliner material just about everywhere, and the foam disintegrates over time, causing the headliner to fall down. I purchased the 1/4" foam-backed headliner from sailrite to re-do my aft cabin, and am so pleased with it I intend to re-do the remainder of the boat! My head also has this stuff on the headliner and partially on the bulkheads. It is glued up with 3M trim adhesive, which can also be purchased at sailrite, or West Marine.Good luck with your project!Tim

 

[Jeff D]

Commercial

What you are looking for is commercial grade wallpaper. I forget the weight in ozs it comes in but 20 seems about right. It is usually 54in. wide. You might check with any architect you know and see if they can source it out for you. Most people do not realize how much heavier it is, compared to household vinyl. You might also check with a commercial wallpaper outfit that might have some leftover stock from a construction site. I w0uld not recommend foam backed headliner for this purpose. Good luck in your search.

 

[Debra B]

commercial remover

If it is commercial vinyl, then you will need a good remover. Probably more than you can get at a home improvement store, but you might try, (Mr Clean Ultra does a fair job on household-type paper.)

 

[Peggie Hall/HeadMistress]

Been there, done this

I had the same stuff on my last boat. It's not vinyl coated wall "paper," it's vinyl coated cloth--very similar to the old fashioned table cloth your grandmother called "oilcloth" but textured. Boat builders put it up with contact cement. When I replaced the lovely 70s "harvest gold" wallcovering on my boat with an off-white, I found it at Sherwin Williams...but now that wallcovering has fallen out of fashion in home decor, they've cut their inventory by about 90% and all the discount wallcovering stores have gone out of business...so you're not likely to find it in stock anywhere. However, Sherwin Williams and Home Depot have zillions of sample books, and can tell you which ones to look in to find it in a pattern and texture you like and order it.They'll also carry the wallpaper paste specifically made for hanging this type of wallcovering.If you've never hung wallcovering before, and if you want a professional looking job, I strongly recommend you get some instruction before you start. If you haven't taken the old stuff off yet, you can put up the new over it--which is what I did--but it requires quite a bit of prep first...otherwise the paste won't stick to it. But done right, it's impossible to tell that it's not original.