Vinyl Headliner Repalcement

[Carl Naehritz]

Help! My vinyl headliner is falling down on my '83 1st 28. The backing has deteriorated and gone to powder. Beneteau says that they don't carry replacement headliners for a boat that old. I have tried to remove the old backing and re-attach the outer shell with adhesives ranging from contact cement to RTV. It keeps falling down. Has anyone out there had a similar problem? Have you solved it? How? I would like to hear all ideas. I've already thought of scuttleing, however. My e-mail address is carl357@aol.com.Carl

 

[Tim]

Repost from my original on 12/30

I posted this in Ask All Sailors on the 30th.Reposted here for you Carl. Good Luck!I have a 1983 First 32 that has the same problem, mostly in the aft quarter berth. Once the foam backing has deteriorated, forget trying to re-glue it back up. The vinyl will adhere closely to the fiberglass liner and you get a wavy appearance (I did this in the galley area and head, and will have to re-do eventually). The solution is to buy new foam-backed material and use the old pieces as patterns to recut new ones. This is what I'm going to do for my quarterberth. The material can be bought at www.sailrite.com, along with the appropriate adhesive. The only part I will have to have done is to have a canvas shop sew the "finished" edges. Its a big job, but not something you can't do with a little determination and elbow grease! FYI, I figured 8 yards of 54" wide material (the only width, I think), at like $13/yard. So for $104 plus glue, some expense at the canvas shop, and some elbow grease, it'll be like new!Good luck!Tim

 

[Carl Naehritz]

Thanks

Thanks to your article I'm on the way to a new headliner.Carl