Vinyl Ceiling Lining Collapse on Delphia 40

[Bonito38]

An associate's 2007 Delphia 40 vinyl ceiling lining has come unstuck in the yacht's forward cabin and to a lesser extent in other parts of the boat.

The owner has attempted to re adhere the lining however the foam backing has gone to powder making it difficult to re fix. When attempted, with the crumbling foam removed, the lining does not adhere back again.

As most production yachts have this type of ceiling finish, what do others do when this problem occurs? Remove the vinyl all together and paint the surface or is there a way of glueing the vinyl back again?

I would appreciate any advice on solving this problem and finishing up with a satisfactory finish.

Jeff

[marcjsmith]

I removed mine and just painted the exposed surfaces. When I did my refurb. It’s. Not , since the fiberglass areas that had headliner were largely unfinished. I did not fair/fill the surfaces.

The other option is to remove the vinyl and replace....

[marcjsmith]

FWIW here are some pics...

[gonesail]

Originally Posted by marcjsmith

I removed mine and just painted the exposed surfaces.

it's what i have also. easy to clean. looks nice

[SailingHarmonie]

All of the headliners with that dark-colored polyurethane foam backing will eventually fail. The foam degrades, and turns to powder (which is very nasty to breath, I am told…). If any boatbuilders are still using that crap, shame on them!!!

There is no solution I have ever heard to save the old headliner. The foam will continue to crumble as it ages, and the residue on the cabin top makes a terrible substrate for new glue.

The old headliner needs to be removed, and the mess cleaned up. No matter what you do, you’ll need to clean the old adhesive off the cabin top, and all of the adhering foam dust. That will be a pretty awful job.

Paint? Panels? New headliner? The choice is then yours depending on the exact construction details of the boat and the “look” you want.

Much more robust appears to be the headline with non-woven fabric as the backing. Some seem to be polyester, some cotton. With the right glue these do not seem to have a built in expiration date.

[JBP]

I think painting like Marc did gives the best result and you get a hard surface that is easy to clean or repair/repaint, but it is a lot of work to remove the old adhesive. Many people just buy new vinyl, using the old vinyl as a template. This way you don't need to remove all the old adhesive, though you still need to remove any dust or flaking bits.

[geoleo]

Originally Posted by Bonito38

An associate's 2007 Delphia 40 vinyl ceiling lining has come unstuck in the yacht's forward cabin and to a lesser extent in other parts of the boat.

The owner has attempted to re adhere the lining however the foam backing has gone to powder making it difficult to re fix. When attempted, with the crumbling foam removed, the lining does not adhere back again.

As most production yachts have this type of ceiling finish, what do others do when this problem occurs? Remove the vinyl all together and paint the surface or is there a way of glueing the vinyl back again?

I would appreciate any advice on solving this problem and finishing up with a satisfactory finish.

Jeff

Rip it off and replace ith ugly plywood,

[somanyboats]

Pacific Seacraft uses a product called 'hull liner' on the hulls of their boats. It's glued on. It's fuzzy and helps to insulate. You'll see it in RVs and power boats. Not everyone likes the look, but it does what it needs to do.

[George_SD]

I would definitely add some liner for noise and temp insulation. Soft surfaces also feel nicer. Painted looks OK, but fiberglass on the inside is often rough and looks substandard.

[Cheechako]

Originally Posted by Bonito38

An associate's 2007 Delphia 40 vinyl ceiling lining has come unstuck in the yacht's forward cabin and to a lesser extent in other parts of the boat.

The owner has attempted to re adhere the lining however the foam backing has gone to powder making it difficult to re fix. When attempted, with the crumbling foam removed, the lining does not adhere back again.

As most production yachts have this type of ceiling finish, what do others do when this problem occurs? Remove the vinyl all together and paint the surface or is there a way of glueing the vinyl back again?

I would appreciate any advice on solving this problem and finishing up with a satisfactory finish.

Jeff

My Lagoon had foam backed liner too. The foam also became powder. I peeled the liner off got the foam off the vinyl and the boat as much as I could and contact cemented it back on. It worked, but was a real PITA and messy too.

Manufacturers use the foam so they don't have to make the fiberglass smooth and nice, the foam hiding those lumps. With the foam removed, the lumpy bumpy shows up. That can be the problem with just painting also, it often looks pretty ugly.

Many smaller powerboats use "rat fur" spun woven polyester as hull liner. It has no foam but is thick enough to hide the lumpy bumpy. Contact cement it on and cut the perimeter after it's attached.

[phorvati]

I'm in the process of doing mine. My liner was foam backed vinyl on a teak veneer. The kind of material you get at sailrite. The reason why Im doing mine is that water leaks have caused staining and cracking and mold. I would have just bought marine plywood (something along 1/16" or 1/8" thickness), but my headliner plywood sheets are real teak, as in Taiwanese built boat. Even 40 years later, it is much better quality than any marine veneer/plywood you can get today in the US. So I found myself using a heat gun to remove vinyl and all contact cement or mastic used to adhere original stuff, then sanding it and then using contact cement to put new vinyl. I only did two panels. I am not gluing any additional ones until i know the new stuff is sticking and not sagging.
I am staying away from foam backed vinyl. Foam will disintegrate and has the potential to separate and make vinyl sag. So because of this you have to make sure surface is smooth before gluing new vinyl (no foam backing) otherwise any imperfections will show.

My friend painted his ceiling and it flaked after some number of years. Those paint flakes are worse than moldy sagging liner. And this is the living space so whatever paint you put, you are exposing yourself to it for the long run.
As I am taking the panels off, I see that in some places, perhaps original headliner was Formica based material glued onto teak veneer. The type of laminate used in kitchen countertops. That is probably the most time consuming yet best approach.

[Bonito38]

Thanks everybody for your thoughts and experiences. I am surprised that we are not seeing more of this fault as most production yacht companies have used this technique for some time now.

The owner of the Delphia 40, a good friend, approached me for my thoughts as he is thinking of selling. Judging by everybody's generous comments he has a pretty dreadful job ahead. Deciding whether to replace or paint.

Thanks again to everybody.

Cheers Jeff.

[donradcliffe]

The liner foam crumbled in 10 years in my 1985 Bene. I replaced it with new foam backed vinyl. Big job, but less than 10 years later the new foam was turning to powder.

I was in Thailand and labor was cheap, so I had an upholstery shop take it all off, then glue closed cell foam down, then glue vinyl to the foam. As far as I know the closed cell foam has not failed, but the upholstery guys swore they would never do a job like that again,