Updating interior of older catamaran

[J0hn B0y]

I'd like to see a picture also. I went to their website but had no luck locating anything about it.

[Dulcesuenos]

On our 95 Athena 38 we have removed all the carpet in the forward staterooms, hallways, and coach roof bulkhead, also sanded and, painted all the ceiling panels, nice tropical keys pastel colors it's alot of sanding but worth it. A word of advice, do one room at a time or it will be overwhelming. The noise isn't much different but I'd reccomend newer carpet at least 12" up on the sides of the mattresses as the Walls can get a ticket yet bit of condensation.

[J0hn B0y]

Originally Posted by Rapanui

We had an 1989 FP Maldives with the carpet type side and headlining throughout with the lining unstuck in places and the brown bleed through from the adhesive as you descrbe. One thing that amazed us was how much light this type of material absorbed even though it was light grey. It was night and day when we replaced it with foam backed vinyl.
The contact adhesive had broken down and after stripping the old material you have to remove the hard glue - a filthy job. To do it well you also have to remove trims round hatches, portlights, bits of furniture and so on.
Don't underestimate the amount of work to redo this. In the end I got a guy who does this professionally, Eddie Wraxhall 07968 199934, based in the Southwest but he travels. The job was immaculate but its not cheap. Thats one of the few times you regret having a boat with 4 cabins and a saloon!

Light absorption is why I want to change to a light color. I think it will make the space seem larger as well. Concern about the durability of foam backed vinyl is what led me to seek other possible solutions. I saw a St Francis with the sides coated with what seemed a vinyl paint with texture in it. I really liked the finish but wondered about condensation and sound absorption. I've also wondered about whether or not the carpet provides some insulation value (sound and temperature) and would be interested in your input on those as well.

[J0hn B0y]

Originally Posted by Dulcesuenos

On our 95 Athena 38 we have removed all the carpet in the forward staterooms, hallways, and coach roof bulkhead, also sanded and, painted all the ceiling panels, nice tropical keys pastel colors it's alot of sanding but worth it. A word of advice, do one room at a time or it will be overwhelming. The noise isn't much different but I'd reccomend newer carpet at least 12" up on the sides of the mattresses as the Walls can get a ticket yet bit of condensation.

Thanks so much for your response. I was worried about condensation and you've answered my question. How did you trim the top of the carpet run if you've installed carpet on the first 12" beside the mattresses?
One room at a time is my intention at this point as I seem to do better with limited focus when I work. Also, if I decide it's more trouble than it's worth or I don't like the outcome, I can change course after the first room.

[smj]

We are in the process of completing the interior on our custom catamaran that we purchased. The epoxy coating on the inside wasn't well done, quite a few sags and drips. Instead of spending countless hours and $'s trying to fair the interior where it would look good enough to put on a coat of semi gloss we decided to go the way of the St. Francis and Knysna catamaran and use a very thick paint with a special roller that gives of a textured finish. We are happy so far and it seems to cover most inconsistencies.

[Dulcesuenos]

Originally Posted by J0hn B0y

Thanks so much for your response. I was worried about condensation and you've answered my question. How did you trim the top of the carpet run if you've installed carpet on the first 12" beside the mattresses?
One room at a time is my intention at this point as I seem to do better with limited focus when I work. Also, if I decide it's more trouble than it's worth or I don't like the outcome, I can change course after the first room.

We haven't done it yet. It's not a huge problem just something we may deal with in the future. I would definitely go with a thicker paint and textured roller as smj has done. Our walls were all already painted black underneath so light transmission hasn't been an issue.

[Dulcesuenos]

Originally Posted by smj

We are in the process of completing the interior on our custom catamaran that we purchased. The epoxy coating on the inside wasn't well done, quite a few sags and drips. Instead of spending countless hours and $'s trying to fair the interior where it would look good enough to put on a coat of semi gloss we decided to go the way of the St. Francis and Knysna catamaran and use a very thick paint with a special roller that gives of a textured finish. We are happy so far and it seems to cover most inconsistencies.
Attachment 144191

What kind of paint are you using?

[smj]

Originally Posted by Dulcesuenos

What kind of paint are you using?

We are in the experimental process. The first area we used an elastomeric paint. We had it tinted to the color we wanted and it seems to be adhering well on top of an oil based primer. Really nice texture but it has taken a week to,dry to the point it's not tacky. I believe this is the type paint used by the SA builders. The second area we used a deck over paint. Also adhered really well to the primer but dried within 24 hours. I do t care for the texture as much as it has a little sand in it.

[Rapanui]

Re the durability of foam backed vinyl, our current Athena has foam backed vinyl from new 2002/3 and has no issues so it can be very durable. Advice from people who do headlining professionally is that you have to ensure that the material and adhesive are compatible, otherwise you will have problems.

Re condensation, both vinyl and carpet do get condensation, in my view there is no difference in quantity as it depends on the U value of the hull/deck which a few mm of lining will have little effect on. The difference is how they manage it. The carpet stuff holds the drops on the fibres and can accomodate quite a lot of moisture without running down. If you run your hands over it you will find moisture. Vinyl will hold drops on the surface but only so much so that they eventually will run down and wet the edges of bedding. The main difference is that held as lots of small drops, the moisture will evaporate easier from carpet rather than having larger drops run off at the bottom and possibly trapped or soaked into bedding. Having said that, we use our boat early in the spring and up to November in Croatia when the nights can be quite cold and find that condensation on the foam backed vinyl is not a big issue and easily managed. The deck hatch condensation is another matter!

[wannacat]

We tore off the carpet in our older French cat with the compound curves and used carpet glue remover from Home Depot. It wasn't an easy job, involved some sanding also. Very tedious overhead work.
We then covered it with" Kiwi Grip". Blended 2 colours together to get what we wanted [you can take it to a paint store and have them tint it, it's a latex product] The trick is not to use their special non skid roller or you get too rough a texture. You have to use a finer foam roller and it's really hard to do the first coat as roller tends to want to slide, it has the texture of yogurt or sour cream. It ideally takes 2 people, one trawling it on and the other rolling in approx 1 ft square patches. You don't want to run over it too many times, but I'm sure you'll get the technique quickly. We've had it on for 6 years now and love it. Being latex we had no issues with fumes while using it in the confined spaces of the boat. We also did both of the companionways down into the hulls. It also allows some flexing so it doesn't crack.

[wannacat]

P.S.-it really brightened the place up and it sure doesn't give you that 60/70's "shaken Wagon" feel anymore. We only keep and use the boat in Florida and The Bahamas, haven't had any condensations issues with it.

[paxfish]

Condensation should be mitigated with proper ventilation...

We have mouse fur, contact cemented up there. It is fine, though it suffers a bit from my propensity to stick any velcro items right to the walls. In fact, if an item doesn't have velcro on it, I tend to add it so I can stick stuff to the walls!

[cdel]

I did something similar to my older Lagoon- stripped all the fabric off the walls and celling. Taking the old glue off chemically was impossible. I had to grind it all off using a blue puck grinding wheel I found in Home depot. I did not want any fabric headliner anymore for the ceilings so I painted it all with epifans paint. Made the walls of white plastic sheets laminated onto thin floorboards which I varnished on the back and sides incase a hatch leaked. I found a white trim to go around the edges and little white caps for the screws which I used in addition to industrial type Velcro depending on the application. Totally home made, never done anything like that before but after 5 years still looks good and nothing about it has failed.
Good luck

[Nahbrown]

Originally Posted by cdel

I did something similar to my older Lagoon- stripped all the fabric off the walls and celling. Taking the old glue off chemically was impossible. I had to grind it all off using a blue puck grinding wheel I found in Home depot. I did not want any fabric headliner anymore for the ceilings so I painted it all with epifans paint. Made the walls of white plastic sheets laminated onto thin floorboards which I varnished on the back and sides incase a hatch leaked. I found a white trim to go around the edges and little white caps for the screws which I used in addition to industrial type Velcro depending on the application. Totally home made, never done anything like that before but after 5 years still looks good and nothing about it has failed.
Good luck

Id love to see a picture of your finished product! A " before " and after would be even better though.

[KiminAK]

I'd, also, love to see a picture. And as for the plastic sheets, do you know what they were called or what their original use is?