Headliner Seem Material

jbondy · #1 07-22-2008

In the v-berth, there is a two-piece fiberglass headliner that comes together in a line that runs fore and aft. To cover the seam, there is a 4" wide indent in which was glued what appears to be an 8' x 4" piece of cardboard wrapped in ugly grey vinyl. Over the years it has has gotten no prettier, has shrunk and is peeling off. I'd like to replace it with something. I guess they used the material they did because there are some bends it has to make as the ceiling curves to follow the underside of the anchor locker above. Length-wise it's straight - the bends are up and down. My preference would be wood, maybe teak veneer, but I've never worked with eneer and don't know how it would handle the curves. The pic below is from a sistership on Yachtworld.

Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

sailingdog · #2 07-22-2008

Jbondy-

Might be worth checking out the headliner thread I started about two weeks ago.

jbondy · #3 07-22-2008

Thanks, Dog. I actually had added a couple of posts to that thread suggesting hole plugs to cover nuts/bolts and to show the headliner we installed in the saloon. Are you suggesting the Komotex material mentioned in that thread might be flexible enough for this application?

beej67 · #4 07-22-2008

I have the same boat, and the same issue, although it's fairly low on my priority list currently. If I were to fix it, I think I'd just buy some hardwood from a lumber supplier and cut it all to fit / route the edges / etc.

jbondy · #5 07-22-2008

beej, I hear ya about position on the honeydew list. If mine looked as nice as the one in the pic, i.e. it hasn't fallen enough to annoy when trying to sleep in the v-berth, it would be lower on mine, too! Anyway, your approach makes it a harder job than I was anticipating. Difficulty lowers things on the list, especially when cosmetic.

sailingdog · #6 07-22-2008

Depending on thickness, it probably would work.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbondy

Thanks, Dog. I actually had added a couple of posts to that thread suggesting hole plugs to cover nuts/bolts and to show the headliner we installed in the saloon. Are you suggesting the Komotex material mentioned in that thread might be flexible enough for this application?

Freesail99 · #7 07-22-2008

Use, Luan plywood which is cheap and a mahogany veneer. It would also bend and curve to fit into that space. With a couple of coats of varnish it would look great. It would also come close to matching the other wood that I see in the picture.

jbondy · #8 07-22-2008

Freesail, Thanks for the suggestion. How thick is Luan? Do you have to do anything to it to make it bend? Would you use contact adhesive in this application?

TIA

Freesail99 · #9 07-22-2008

Luan can be found, in either 1/8 or 1/4 inch thickness. Contact Adhesive or brass screws would work. Go to home depot they carry it, see how bendable it is.

chucklesR · #10 07-22-2008

Luan is the same material used to make those hollow wooden interior doors, it is light and flexible and can be made more flexible by either scoring the back with kerfs or soaking in amonia (makes it nice and bendy by raises the grain a tad). Normally I find the qrain a little open and hard to smooth without filler but a quick coat with epoxy and varish will make it nice, double rows of brass screws would make it very shippy.