Geoff,
I assume you have what was on our old catamaran, open cell foam backed
vinyl. It was just glued to the fiberglass, and heat plus age caused it to
break down to dust, and fall off. This began when the boat was 7 or 8 years
old, starting first in the main cabin where it got the hottest. Re-gluing
wouldn't work.

About 12 years ago I replaced it with a solid vinyl headliner material that
I bought from Defender Industries. IIRC, it was 1/10 inch thick and hid
irregularities, but I don't see it in the 2008 catalog. I got a lot (still
have some on the roll), so it was drop shipped from a distributor in Seattle
I think, by the name of Haughton Marine or something like that. I thought it
looked quite good, and expected it to last much longer than the original, so
if you could find it, I would recommend it.

Whatever you end up with, if you use glue, try to get 3M water base contact
cement from an auto parts store. Solvent based contact cement dissolves
vinyl. Water based costs about 2 1/2 times as much, but goes twice as far,
and doesn't kill you with the fumes.

I'll check my records tomorrow to see if I have any more info on the
material. I also have some old samples of headliner material I got from
Sailrite. Might check with them.


"Geoff Schultz" wrote in message
.. .
Sorry, but I'm posting another on-topic question regarding boats instead
of
politics, global warming or general name calling...

My vinyl headliner is sagging in some locations due to the foam backing
deteriorating. Obviously this has been one of the down sides of storing
the boat in the Caribbean during hurricane season.

The headliner was glued on to 1/8" plywood which is held in place by
tension or mouldings. The problem started when the boat was only about 8
years old, so as a result I'm very leery of replacing the existing
headliner with another foam backed vinyl product, but I do want to utilize
a product that has the same look as the current product. There were some
locations where the headliner was installed and then cabinets were built
in-place under them. Due to the small spans in these locations, the
headliner is in good shape and it would take a huge effort to remove the
cabinets and gain access.

So, my basic question is: What is the purpose of the foam on the vinyl
material? Based upon research that we've done so far (which isn't
extensive), the vinyl comes uncoated and the distributor can apply foam to
it before shipping. Can I apply it directly to the plywood and if so,
what
are the downsides of doing that?

-- Geoff
www.GeoffSchultz.org