My boat has the bare hull sides and deckhead. Currently the interior is painted (with an anticondensation paint). I am looking to do something about insulating the interior of the boat. What are my options?
I have a roll of foam backed headlining which I acquired with the boat two years ago but I have delayed using it because I am afraid of making a botch of it after hearing horror stories about applying it. Is there anything else which would be suitable for the hull sides especially around the berths?
As for the deckhead, I have numerous bolts from deck gear coming through and I can't see any way of getting a decent finish using the headlining material(at least not with my skills ). I have heard of using flowcoat and I understand it can be used in this way but I am having dificulty finding information on exactly how.

Does anyone else have any ideas or alternative solutions?

Its not so difficult actually. Foamed vinyl on the sides, you can use carpet which is warmer but goes mouldy/grubby with use. If you use the foam vinyl on the deck underside you get a few bumps from the genoa track, you could make a trim piece to cover them specifically but actually not totally necessary. Use 3-4mm plywood to create headlining pieces to cover the deckhead either side of the centre and cover with either foam vinyl or carpet. It is fixed in place with screws into blocks bonded to the deckhead. Whatever you do, makesure you can get it down to get to deck gear like winches and blocks on the deck. The fore peak is done with vinyl, you will find it stretches to mould round the curved surfaces without too much trouble. There was an article in PBO a couple of years ago which was really good on how to do it. Whatever you do, make sure you use a face mask with carbon (normally sold for use with paints), down below, it is confined enough to really blow your brains, tried it once by mistake and almost keeled over, something about unintentional glue sniffing!! There is a shop who advertises in PBO who can do proper headlining kits for GK24s, I could find the name if you need.

Regards

Chris Hawkes
Minx GBR 3387T

Thanks for the advice. I had sort of half decided to do the forepeak with the headlining material. The point about the mask is well taken, I had one brush(not a pun ) with solvent inhalation while painting a confined space many years ago and this is probably the main reason I am reluctant to tackle the job. The plywood seems like the best option for the overhead and certainly seems to be the simplest option.

Scrape the paint to make sure it is secure and check that the glue doesnt simply peel off the paint - most likely you need to scrape back to mostly bare glassfibre.


Not only is the glue solvent pretty noxious (even with a mask I still made a few mistakes I should not have if I were solvent -free) But also any rotting foam backing is toxic and has been known to hospitalise those who are allergic to it (according to accounts on the internet).

Basically the nuts on the inside will be OK if they are cut off with the bolts flush with the nuts. The foam backing on the vinyl softens the bumps. If you want to access the nuts later then put a cover patch of ply over them or simply peel back the headlining and re-fix. Ends up looking bad and then its time to start again.

The headlining approach (Hawke House Marine style) I have used has carpet glue applied with a 'gloss paint' small closed cell paint roller to the underside of the deck. Seems to give good coverage and economy. The back of the foam is wetted thoroughly to the edges with an aerosol spray glue (different brand contact glue) and then when the drying time has elapsed the two are brought together without sticking headlining to itself, your gloves, your hair , some random bit of boat and so on. Usually you get a second go at peeling back the headlining when it all goes wrong. When happy, rub firmly to ensure glue contact.

In the main cabin I decided not to stitch the centreline but instead cover it with a wooden batten so I can selectively peel port or starboard headlining. The beam of the GK means you need more than one width of vinyl for the cabin, so there will be a centreline joint. If you stitch it then the effect is better if you peel off the backing foam so that the stitched joint has no foam immediately behind it.

Making a paper template can help with cutting to size and checking its right.