Folkboats Around the World
IF drawing International Folkboat
Tech Tips

Sagging Overhead Liner
Grace, Ken Kurlychek

 

The interior of Marieholm IFs' hulls and the undersides of their decks are lined with foam insulation that may be falling down in some places. On Grace, it was completely fallen under the cockpit seats as well as under the deck inside the head and the hanging locker. The latter two sites could be ignored easily but the droopy liner on the underside of the cockpit seats was always in the way. After a few months of always batting it out of the way, I tried 3M™ General Trim Adhesive which worked great for about a day. But when the sun heated up the boat, most of what I had sprayed came falling down. I took it up a notch the next time and bought their Spray Adhesive Hi-Strength 90. This stronger adhesive did the trick. It has held for over three years now.

The application method I used was to pull all the loose line down, got a bunch of cushions and pillows ready to serve as braces then placed a good paint spray mask over my face. I sprayed about half a can on the exposed fiberglass on each side, waited the prescribed 60 seconds or whatever, then pushed the liner in to place starting in the area where it was still attached to the sides. I then rubbed it hard with the palm of my hand and stuffed in all the pillows and cushion to support it over night.

The thing to remember is that in my case, I still had some help from the previous application of the General Trim Adhesive--the light weight stuff--which still had some tackiness to it. However, I think the Hi-Strength 90 would have taken care of it anyway.

I am not promoting 3M. It's just that that was the product I found at the local K-Mart. If you can't locate the 3M product, look in auto parts stores for anything called headliner adhesive. Auto headliners are pretty much the same thing although they may be a little more light weight. Another adhesive worth trying is linoleum glue. However do not spackle it on all over the area as this stuff is much stronger than needed. Just hit spots here and there and it will spread out as you rub your hand over it.

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