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K9th asked me for a few more photos of my salon and I finally got up there with a camera today and took some photos. What I am going to include in this particular post is my attempt to install a new ceiling in the salon.
I realized last winter in Florida when holidaying on my buddy's boat that all new boats are very well insulated and thus much more able to maintain the cooling functions of their air conditioning units than older boats such as my Trojan which had no insulation whatsoever.
I decided to rip out the Trojan factory's stock automobile headliner and replace it with insulation, then a padded cream colored naugahyde. Twas a bigger job than I expected. I have included some early spring "in progress" photos plus some"almost finished" photos (side moldings, white screw caps and mahogany cross trim yet to come at this time)
It'll look better when braced with the four lengths of mahogany cross trim which will help smooth out the bumps.
The air conditioning is much improved.
Hopefully I won't screw up this photo bucket stuff
Great stuff Rick and as usual, you do a good quality job no matter what you are working on. Real professional looking. Unfortunately, I am not very handy at things like that and usually have to hire it done if I want it to look good.
When I opened the access panel this past spring to replace the fuel tanks, refrigerator, furniture, mattresses and other items to large for the companion way, I was surprised to see that there was no insulation in the ceiling. That is on my agenda for next spring as well as doing what you have outlined with replacement materials.
I used Microfoil. MicroFoil essentially is a reflective insulation. It's thin, lightweight, 97% Radiant and a 99.995% Vapor Barrier.
The information on the wrapping claims that: - MicroFoil â„¢ effectively reflects a heat source as opposed to absorbing and dissipating it as fiber glass insulations do. This reflectivity works both ways: radiating summer heat outward and retaining winter heat inside. When installed correctly, MicroFoilâ„¢ provides an excellent thermal and vapor barrier, greatly reducing condensation buildup.
I purchased a couple rolls of this product from a Canadian big box, hardware store on the advice of one of their sales staff. I had told them that I needed a somewhat "thin and waterproof" insulation product.
I spray glued the Microfoil to the exposed fiberglass ceiling in my salon. I used several spray glues in this ceiling project and 3M Super 77 Spray Adhesive was hands down the best product.
I don't really know if this was the best insulation product to choose. Perhaps some of the other guys have a better idea. I needed a thin flexible product that did not fall victim to condensation. It's installed now and so it's too late to make a change and I must say that throughout last weeks heat wave I was able to keep the salon in the high seventies when it was 95 degrees outside. High seventies is not exactly frigid but it's an improvement over last year with no insulation.
How easy was it to remove the headliner? Can you describe the best way to remove it? I want to run some wire and it doesn't seem intuitively easy to remove if I want to reinstall them.
My experience with headliner (perforated vinyl) is that it is difficult to replace without wrinkles when there is no real tail on the material to pull on and stretch before stapling... which is how mine is after install, the extra at the edges is cut off close to the staples.
If you do not have extra material outside of the staples I would suggest you look for another route.... if you do have extra material then it may be possible.
Can you consider running the wiring along the edge of the headliner where you can remove wall panels to lay it?
You can pry the staples up with a thin screwdriver or corner of a paint roller cleaner tool... making sure not to rip the headliner... all my headliner staples at the edges are covered by trim or behind panels.... is your design the same?
Michael
Rum is the reason Pirate's have never ruled the world
Done Dreamin'
1987 President 43' Twin Lehman 225SP Turbo
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1978 F32 Sedan twin 318 Chry SOLD
Safe Cove Marina, Port Charlotte, FL
I know on my f25 when i removed the trim, the "tail" of the liner was stapled to a thin strip of wood i was able to unscrew and not have to remove any staples, and was able to screw the strip back in its place, not sure if that is how it is on others though.
To respond to "My Trojan's" question - My 1974 perforated headliner material was somewhat brittle after all those years and when I began removing it, it began to crumble a little bit. I ended up simply yanking the whole thing down out of there and then removed a great many staples from the ceiling with pliers (although they did come out easily).
I guess what I'm saying is that my intent was never really to save and later re-install the headliner but rather was just simply to just get rid of it. So I wasn't very careful with my removal technique.
"Kiltsup" Do they have a lot of Scottish highlanders down there in Flower Mound? The radiant barrier that you are going to be using appears to be somewhat similar to what I used. I'm satisfied with my results. I know they could be even better if I had found a way to insulate more thoroughly but all in all, it's such an improvement that I guess it'll do.
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