Head and Hanging Locker Renovations, continued

Improved Overhead

During the few days that elapsed while I was priming and painting the beadboard, I considered my options for installing some sort of headliner material on the overhead in head compartment. I was unwilling to leave the bare fiberglass that Pearson provided as a "finished surface" in the head area, and decided to install a fabric headliner similar to the one Tim installed on Glissando. In fact, Redrum Fabrics, who manufactured the headliner that Tim used, makes the same fabric in a light grey color, more in keeping with the color scheme with which we are trying to fit out Dasein.

However, after much research—online searches, emails, phone calls, visits to local fabric suppliers and wholesalers—it seemed that the cheapest place to get the stuff was at West Marine, where it was listed at 22 dollars per yard. This would have been OK, except that the minimum order was for three yards, and I only needed 1 1/2 yards to finish the head area. I eventually plan to line the V-berth area too, but not at this time. Further, shipping time was estimated at 3 weeks, which wasn't really acceptable to me.

Ultimately I decided to go with a standard automotive headliner. This stuff is a foam backed nylon fabric. I really liked the lighter color and the texture of the redrum fabric, but the automotive stuff really wasn't bad at all, and at only 10 dollars a yard, and a vailable locally, I decided to just go for it.

Simple cut and paste

Installation of the overhead material was quite simple. I knew that I wouldn't be able to do a seamless installation due to the size of the fabric (54" wide). This was fine, however, as I planned to just install some flat trim to hide the seams.

I cut a 30 x 54 inch swatch of the fabric and prepared to glue it in place. I used 3M Super 77 Spray Adhesive. I sprayed the overhead lightly, then sprayed the foam side of the fabric. After allowing the adhesive to tack up for a few moments, I started smoothing the fabric into place on the overhead. This was easy enough since I had cut the fabric somewhat oversized. Once the section was in place, I went back with a utility knife and trimmed to excess fabric away.

Around the ports, I slowly started smoothing the fabric down at the top of the port, then started cutting the opening around the port sort of "as I went," trying to err on the side of too small an opening. Once the liner was smoothed into place all the way around the port I went back and cleaned up the cut with a utility knife. I planned to install trim around the ports anyway, so I wasn't too finicky. 30 or 40 minutes later, the headliner was all in place.

coming together

Once the headliner was installed, I turned to getting the beadboard in place. Since I had previously cut and fit the panels, and given them 3 coats of primer and one coat of Matterhorn White Brightsides, I didn't expect to have too much trouble with the installation. And I didn't. The biggest challenge was holding the panels in place while the adhesive cured.

I installed the panels with 3M 5200 Quick Cure Adhesive. In retrospect, a good industrial construction adhesive would have been plenty suitable, but sometimes these simple options can get overlooked when one is thinking about a boat. Oh well.

At any rate, installation was pretty straightforward. I gooped the bulkheads liberally with the 5200, then pressed the panels into place. Once the opposing panels were in place, I was able to wedge them in place with short lengths of scrap wood. The next day I was able to remove the blocking and stand back to admire the improvements. I was exceptionally pleased with the look of the beadboard, and expected that it would really look sharp once all the mahogany trim was intalled.

Expensive plywood; bargain Prices

Eventually I plan to install a nice teak and holly sole throughout the boat. While a solid sole would certainly be nice, I've been impressed with the teak and holly veneer plywood that I've seen. Since I was going to install this throughout the boat, I decided it would be nice to install a piece under the head proper on the raised head platform. I was resigned to the fact that I'd have to cough up the 140 plus dollars for a sheet of the stuff even though I wasn't going to need most of it for at least another year, but Tim came to the rescue once again. [Have I mentioned how nice it is to have the boat over at the Lackey Boat Barn?!]

Tim indicated that he had a secion of the ply left over from his Glissando restoration. Apparently the main sole takes exactly half a sheet of ply, and he had installed a piece on his head platform too, so that left something less than a half sheet, which wasn't of any particular use and he offered me the section to cut my own platform from. Thanks Tim!

While the 5200 was curing, I templated the area to be covered, and transfered this to the ply, being careful to make sure that the holly strips were parallel to the centerline of the boat, NOT to the inside edge of the head platform. (see photo below). I cut the ply from the top, through a layer of masking tape and with a jigsaw blade that cut on the downward stroke. Once the piece was cut and fit, I slapped a protective coat of varnish on it and left it to dry for the night.

The following day, after removing the blocking from the head area, I installed the plywood with a liberal amount of 5200.

Pulling it All Together

While I was working on my electrical project, I also managed to finish up all the doors and drawers: They were already built, but needed to have a round over milled on all edges and varnish applied. As is my usual procedure for interior varnish, I applied 3 coats of gloss varnish as build coats, and finished with a single coat of Rubbed Effect satin finish varnish.

During this period I also built the replacement frame for the doors to the portside locker above the head, which I had destroyed when removing it originally. This was constructed simply with butt joints. This too was finished with the "3-gloss plus satin" regime. Once the frame was finished, I installed the doors into the frame and installed the whole unit on the boat by screwing through from inside the locker unit. I still need a door of some sort to cover the lower "hamper" area. Since this area will be full of head/holding tank plumbing, I will probably install a semi-permanant "door" allowing access by removiing a couple of screws. This is still to be determined.

I ordered pulls, hinges, and latches for all the new lockers/drawers from Lee Valley Hardware. They have decent prices and a wide selection. I ordered all chrome hardware for this area, as the ultimate goal is to have all chrome hardware throughout the interior of the boat. Once these arrived, I spent a couple of hours installing all the doors and drawers aboard. Click here for another view of the new drawers. Finally I reinstalled one of my prize possessions: the Lackey-built pencil holder. The new drawers and lockers offer much better use of the space than the old hanging locker area did and I'm really looking forward to that improved storage for this sailing season.