Westerly Drooping Headlining - Recommendations for East Coast Repairer

[andyo]

Hi - we have a Westerly Konsort in Bradwell Marina and visited last weekend to find that the forecabin headlining had started "drooping" a bit. It is clear that the whole craft had previously had this job done, but the lining in the forecabin is clearly just glued to the fibreglass. I don't want to attempt the fix (presumably best to remove it all, scrape/clean off the crud and then glue up new lining) so am looking for a tradesperson to do it for me.

Has anyone had this done and have any recommendations for local people/companies to contact?

I'll also post on the Westerly Owners Association site asking for local recommendations as I this is a pretty common issues with Westerlys.

Thanks,

 

[pvb]

I'm sure the WOA would be able to help you find someone who knows how to do it properly. It's a filthy job, ideally needing 2 guys. As you say, it's a very common Westerly problem. It happened to one of my Westerly yachts before the boat was a year old! Westerly sent 2 guys from the factory to fit a new headlining under warranty.

 

[PaulRainbow]

It's not common to Westerlies, it's common to anything with foam backed vinyl.

I'm pleased that my forward cabin was renewed just before i purchased the boat. I've re-done the saloon ceiling, nice and easy as it's on ply panels.

 

[Habebty]

It's not common to Westerlies, it's common to anything with foam backed vinyl.

I'm pleased that my forward cabin was renewed just before i purchased the boat. I've re-done the saloon ceiling, nice and easy as it's on ply panels.

Yep, my Sadler‘s has lasted 14 years and now has the droop. Ply panels in the saloon but glued foam in the forepeak and aft cabin. I think I may end up glassing some thin battens to the ceiling and going for thin ply panels where the curves aren’t too complex.

 

[Jokani]

I think I may end up glassing some thin battens to the ceiling and going for thin ply panels where the curves aren’t too complex.

That's my plan to.

 

[Bodach na mara]

The problem is caused by the degradation of the foam back to the vinyl lining. It dries out and crumbles into dust. Removal is a messy job and you need to be careful not to let the residue get trodden on as it then turns into greasy marks all over your floor or other flat surfaces. I got most of it removed using a powerful vacuum cleaner and started sticking thin foam sheets to the cleaned back of the vinyl sheet. I then tried to reattach it to the ceiling with adhesive. That was not a success except for one bit that stuck well but with a crease.

In the end I resorted to fixing pads of 12mm thick wood to the ceiling surface and using them as points to take screws holding up thin wooden battens which hold up the linings. The appearance is not unattractive, like deck beams.

 

[PeterWright]

Hi,

Many years ago, my Storm was suffering in this way and I struggled to find someone to do the work. In the end, one well known East Coast marine upholsterer offered to do the job, visited the boat and gave me a quotation and asked for a large deposit, which I paid. I was overseas when their man turned up at the site to do the job but, having inspected it, he went to see the yard manager and said the job could not be done, and left. The yard manager got hold of me with this news, so that job went nowhere. 3 months later, I called the upholsterer to ask for my deposit back., the lady I spoke to denied ever receiving any mpney from me, so I asked to speak to the proprietor who very rudely repeated her denial. I reported this to my bank, fortunately the same banker as theirs, with a copy of the transaction record from my payment and asked them to intervene. 6 weeks later the deposit was refunded with no apology.

The following year, I got in touch with Roger Nantais, an ex Westerly marine trimmer in Hampshire and he quoted me a lower price for the same job, including his travel to Suffolk and accomodation, saying he would need 5 days. I met him on board on the first day and he set to straight away, then called me on the evening of the third day to say he would be finished by the end of the fourth day, but would welcome some help with re installing windows he had removed. I met him sat lunchtime on the fourth day and we quickly rebedded the windows. He noted a few defects in the upholstery and offered to fix them free of charge, before accepting payment and leaving to drive home - it was a few days before Christmas, so you can be sure he got a good bonus. The head linings looked perfect when I sold the boat 5 years later.

Sadly Roger is now retired and no longer undertaking this work but I have had smaller jobs of this type done by Alan Wyatt done more recently by Alan Wyatt, formerly of Fox's. His contact number is 07823 693417. Based in Ipswich, don't know if he would ravel to Bradwell for your job.

Peter.

 

[Cotillion]

Hi - we have a Westerly Konsort in Bradwell Marina and visited last weekend to find that the forecabin headlining had started "drooping" a bit. It is clear that the whole craft had previously had this job done, but the lining in the forecabin is clearly just glued to the fibreglass. I don't want to attempt the fix (presumably best to remove it all, scrape/clean off the crud and then glue up new lining) so am looking for a tradesperson to do it for me.

Has anyone had this done and have any recommendations for local people/companies to contact?

I'll also post on the Westerly Owners Association site asking for local recommendations as I this is a pretty common issues with Westerlys.

Thanks,

I had a Westerly 28 that had obviously had the same problem. A previous owner just stripped it all off and painted it with anti condensation paint that gave it a stippled appearance. I gave it a couple of coats of gloss and it looked pretty good.

 

[peter.m]

It's a labour intensive and mucky job. I've just replaced the linings to my rear cabin with foam backed faux leather. Even if I do say so myself it has come out quite nicely. I used to do something similar for Sea masters, but that was years ago.

 

[mersea_paddler]

I had Westerly droop in my Centaur.

I found a relatively recent video of a guy replacing his headlining with hollow soffit boards from Eurocell. Each board is 100mm wide by 9mm thick and they come in 5m lengths. Light, thin flexible plastic, easy to cut and manipulate with nothing more than a stanley knife.
Several lengths are cut exactly to the width of the cabin roof and follow the arch perfectly when they're wedged into position just above my curtain rails. Any weight upon them then wedges them tighter into position.
The remaining boards are then screwed into the arches with small self tappers within the joint so the screw heads are invisible and because they're 100mm they also follow the curve nicely.
You can get edging strips for the edges & ends and a joining strip for the middle letting you work out towards each side from the centre. I've just picked mine up today in a lovely Golden Oak coating

It's horrible getting the old stuff off but once you have it's relatively easy to clear up the mess with a Henry vacuum or similar.

I've just used 4 way stretch van lining carpet on the sides which are vertical and have an obtuse 90 degree bend in towards the cabinets so the boards wouldn't work there but for the roof they're great. You can even run led wiring along inside the channels.

It's not the original vinyl, far from it, but IMHO it's much nicer.