Battens for headlining

[steve yates]

Afetr tearing down the westerly droop and grinding away most of the foam and glue crap, Im going to bond a series of battens onto the roof and sides in the saloon and forepeak. And then I’ll be srrewing plypanels to them and just painting the panels.
Couple of questions on this,
Whats the best and best value stuff to use for this?
Is it worth painting the battens with epoxy to seal them before sticking them up? Thinking in case of future leaks or water ingress.
Is epoxy the best thing to use to bond the battens up? Or is there a better option?

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

Afetr tearing down the westerly droop and grinding away most of the foam and glue crap, Im going to bond a series of battens onto the roof and sides in the saloon and forepeak. And then I’ll be srrewing plypanels to them and just painting the panels.
Couple of questions on this,
Whats the best and best value stuff to use for this?
Is it worth painting the battens with epoxy to seal them before sticking them up? Thinking in case of future leaks or water ingress.
Is epoxy the best thing to use to bond the battens up? Or is there a better option?

When I was doing this job on my previous boat, a UFO 27, I used ordinary softwood with no treatment or sealing. You will have become aware of, and remedied any water ingress long before it has had a chance to rot the battens, which will be non-structural and only minimally load-bearing, in any case.
When I did my headlining I didn't use "battens" so much as "blocks" i.e short lengths, 2"-3", rather than pieces running the full length of the deckhead, so that there was no inherent springiness to be dealt with in trying to make them stay in place until the adhesive set.

 

[Tranona]

Blocks rather than battens -12mm ply attached with "Grabit" or other brand of construction adhesive. Hold in place for a minute or so then leave 24 hours to cure. Drill pilot holes through your ply or the battens holding your ply up and covering the joins and use no6 stainless selftappers. This will give you an air space and the adhesive will stick to the uneven surface.

 

[Boater Sam]

Evo 5 minute polyurethane wood glue. Everytime.

 

[TC Tuckton]

Centaur forecabin.
I used 50x50x10mm hardwood blocks rather than softwood to make unscrewing and rescrewing more secure.
"No more nails" has worked well for six years.
The biggest problem was finding the blocks to screw into as I put the ply panels up. I got better at it after the first twenty...

 

[steve yates]

Thanks, looks like I'm overthinking/over engineering it. 12mm ply panels though Tranona? I was thinking 5 or 6 would be plenty, nothing much would be fixed to them cept some light fittings. I dont quite understand what you mean about drilling pilot holes for an airspace?

I was imtending to stick insulation up between the battens, something like old closed foam karrimats, though I guess I should do a fire test first!
Any other suggestions for good material to use thats inexpensive? And again whats the best way to stick them up, would a polyurethane glue work here too?
Thanks.

 

[Spirit (of Glenans)]

Thanks, looks like I'm overthinking/over engineering it. 12mm ply panels though Tranona? I was thinking 5 or 6 would be plenty, nothing much would be fixed to them cept some light fittings. I dont quite understand what you mean about drilling pilot holes for an airspace?

I was imtending to stick insulation up between the battens, something like old closed foam karrimats, though I guess I should do a fire test first!
Any other suggestions for good material to use thats inexpensive? And again whats the best way to stick them up, would a polyurethane glue work here too?
Thanks.

I believe Tranona was thinking of 12mm ply blocks, rather than panels.
IMHO, an air gap between headlining and deckhand seems somehow preferable to filling the space with any kind of insulation.

 

[steve yates]

Ah, ok that makes sense.
The boat will be in the med at so e point, Id keep air for scotland, but I doubt it will help keep her cool down there.

 

[Tranona]

Yes, ply because it holds screws well. 50*50 blocks. Locate them in in a line where panels meet and a lone across, then a thin 6mm batten on top of the ply with 9mm selftappers through the batten and ply into the block. Neat and secure