Carpet Sidelining

[EdEssery]

I am seriously considering changing the material sidelining in our MG C27 - it is now over 15 years old and looking rather tired.

I am thinking of using ribbed carpet style sidelining. Has anybody done this as a DIY job? How easy was it? What glue did you use? Should the ribs run horizontally or vertically?

Any accumulated advice, guidance, tips or words of wisdom on this project would be most welcome....

Thanks,

Ed

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[discovery2]

Unable to comment on the actual procedure, or skills involved although I would consider covering flat panels would be easier than say, the side of the hull.

However, the question concerning vertical or horizontal ribs is a matter of preference, depending on the visual effect required.
Horizontal ribs would give the illusion of length - the space would appear longer or wider.
Vertical ribs would give the illusion of height - there would appear to be more headroom!

Good luck
David

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[wishbone]

If you are using cord carpet then if going up the hull the cord running horizontal would curve better, I would NOT use contact adheasive! use a tackifier type, when we are called to remove carpet/tiles laid with contact then be prepared to have whats underneath pulled off as well.

Wishbone
Rolling, rolling, rolling keep them doggies moving!
Where’s me chuck wagon gone?




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[billywilliams]

A guy at our club bought what I think was a Bayliner about 28 ft very very cheaply as someone had discharged a flare in the fore cabin! It was a mess but he spent some time cleaning it out then called in a local firm of carpet fitters who completely relined it in cord carpet in an afternoon for a couple of hundred quid. It immediately put quite a few grand back on the value of the boat. Apparently the firm does a few similar relining jobs each year.

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[vyv_cox]

The correct carpet for the job is mouldable and will stretch enough to accommodate curves and bumps. The adhesive type to use is an impact that allows repositioning. When I did the roof of my camper van I was advised to use Thixofix, which both allows repositioning and performs well long term. That was more than 10 years ago and it's still perfectly in place.

In enclosed spaces like quarter berths and van hard-tops the fumes are oppressive. I use a vacuum cleaner on blow to provide fresh air to the working area.

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[Strathglass]

Afew years ago I worked for a boat hire company with 20 craft. Most of the interiors were fitted out with marine wall carpet. It was stuck on with contact adhesive (industrial evostick) or a similar Dunlop adhesive.

Quick and easy to repair but the fumes when applying were quite bad. We always had a rule of someone outside while another person was fitting the carpet.

When I was in Paris a few years ago I bought a large roll of ribbed wall carpet from Castorama (B&Q equivelent). This is used in France instead of wallpaper quite often and it was about 30% of the price of the UK sourced 'marine' wall carpet.

Iain



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[VicS]

Re: Fumes from adhesives

The fumes from solvent (methylbenzene, aka toluene) based adhesives are quite dangerous. Good ventilation is very important but is difficult to acheive sometimes in confined areas such as quarter berths and forepeaks. I strongly recommend the use of an "Organic vapours" mask as well. They are availble from the suppliers of the lining materials, mine came fom Hawke House Marine and was made by 3M.

<hr width=100% size=1><font color=purple>Ne te confundant illegitimi.</font color=purple>

 

[oldharry]

Re: Carpet adhesive fumes - a warning.

The fumes given off by most solvent based contact adhesives such as Thixofix can be very dangerous in a confined space like a boat cabin. Toluene based glues will be specified on the label. Toluene is anaesthetic in effect so it puts you to sleep gently but permanently! Should you recover there will be irreparable damage to your kidneys, and possibly liver as well, as a number of boat owners have discovered to their cost.

So basic safety rules apply - a plentiful supply of fresh air - a large blower drawing in fresh air from outside, and do not work alone; make sure there is someone who can pull you out if you do go under. The first effect on me was a feeling of numbness round the mouth, but fortunately someone else was around to tell me I was going under. Like carbon monoxide poisioning, you dont realise whats happening until its too late to help yourself.

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[Talbot]

This is a similar problem to the head-lining saga in October

http://www.ybw.com/cgi-bin/forums/s...ber=418106&page=&view=&sb=&o=&vc=1#Post418106

I Posted the following:

"I had this problem a couple of years ago on my cat. I investigated this thoroughly for replacement. Your options are:

1. Replace the foam lined vinyl with a similar product from the upholsters. disadvantage is thatthe foam is now fire retardent quality thus will go brittle much earlier.

2. Seperate the deckhead into squares and mount plywood panels covered with foam/vinyl or other. These will still go brittle with age but are likely to last a lot longer, and have the advantage that they can be taken down easily for running new wiring etc. The disadvantages are that they reduce headroom somewhat.

3. Replace the foam/vinyl with a felt backed carpet. This is likely to last decades, but you will need to use a strong adhesive. - I used this method as I did not have enough headroom to be able to use the plywood square method. I carefully removed the old vinyl and used that as a template for a rough cut on the carpet. removed the windows for better access, then used a friendly carpet fitter to fit the carpet. I used adhesive from the car industry - designed to hold up car headlinings in hot climates (a lot of the cheaper adhesives are fine until you get a really hot day then the glue melts) I separated the headlining into four sections in the saloon to make it more managable (but cut it out first as a single piece, and this will ensure that you get the carpet running the same way through out the saloon) I covered the joins with a piece of mahogany trimming fron B&Q - I reckon it looks good, cost a lot less than getting someone in, and will last considerably longer. Top tip - make sure you get rid of all the old adhesive. I used a brass wire cupped wheel on an angle grinder running at slowish speed. High speed /steel wire will eat into the fibreglass. wear good protective garments, goggles, face mask, and clear the boat out first as there will be crud everywhere."


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[tcm]

I have done boat carpeting of this type.

1. Professional carpet fitters are loads better than you are at it. So if you can find one and pay him direct in cash, it'll be a better job and they won't load it with the normal "marine" factor - but it would be more expensive that normal fit in a house of course. The cost of the carpet is tiny in comparison to cost of the work, so you can have some luxury! Note also that we humans are pretty good at "sizing up" carpet as we see and walk on the stuff all the time - so it would be a shame to make a lot of effort with dead cheap gear - like restoring a ford anglia is just as much work as restoring a sport car. Fairly wild colours are fine - it's a small area. Low quality carpet or a large patterns will look poor. Best is a carpet that looks as though it is a single colour but in fact is several colours, and has no single "direction".

if you DIY

2. There's no pressing reason for "ribs" or lines or patterns if you must have them to go one way or t'other. I would makem go horizontal to encourage one's eye to run along the boat in long runs, rather than downwards, which will be shorter runs, and tend not to "expand" the boat as seen by the eye. One would expect lines in a cabin to run along the fore-aft line of the boat. Experiment a bit : there will be areas where you have to set it so it "looks ok" rather than being 100% horizontal. On a stable boat you can sometimes use a spirit level to find those lines (before carpeting) which "look right" but bear in mind that the effect of "looking right" is local - so match local lines in different areas.

3. To stick the carpet and allow the possibilty of making repairs later with all those bits you just know you're gonna keep, use double sided tape. You can use cheapy double sided tape IF you have foam-backed carpet which i wd recommend you use - this dramtically improves the stickability, nice smooth surface for adhesion etc. and better noise/heat insulation. Cut the tape and stickit to the carpet, then when really stuck, pick up one corner ready for applying to the wall or whatever. You don't need much tape on verticals and hardly any at all on horizontals.

4. For areas where the carpet would "fall off", you can still use double sided tape, taking the backing off as you work along. I also used (on some larger bits) spray adhesive - leave it a while to go tacky. But use this as a last resort as it is a right bugger to remove.

5. Using non-foam-backed carpet get loads tougher for non-professionals. You have no "give" in the surface so you need to use double sided foam tape. You can also use "copydex" style rubbery carpet adhesives.

6. To cut and prepare the bits, i used a stanley knife - need lots of blades as it goes blunt quickly- and then an electric rope-cutter thing (those blue ones that the chandleries use) to melt and "stop" the ends of synthetic carpet from unravelling.

7 When cutting the carpet, don't cut vertically- make cuts non-vertically that leave a bit more carpet on a piece than backing, so the carpet slightly "overflows" and hides the backing. For the same reason, don't use your previous "cut" edges to start a new piece.

good luck!

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[iacle]

I did this on a Westerly Cirrus, replacing the disintigrating foam backed vinyl. For the side panels I used ordinary rubber backed cord carpet from a local carpet shop (cheap!), using the old vinyl for patterns. Because the sides were fairly flat & backed carpet is quite stiff, strong glue wasn't neccessary - I used PVA from a builder's mechant (cheap & little odour). An easy, effective job, still looking good after 3 years hard use. Initially I tried double sided carpet tape, but that was not successful. This won't work on curves, or upside down, however, so for the headling I used non-backed carpet from a marine upholsterer, glued on with Evostick - not enough headroom for panels. Difficult, messy & unpleasant but looks well when finished

<hr width=100% size=1>Ian

 

[richardandtracy]

I've done mine in really cheap dark blue and grey felt backed cord carpet. About £1/m^2.

Basically, it looks a bit like the inside of British Airways aircraft of a few years ago. It certainly doesn't look cheap. I covered the joins between the blue & grey with varnished battens to cover up my rather poor cutting. It looks really posh.

Regards

Richard.


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[tcm]

ok, i'll take your word for it. It doesn't HAVE to look cheap. But making the interior of an old boat look like the interior of an old aeroplane? Whatever!

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[Gunfleet]

Do you have little lights in the floor and does Tracy do that lifejacket dance every time you leave the berth, pointing out the overwing exits and tugging a non existent oxygen mask from the ceiling?

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[Avocet]

Try a bit of carpet to see if it curves one way better than the other. I used some pretty amorphous brown waterand rot proof carpet to do our forecabin a few years ago. It was dirt cheap from a company called "Martrim" in Middlewich, Cheshire. It looks great (a bit abrasive on bare skin, though) and is dead easy to work with. I can thoroughly recommend the aerosols of contact adhesive. You get much better coverage and much more even distribution than out of a tin using a spreader. Finally, don't try to make the carpet go round compound curves. I have a stiffening rib on the inside of the hull about 2" square. Carpet this first with a short piece so tha tthe ends of the carpet extend an inch or so up the hull sides above and below the stiffener and then carpet the rest in two pieves one from the top down to the stiffener and the other from the bottom up to it.

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[Talbot]

Strongly recommend that you do NOT use foam backed carpet. The dreaded fire resistant stuff has made this a very inferior product compared to 15 years ago. You are much better advised to use the felt based stuff. Carpet right do some nice cheap neutrally coloured light weight felt backed carpet which is very suitable.

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[theia]

try a company called hawke house marine in fareham. they can supply all different types of carpet lining and are extremely helpful. I've used their materials on several boats now and can certainly recommend the self adhesive carpet. comes on a roll about 54'' wide i think, just cut to rough size, peel off backing paper and smooth in to place then trim with stanley knife. providing you change the knife blade regularly, you'll get a good finish.
Have also used their 'ordinary' carpeting but it's a pain applying the adhesive.
I'm just guessing now but self adhesive carpet was about £8 ish a metre length and the ordinary slightly cheaper. By the time you take into account the cost of the adhesive, the fumes and all of the hassle, the self adhesive stufff is the best option.

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[ashanta]

I have used this on my last two boats.

What you should consider before putting the carpet lining on is to line the area with insulation. and then apply the carpet lining.
I have used Hawke house who advertise in the PBO. It's a family business and they give good advice before purchase.
The carpeting does what you expect. Looks good and has a warming effect but remember to actually have the warmth you should isulate underneath.

Regards.

Peter.

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[Capt_Marlinspike]

Check out the article in the latest edition of PBO.

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[Rabbie]

What kind of insulation did you use and how did you affix it?.

<hr width=100% size=1>I admit to spending a fortune on women, booze, gambling and my boat. The rest I spend foolishly.