Gluing leathercloth and foam to cabin sides

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Pete735

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I'd like to glue foam backed leathercloth to the interior vertical (well almost ) sides of the boat. Areas are not large, approx 3 metres in length X 330 mm wide. I want to do it in a royal blue leathercloth so Hawke House might be an option if I bought some of their adhesive backed closed cell foam and then glued leathercloth to that. I have been unable to find ready made foam backed leathercloth in royal blue, hence my very diy approach.

Alternatively. I am wondering if I bought some 6mm foam whether I could successfully make up the panel with that. If others have done this, did they glue the foam first to the hull and then glue the leathercloth to the foam (which sounds the way to go) or glue foam and leathercloth together and then glue the composite to the hull?

Any practical tips ref using 6mm foam or is the Hawke House option the only sensible one?
 
You could try a 4mm closed cell foam from Kayospruce and a blue nautalex vynil .Closed cell won't absorb damp and give you clean smooth surface for sticking the vynil.
Cindy
 
I did something similar, with 10mm closed cell foam. I was actually replacing existing stuff, but if I was doing it from scratch, I would do all the cutting and fitting with the foam. Once I was satisfied that the foam panels would fit, I would then glue the lining material to the foam, and then glue the complete panels into place. I carried the lining material round the edges of the foam, so the foam had to be made slightly smaller to accommodate it.
 
Hmmm as far as I can see foam backed leathercloth is an invention of the devil especially if applied with glue.

Why? because the foam breaks down and the cloth falls of. I an facing an going whole boat repair job where I vacuum off all the foam, remove lumpy bits of foam and glue then try to glue the cloth back on.

The result is not always pretty.
 
Pete735 said:
I'd like to glue foam backed leathercloth to the interior vertical (well almost ) sides of the boat. Areas are not large, approx 3 metres in length X 330 mm wide. I want to do it in a royal blue leathercloth so Hawke House might be an option if I bought some of their adhesive backed closed cell foam and then glued leathercloth to that. I have been unable to find ready made foam backed leathercloth in royal blue, hence my very diy approach.

Alternatively. I am wondering if I bought some 6mm foam whether I could successfully make up the panel with that. If others have done this, did they glue the foam first to the hull and then glue the leathercloth to the foam (which sounds the way to go) or glue foam and leathercloth together and then glue the composite to the hull?

Any practical tips ref using 6mm foam or is the Hawke House option the only sensible one?
Click to expand...

I have done some of my bulkheads in leathercloth but used a rot proof floor under lay meant for carpeting, its been up for 12 years or more without fault , easily applied using spray glue to put the underlay up first and then another coat of spray glue to add the leathercloth and then finished by stapling the edges and then fitting a wood trim to cover the staples and leave a neat edge, i posted pictures up here not so long ago.
 
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I am a firm believer in cork tiles, which completely eliminate condensation, are easy to apply and don't look bad. I would assume that leathercloth could be stuck onto them if desired, overcoming some of the disadvantages of foam.
 
vyv_cox said:
I am a firm believer in cork tiles, which completely eliminate condensation, are easy to apply and don't look bad. I would assume that leathercloth could be stuck onto them if desired, overcoming some of the disadvantages of foam.
Click to expand...

Ooh, Any pics? (please!) This sounds ideal for what I have in mind!

Regards

Carl
 
In the light of comments about laminate underlay I had a look in B & Q yesterday. They sell 3 types of underlay. The translucent 3mm underlay, a grey 3mm underlay 1m wide and 10m long folded every 250mm or so and a charcoal coloured adhesive backed 3mm underlay sold in 10 metre rolls ( also 1 metre wide).

The charcoal coloured underlay looks remarkably like the 4mm that Hawke House (and I assume Kayospruce sell, as I imagine they are the same product.) I did carefully peel away some of the film protecting the adhesive and it did not seem especially sticky to me, but if it's laying on the floor it hardly needs great adhesion qualities. No reason I suspect why backing could not be removed and more spray adhesive added, but at £48.00 a bit pricey to experiment with.

The folded grey at £22.00 per roll looked interesting and if it were on the roll I would have bought it there and then, but I'm not sure if the folds will "recover". I do not want to do the job and then find faint lines every 250mm! Although 10sq m's is way more than i need for the job, I would simply glue it behind other panels to use it up.

Tried Google but had no joy with this material from other suppliers. It is branded as "Diall" so B & Q's own brand and i could find nothing similar under other names..

As always thanks for the contributions.
 
carl170 said:
Ooh, Any pics? (please!) This sounds ideal for what I have in mind!

Regards

Carl
Click to expand...

No, sorry, I don't seem to have any.
Contact adhesive works well with cork if the substrate is smooth but results on knobbly GRP have been poor. Recently I did inside a locker using one of the hybrid adhesives, Sticks like S..t from Screwfix I think, which worked very well. My cockpit seats are done in Marinedeck 2000, also cork, which is stuck down with Sikaflex. I suspect that although this has been highly successful, not stirred for well over ten years, it would not be the best adhesive for horizontal or overhead surfaces.
 
The stuff I recently used to reaffix failed foam backed vinyl was translucent in a light green/blue colour, about 2-3mm thick. It was left over from our offices so not sure where it came from but possibly B&Q. It also had a 6" wide polythene margin on one edge which I simply trimmed off. The base surface was a little uneven in places from traces of the original glue, but nothing is noticeable through the double layer of the foam sheet and the vinyl top layer.

I used a spray adhesive from The Range (marvellous place) called Ultratape. Gives you quite a buzz when using it in a closed cabin.
 
I used some Evo Stick spray Carpet Adhesive the carpet fitter left to glue some foam rubber strips to a plastic seat liner. It really works. It gives you about 5 minutes of adjustment time and then it's fixed.
Available in Homebase and other places for about £6
 
SteveSarabande said:
The problem with cheap Range spray adhesive is what happens next summer. I hear tales of a it all coming unstuck when the hull gets hot
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I did consider this, but it is a well insulated after cabin and I can't see it getting too warm. I agree a 100 or even 200 degree spray adhesive would have been better.
 
Pete735 said:
The charcoal coloured underlay looks remarkably like the 4mm that Hawke House (and I assume Kayospruce sell, as I imagine they are the same product.) I did carefully peel away some of the film protecting the adhesive and it did not seem especially sticky to me, but if it's laying on the floor it hardly needs great adhesion qualities. No reason I suspect why backing could not be removed and more spray adhesive added, but at £48.00 a bit pricey to experiment with.
Click to expand...

This is very interesting to me... My only question is, I thought the Hawke House charcoal closed cell foam is described as 5mm? How confident are you that it's the same thing?

I might take a trip to B&Q this PM too! :-)
 
Pete735 said:
In the light of comments about laminate underlay I had a look in B & Q yesterday. They sell 3 types of underlay. The translucent 3mm underlay, a grey 3mm underlay 1m wide and 10m long folded every 250mm or so and a charcoal coloured adhesive backed 3mm underlay sold in 10 metre rolls ( also 1 metre wide).

The charcoal coloured underlay looks remarkably like the 4mm that Hawke House (and I assume Kayospruce sell, as I imagine they are the same product.) I did carefully peel away some of the film protecting the adhesive and it did not seem especially sticky to me, but if it's laying on the floor it hardly needs great adhesion qualities. No reason I suspect why backing could not be removed and more spray adhesive added, but at £48.00 a bit pricey to experiment with.

The folded grey at £22.00 per roll looked interesting and if it were on the roll I would have bought it there and then, but I'm not sure if the folds will "recover". I do not want to do the job and then find faint lines every 250mm! Although 10sq m's is way more than i need for the job, I would simply glue it behind other panels to use it up.

Tried Google but had no joy with this material from other suppliers. It is branded as "Diall" so B & Q's own brand and i could find nothing similar under other names..

As always thanks for the contributions.
Click to expand...


picture of leathercloth added to bulkhead using rot proof carpet underlay (in rolls- not folded) deck heads in the upper saloon are done in the same stuff, easy to cut the panels to add leds as well

http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i373/vert1go1/IMG_1113.jpg

http://i1090.photobucket.com/albums/i373/vert1go1/IMG_2866.jpg
 
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Superheat6k - what you used is laminate underlay with a vinyl membrane for use if there is a risk of moisture coming up from the floor. The extended edge is so rolls can be overlapped and maintain their dpc type integrity. I also went into a flooring company yesterday so became boringly knowledgeable on the subject! Cost of material was £40.00 for a 15m roll 1 metre wide. It is 3mm thick by the way.

crisbitz - note I said it was 3mm thick so thinner than Hawke House product whether it be 4 or 5mm thick. Tried to check Hawke House website, but their new website only appears to be the front page with no other information.
 
The foam on the back of foam backed vinyl is open cell and will decay over 5-10 years in the UK climate leaving a black crumbly mess which lets go of the vinyl. Your idea of using a closed cell foam + vinyl of the colour you want will be far superior to this if you ensure compatibility of the foam and adhesive, If you use a 5-6mm foam you should overcome any lumpiness of the grp.

Any effective adhesive for this job will give off toxic fumes which can give you more than a buzz - if you value your liver you won't use them in a closed cabin. Any professional doing this job will have a large fan outside drawing air through a length of flexible ducting at least 600 mm dia. and a hatch open at the other end. Then he will still wear a mask.

It's not an easy job to get a smart finish. When my previous boat (Westerly Storm) needed doing at least 10 years ago Roger Nantais:

http://www.boatsandwatersportswebsite.co.uk/headlining-replacement-service

quoted a price very little more than Hawke House wanted for the kit of parts to do the same work. He travelled from his home in Hants to Suffolk to do it, fixed a couple of other issues not included in his quote, finished a day ahead of schedule and left the boat completely clean, despite having stripped several square metres of decayed lining. I've no connection with him, other than being a very satisfied customer, but I know who to call of I ever want a similar job doing.
 
Cork tiles are probably OK for side linings, but when a boat I knew tried them on the floor / sole it was a disaster, the tiles soon crumbled and broke up.

I used polstyrene foam tiles between the deckhead ply and the grp; seems to have worked well as an insulator for temperature and noise for many years now.

I expect there's a modern standard, but after going around photographing tests with the airfield fire service I made very sure the polystyrene was fire retardant !
 
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