Headlining gone wrong

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smithy

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Put up the first piece of foam backed headlining today. I used SAF 111 on the fiberglass and trade tack on the foam leaving the contact adhesive until touch dry and the spray for two or three minutes. It's not very clear from the photo but the surface is not smooth it has indentations/ lines on it, looks like I have compressed some of the foam and it hasn't recovered. Not sure where I went wrong. Will these come out on their own or do I have to start again? I buffed the fiberglass smooth before starting.

DSCN0139.jpg
 
possible cause - you may have used too much spray adhesive and soddened the foam, so when it dries and you compress it to smooth out, it grabs the foam and the solid adhesive so it doesn't recover to surrounding foam thickness - maybe?
 
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Shame... Thanks for posting this, as headlining is on my list for the future...

Do you think you pressed too hard fitting it?

I was also thinking, the insulation that comes with self adhesive on both sides, would that be easier, with one side self "adhesiveing" [1] to the grp, and the other side self "adhesiving" to the vinyl?

[1] (It's a technical term, I'm not making words up, oh no, not me!!!) :-)
 
I agree with all so far, you've effectively glued the vinyl to the GRP so the foam is pinched and can't recover.

I used paint/GRP rollers of varying shapes and sizes to press the foam home, which worked well.
 
Didn't think I was pressing very hard, the wife did half of it and her side is the same. Will use a sponge next time and press very lightly. Can't help thinking this must have happened to a few people. However it could be worse it could have been one of the big pieces on the side of the saloon. Nothing like learning by your mistakes!
 
Just so I don't look like a complete disaster merchant here are the headlinings that went right, still to do the sides.SN850094.jpg
 
I am with the others here. You have somehow (easily done) pressed too hard. The key is to only apply light pressure over a broad area (A sponge is perfect) The glue only needs to make contact to stick - but I guess you know this! Pity, because overall, looks like a great job. I did some of this in a Motor-caravan once and it can be tricky to get it all smooth and ripple free around the awkward bits.
 
smithy said:
Just so I don't look like a complete disaster merchant here are the headlinings that went right, still to do the sides.
View attachment 37582
Click to expand...

They look as though they are on ply boards. Surprised you used contact adhesives for them. A water resistant, but water based, PVA glue is the stuff to use there. Clean, easy to use, and above all else no solvent fumes.

Glad they went well though.

I agree with the others about the dimples problem. I did not suffer that when using the Tradetack on the lining but did previously when using the liquid adhesive on both surfaces. Although second time round it was something I was wise to. I reckon you must have sprayed a bit too much on. You don't want it to penetrate into the foam, just coat the surface.
 
The overheads were stuck with PVA on ply boards apart from size they were fairly straight forward. When it came to use the contact I thought I would start with the cabin in case of mistakes, glad I did.
 
There is a video on YouTube (keeps talking about NorgaSoft in an American accent) which gives a good idea of how to do the job. Worth a watch.
 
Update

Removed the bad section of headlining. I had said before that I had ground the area flat, what I should have said was smooth. On close inspection I found the fiberglass was lumpy and irregular and matched the bad bits in the lining.
I had taken it for granted that it would be flat as there was headlining on there previously. Now I have to to a lot of filling and grinding. Don't know how they got round this originally I can't believe the original headlining looked that bad.
 
For the information of other headlining DIYers I spotted an advert at our club for a 1 day course at Port Solent, or personal tuition on your own boat.
I have no connection, but their website is www.headlining.co.uk should anyone be interested -or worried.

ianat182
 
smithy said:
The overheads were stuck with PVA on ply boards apart from size they were fairly straight forward. When it came to use the contact I thought I would start with the cabin in case of mistakes, glad I did.
Click to expand...

Do you really mean just standard PVA glue, like my kids use when sticking pasta to card in the shape of a Dinosaur?
I have a 5 litre container of that, thought it was useless for anything boaty otherwise it would have been long gone.
 
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