Interior lining and thru deck fittings

[rosinaboat]

I have just stripped out some very tired shag pile carpet that lined the whole of my 25 foot Pete Cole contessa. I am left with bare GRP an numerous nuts and bolts from the through deck and cabin top fittings.

I have been trawling through all my old PBO's for ideas as to a new lining, and wondering whether to just leave the bolts exposed when I came across this great forum. Has anyone had experience of re-lining a small cabin? any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

 

[narooma]

If you really want to go to some trouble you could cut 1/4 ply panels to fit. The panels are held in place by thin strips of wood screwed to other strips of wood glued to cabin top.
The lining is glued to the ply before fixing. Lots of design work initially but then easy to remove to get at fittings etc.

 

[Adamastor]

I redid a Bendytoy a few years ago. The idea wasn't mine, but the implementation was! We used Stika-flex to glue straignt battens of 1/2" meranti about 6" long all over the deckhead. It sound random, but we did a little homework beforehand. We divided the space between the cabin-sides in half for a mid-line, then stepped off 3" either side, then 2" then 6", 2", 6" and so on. The spots were then joined with a straightedge and the battens were fitted, overlapping the 3" stripe. I made up 6" strips of 3-ply marine-ply and some lovelu gaboon-faced ply was ripped into 4" strips and varnished in a dark varnish by the same mate who made up the meranti ring for the compression-post. I then spent a few hours removing the old lighting etc, and sealing the thru-deck fittings. Then I fitted the varnished strips with gobs of "white shite" to hold them in place and two of us spiled the outlines for the ends of the 6" panels and the outside edges of the edge pieces. Job done, we covered the panels in lovely (kitsch from close-up) cream leather-look automotive vinyl stapled in place and fitted them to the roof with some very cleverly fitted (white shite again!) pop-fasteners in each corner with the corresponding 1/2 on the battens, and fitted the lighting back through the new lining with long leads and bullet connections tucked behind the white panels.
Dunno if it helps you, but it was 3 days well spent!

 

[eastcoastbernie]

In a Contessa 26 you'll want to keep it as light as possible in the interior. Best option would be to make thin plywood panels and cover them with white or cream vinyl. Then as others have said, fit them to battens previously epoxied onto the hull sides and ceiling. Or, use the light-coloured vinyl on the ceiling, and use strips of mahogany or teak-faced ply on the hull sides.

 

[Phoenix of Hamble]

Agree with above comments.... also we had velcro on the battens and panels to make for quick and easy removal..... worked really well, and looked good.

 

[rosinaboat]

Thanks so much for the replies - I feel inspired to do more than I had originally planned. I think a ply lining is definately the go and time to renew the windows whilst I am at it.

As a matter of interest when I moved to Australia (from Edinburgh) I bought what I though was a Contessa 26 virtually unseen. Once I pulled it out of the water I realised I had bought a different boat which turns out to be a Sydney design by Pater Cole which was also named Contessa. The strange thing is it features the same crown at the bow end of the coach lines.

There are only two in South Australia (the other at my club, the Port Adelaide Sailing Club) but a strong class in Sydney www.colecontessa.com.au

That said I love the boat which has the best shaped hull ever - sort of a cross between a 26 and 32 - I wonder if the designer was inspired?

Thanks again for taking the time to post suggestions

Jonathan