Re sticking foam backed vinyl

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sabresailor

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Hi in a few places the foam backed vinyl is coming away from the hull of my boat (fore-peak). The foam has degraded but the vinyl is fine. I have been thinking about removing the foam from the GRP and sticking back the vinyl using something like the 'trade grip' from Hawke House marine. Does this sound like a reasonable plan? I'm not keen to replace the vinyl as most is ok - I've probably only got 1 or 2 sqm to do.
 
...You have to get rid of all the old glue and foam dust as well. Proabbly best to reline the boat! Once it's started going it won't stop at the 1-2 sq m and next year you'll have 2-3 sq m to do...
 
As EQ says, be careful of the degraded foam, its deadly, inhalation can lead to all kinds of ( permanent ) lung problems. You need to remove the vinyl, take it off the boat, lay it out flat, then hoover/scrape/sand all traces of foam from it. Similarly you must remove all traces of foam and the old glue from the grp inside the boat. An angle grider with a wire brush fitted is ideal for this, but its an AWFUL job !
To make a decent job, you can buy the 6mm foam on its own from Hawke House. Stick this to the hull first, then when dry, stick the vinyl on top. Working with " Trade Grip " and such like in a confined space is a major health hazard. Speak to the excellent fellow at Hawke House about non toxic glue. I went this route and its still stuck fine years later.
Hope this helps
Pete.
 
Many people these days to make things easier use the old stuff as templates, make new panels and glue them up, then screw battens into place to hold them there. No more drooping forever /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
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back the vinyl using something like the 'trade grip' from Hawke House marine

[/ QUOTE ]
You may be disappointed with the result in highly visible areas unless the grp surface is very smooth but in hidden areas perhaps that's not so important.

Don't be tempted to try putting the old vinyl back on to new foam. I tried that in a small area and was very disappointed at the result.

Cleaning off the old foam and adhesive is as already said a messy and unpleasant job. Frankly I gave up trying to remove the old adhesive. I figured that what could not be removed with a reasonable amount of effort could stay. Several years on now and no reason to change my mind on that.

I found that the heat produced by any powered tools softened the old adhesive and spread around while removing very little.

I don't think there is any alternative to solvent based adhesives for sticking vinyl, foam backed or not, to the grp but check with someone like Hawke House. Evostik Timebond is as good as anything unless you want to go for a "high temperature" adhesive. A spray on adhesive is useful for the back of the vinyl. Hawke House will advise.

Good ventilation AND an "organic vapours" mask are essential if using a solvent based adhesive. I think there may now a move away from toluene towards heptane as the solvent. Heptane is not as dangerous but still bad enough for the same precautions to be taken.

A water resistant PVA wood glue is fine for sticking onto wooden panels. Being water based there are no hazardous fumes.

A couple of square metres is a small job compared with the entire interior of even a small boat. Remember, though, that the rest of the interior will probably need doing soon.
 
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will wall paper paste stick ok to the GRP & vinyl

[/ QUOTE ] It won't stick for long in a dampish environment like a boat IMHO. A water resistant PVA glue is more likely to be successful. Have a look at Hawke House's website if you do not want to contact them for advice, there might be some guidance there. There may now be some suitable water based adhesives.
 
if you shop carefully you will find carpet with a woven rather than foam back, you can also get it from Hawke House, it is a far better product.

In answer to the issue of removing the old foam, last year while redoing all the lining in a 28 footer, I gave up removing the foam and instead used one layer of 1 1/2 ounce fibreglass matting and encapulated the whole lot. Smelt for two days, but as long as you remove the styrene fumes from the bilges it was very successful.

I also used a plain white cushioned flooring stuck on with stickaflex around the companion way as it apeared to be easier to keep clean.

While it may sound a little agricultural, it can't have been that bad as the boat sold within eight weeks of advertising for the asking price and helped fund a part of our new floating overdraft.

rgs
Paul.
 
Another vote for Hawke House. They know what they are talking about and they give you masses of help and sell products that work. They also produce 'how to do it' booklets which are full of tips and hints.

When I re-lined my boat I used a combination of foam-backed stuff for the bits with curves and made ply panels for the straight bits. Where I covered with the foam-backed stuff I had to get all the old glue off. Used a 'face-off' tool fixed to my drill. Very messy but it did the job. Covering the ply panels was very easy, but I found making accurate panels for all the weird shapes quite challenging. But the finished result is spectacular - even though I say so myself!
 
When my foam started to disintergrate and the vinyl pulled away in places, I temporarily stuck it back up with Copydex which I believe is a PVA adhesive.

It was all in vain because the rest of it started falling off so in the end I gave up, stripped it all out and replaced it. I went to Toomer and Hayter in Bournemouth because they were local. I was surprised how easy their adhesive was to use. I pasted it onto the hull/plywood panels, waited a few minutes then pressed the foam backed vinyl on to it.
 
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if you shop carefully you will find carpet with a woven rather than foam back, you can also get it from Hawke House, it is a far better product.


[/ QUOTE ] It is nice but it is also very expensive, even more expensive than the foam backed vinyl. The cheap option is to buy a cheap synthetic carpet from a carpet store.
 
Good to see some people have had success.
In the forepeak of a Westerley Falcon I tried sticking just the fallen sections with evostick but without cleaning - this held until my next visit when things were back to square one.
I then tried using one of those no-nails type products and this was more successful except for 2 things; each time a section was repaired another part fell down and the vinyl was slightly lumpy where the adhesive had set.
The upshot was the whole roof lining was removed and I had reasonable success removing the old foam and adhesive by using a wallpaper steam stripper. After this, time constraints led to a new lining being professionally stuck in... .
Sorry, not a lot of help but my experience FWIW.
Have fun, Steve
 
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