Mainship Pilot headliner replacement

Has anyone had experience doing this.

I have done both glued monkey fur and pulled fabric. What is yours?

Pulled fabric

Look through Steve Cyrs Stella Blue website.
His was a MS 400 but he has a pistingbabout headliner replacement for the srtetched vinyl & track system w pics.
Great reference for lots of MS info.
I include a link to his site in my Bacchus website... useful links section if you don't remember his URL.

Search this forum for “headliner replacement “ for multiple postings and photos. Many have done this.

Lollygag1 said:

Has anyone had experience doing this.

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I tried - and failed - several attempts doing it myself and with helpers. Finally gave up and had it redone professionally. Even here in Florida, finding experienced people to do this was a challenge. The one thing I did notice is that the pros use a non-stretchy material vs. what I have seen on this site and YouTube that the owners/amateurs use.

I successfully removed and replaced the headliner over my galley/salon last spring. It was a challenging project, having no prior experience with this type of work, but was not impossible. The job requires two people to handle and initially tuck the 3 large fabric sections. Patience is a prerequisite. I documented and shared substantial detail about the process from start to finish on the Mainship Pilot Owners FB Group, if you are familiar with it. Some preview pictures and links to many more images of the process follow. If you have questions, feel free to ask.

After pulling the old headliner down the “whisper wall” plastic tracks that hold the vinyl headliner in place will be exposed. All of these tracks need to be removed to prepare for reinstallation of the new headliner. Reinstalling the new edge strip of vinyl will not be possible without removing ALL of the tracks. Be sure to clean the tracks of any remnants of the headliner that may remain in the track. Running a putty knife down the length of the track will clear it.

The outer edges of the perimeter tracks are covered by a single, separate strip of headliner material about 2 1/2" in width and about 28 feet in length. In my boat this strip was originally attached with two-sided tape to temporarily hold it in place until the perimeter track was screwed back on top. I used the same method…two sided tape on the vinyl strip first. Main tool for tucking the vinyl into the track: I used a putty knife that was modified by rounding the corners generously, and then dulled the entire blade edge to make sure it would not damage the vinyl. This tool is what is used to tuck the vinyl into the track. I took the advice of some others who have done this job and sprayed the slot in the track and both the backside of the vinyl, and the facing side of the vinyl with soapy water as I worked…this makes the task of pushing the vinyl into the track a bit easier. A butter knife worked well to tuck the vinyl into the corners. It takes two passes to completely tuck in the vinyl. After carefully trimming away the excess vinyl with an exacto knife, the second pass of tucking completely conceals the vinyl edge inside the track.

The large starboard segment of vinyl headline over the salon was hung first (then the port section, and finally the mid-ship section). One piece of material about 78" in length and the remaining width of the vinyl roll (after removing the 2 1/2" edging strip) worked well. This piece will cover the ceiling from the starboard wall to the starboard midship track. I found it was best to tuck the vinyl in the midship track first, then work the material into the two tracks aft and forward, then to the tracks that intersect the hatch, and finally the track at the starboard most side of the salon. HANGING THE LARGE SECTIONS OF VINYL IS DEFINITELY A TWO PERSON JOB. Getting the vinyl initially hung in the first track is the hardest part, next to that the process of finishing the last corner is difficult because it is challenging for 4 hands and two bodies to work in the same confined space. If you can get the vinyl drawn tight it will have very few wrinkles near the track that will need minor adjustment when the excess material is trimmed off and the remnant edges tucked into the tracks.







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Going on the simpler is better philosophy, pulled my cloth headliner down in the salon and forward berth. Then removed all the glue. There is nice finished beige fiberglass underneath. The PO had tried to reglue it multiple times with 3M spray adhesive, causing it to look like crap, with many of the attempted repair areas coming loose again and dangling. Very happy with results. Easy to clean and maintain. Cheers.