DIY Saloon Headliner Installation

[Wayne]

"Waterproofing" Masonite

Hi, When I was about 7 yrs old, I saw designs for a surfboard sailboat in a magazine (?Popular Mechanics?). I decided to build it and started construction on it, but my older brother usurped the project and dropped the sailboat part. It used 4 1"x4" boards for longitudinal stringers, plus 1"x6" bow and stern pieces and some cross pieces, shaped so that the boat tapered from about 4" thick at the dagger board box to ~1 3/4" at each end. The frame was then covered with 1/8" Masonite. The Masonite was heavily varnished on both sides, letting the varnish soak in as much as the Masonite would hold. The Masonite was glued and nailed to the wooden structure, then given a final coat of varnish. The boat often sat in the lake for a few days at a time. The boat lasted for several years, then my brother gave it to a friend - I don't know how much longer it lasted after that.

If I were to make something like that again, I would use a UV resistant polyurethane as plain varnish is not well suited for direct sun and water immersion.

 

[jimL]

It looks great. Thanks for sharing.

JimL

 

[Hedley]

I second the bead board idea. I built a shanty years ago and laid bead board on top of my overhead joists. I then painted it all white and trimmed the bottoms of the joists with stained screen molding. It looked very boaty.

adding a few stiffening joists to a sagging overhead would be simple. Cut the curve from a 2x 10 or 2x12, paint to match the bead board, and trim out the bottom edge.

I plan on replacing the overhead in my GB 42 with bead board, as the vinyl that was glued to luan is bubbling down. There are already battens there.

 

[Hedley]

Grand Banks 42 Headliner replacement

I finished the overhead in the aft head. Pine painted with a gloss "boat" paint from Lowe's Home Improvement (Rustoleum brand). Insulated with 1.5 inches of foam first.

Notice the blue masking tape: that is how I made a pattern for the foam. After peeling it off the foam that I cut, I re-used it in the next cavity, adding new tape if larger, cutting down if smaller.

My 18 guage Ryobi brad nailer never failed to set the brad into those fiberglassed overhead ribs.