sagging plastic lining

[gbendaly]

hi

the overhead lining in my boat ,is a molded second skin of stamped plastic that have sagged after many hot summers in the mediterranean .the result is a unaesthetical bump in the main salon where heads often get knocked against .
if pushed hard upward it will fall back in its original shape but will pop back when the pressure is released
I wonder if anyone out there can advise me on the best possible way to tackle the problem without having to drill holes in the upper deck

thanks

[anotherT34C]

Maybe you could remove your old headliner, glue some wooden battens to the coachroof, then put up a new wooden headliner, screwed into the (glued-up) battens.

Use the old plastic headliner as a template for the new wooden one. Also might be a good time to put in a dome light.

[Ex-Calif]

If there is a seam, fashion a long tube attached to a tube of contact cement, snake it in there and glue it back.

If there is no handy seam I would make a pinhole and inject adhesive with a syringe and live with the pinhole I made.

Use a cushion and stick to wedge the surface in contact until it sets.

[scotty]

how about a small hole inside and a can of slow expanding foam injected to glue it up, brace it before injection

[delmarrey]

I was wondering when this would come up but with a different problem.

I was looking at these one piece head liners in the new boats at the boat show a couple years ago and commented to my wife "How in the hell is one suppose to do any maintenance on deck fittings!" And basically said "I'd never own one until the liner had been pulled out".

What happens if one of the fasteners starts to leak or even fails? Especially at sea. What a pain in the back side trying to get one of those things out of there and then try get it back in.

I hadn't thought of the sagging problem. But it just confirms my dislike for the production pieces.

As for it's (temporary) repair; I like the spray in foam idea but some day it's all going to have to come out of there.

[Morgan Paul]

If there is a gap between the liner and deck go with expanding foam as scotty suggests. That stuff sticks to everthing. If the gap is small I would use a polyurathane construction adhesive.

You could drill a few holes and use dome caps to finish it off.

EFC International | caps and plugs, bushings, hole plugs, vinyl caps, cap nuts

[gbendaly]

Originally Posted by delmarrey

I was wondering when this would come up but with a different problem.

I was looking at these one piece head liners in the new boats at the boat show a couple years ago and commented to my wife "How in the hell is one suppose to do any maintenance on deck fittings!" And basically said "I'd never own one until the liner had been pulled out".

What happens if one of the fasteners starts to leak or even fails? Especially at sea. What a pain in the back side trying to get one of those things out of there and then try get it back in.

I hadn't thought of the sagging problem. But it just confirms my dislike for the production pieces.

As for it's (temporary) repair; I like the spray in foam idea but some day it's all going to have to come out of there.

you are absolutely right, no access to any of the deck fittings is possible with this one molded piece... I guess their major concern when they decided to produce these boats was the maintenance free head lining and somewhat a better insulation below... I guess one of these days all this will have to be removed as neatly as possible and as one member suggested, I will have to glue wood battens in one direction and srew onto them panels.
thanks

[gbendaly]

no seams just one huge molded piece , more over the effort to lift the sag back in place is much too important to rely only on foam to glue it back

[gbendaly]

a drastic solution !! but maybe the most efficient...