wood panelling

[michaelmrc]

i want to install some 1/4 ash panelling on the interior walls of my boat and am wondering what the best attachment method would be. my boat has a complete interior liner now and i was thinking of perhaps epoxying the panelling onto the liner. any suggestions wouldbe greatly appreciated. thanks

[delmarrey]

I've considered that as well but with mahogany. My concern is will there be any bacteria or mold that will build up between or under the striping????

[San Juan Sailor]

The problem with trying to attach anything to a liner is that it is smooth (glossy) and it will be hard to get any kind of adhesive to stick to it. You have two choices, you could grind the surface to make it rough and there by providing "tooth" for the adhesive, or you can mechanically fasten with screws. A potential problem with screws is that they might protrude on the backside and may be a problem depending upon where you're applying it. Also with screws you're are either going to be looking at a lot of screws or you could set the screws deeper and plug the holes and the wood would need to be thick enough to accommodate them. With the gluing method, you would have to apply pressure to the strips until the glue sets up and the best glue would probably be thickened epoxy. Another possibility would be to use solvent based construction adhesive. You might be able to get away without grinding the surface with this stuff, it's very tenacious. If you could find an inconspicuous place and test it. One advantage with the const. adhesive is it could be removed with lacquer thinner without harming the fiberglass although it would be a chore.
With either the screwing or the grinding first methods there is no going back.
One other method would be to lay up the pieces in a panel first maybe on 1/4" plywood and the attach the whole thing at once possibly screwing around the edges . This of course would have to be relatively flat surface.

Dan

[San Juan Sailor]

And there's always 5200

delmarrey,
I don't think I'd worry about moisture related problems behind the wood.
It would be a good idea to seal the backside of any raw wood as it would reduce the chances of cupping.

Dan

[Lancerbye]

The first question I have to ask is : what is the liner material now? If it is f/g I would use Contact cement which seals the backside and will stick to f/g. I have used this method with 1/8 in Teak ply. Works great.