Almost every time you start a project it morphs into something bigger. But for once it seems to have worked in our favor. When I replaced the ceiling in the head Christy liked the difference so much she wanted me to do the 2 sections of the headliner in the aft cabin.
These 2 sections are outboard and are over our book shelves. They’re in crappy shape having suffered water damage in the distant past but
outta sight, outta mind. Above them is the toe rail on the aft section of the boat. Our radar arch is through bolted to the toe rail with 3 bolts on either side of the boat.Our dinghy weighs about 125 pounds, the engine weighs 85 pounds, a tank of fuel is another 40 pounds. Combine that with the 3 solar panels and the wind generator and the arch itself it’s probably close to 600 pounds back there.
We’re getting ready to renew the varnish on our topside wood and I noticed that the starboard forward foot of the arch had lifted a tiny bit and cracked the old Cetol. Movement there is not
a good thing so it was time to venture into this part of the boat to check things out.So I removed the old headliner and revealed the bottom of the bolts. There are only 3 of them and I was disappointed to find out that they were only quarter twenties. Too small for the responsibility they have. Not to mention the fact that one of the 3 bolts had broken,
leaving us with only 2 undersized bolts holding that side of the arch in place. Jesus.I was able to redrill all the holes and up the size of the bolts to 5/16ths. There is a substantial backing plate in place but I also added large fender washers in an effort to beef things up a bit. Once resealed and drawn tight, things are once again rigid like they ought to be.
Then it was time to trace the headliner, cut it out and install the new one. Then I had to reassemble the book shelves,
reconnect and rehang both the light and fan. The whole deal took me about 6 hours to accomplish so we’ll wait and tackle the port side next weekend.I also spent some time with my “snap kit” replacing
a couple of broken fasteners while waiting for some Muriatic acid to work its magic in both heads. Christy spent the afternoon disassembling and cleaning our BBQ grill and it once again looks clean enough to eat off.
2 comments:
I was glad to read this post because the headliner is one of the winter projects for our Compac 27 this winter. You made it sound easy!
It really wasn't too bad. Its just that once you start you have to pretty much keep at it. I didn't realize how crappy the headliner looked until I put up the first new panel. Once the first ones done the euphoria sets in and will help with the rest.
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