Adhesive for cabin interior

[falcon]

Now that my Cheoy Lee Frisco Flyer project has joined me in Boise I can resume her refit. I have two questions that I know someone can help me with. I have taken the cabin interior down to the fiberglass foundation. I have rebuilt the teak paneling around the windows and portholes, actually teak veneer on thin marine plywood) and was wondering what the best way to reattach them to the fiberglass sides. Would you recommend 3M 4200, thickened epoxy, liquid nails, or some other adhesive? My second question is what to apply to the now bare fiberglass ceiling overhead, oak bead board plywood, real bead board, synthetic micro fiber, or something else? It was originally covered with painted fiberboard. Thanks in advance for your advice. Falcon

[Quetzalsailor]

How was it done originally?

Our LeComte NE 38 has foam cored decks and they had no hesitation about using brass (bronze?) wood screws into the interior lamina holding 'nailers' made of 1cm plywood or solid wood. Interior finish components were nailed or screwed to these nailers. Since the interior face of the house and hull are far from perfectly uniform because of the way that tabbing, chainplates, stringers and lapping across the hull-deck joint were added to the basic layups, some of these nailers are fitted and in other places they made up a putty of polyester and (perhaps) cork. Go to Photobucket, search for Quetzalsailor and then look into the Head Dissassembly and Head work albums; both methods are shown.

Adding nailers to interior surfaces is relatively easy but problematical, too. They are susceptable to rot when wet and they never dry. I therefore encapsulate my replacement wood components in neat epoxy or epoxy/'glass. Where appropriate (like a cockpit floor), I tab them in. I also coated out the back and edges of my repaired Makore veneered plywood, and hardboard overhead, with epoxy. The nagging negative is that this coating simply ensures that the next incoming water will flow down and ruin something else lower.

I'm no enthusiast for simply gluing interior finishes in place, having suffered contact cement failure and cleanup activity in the vinyl liner of our Morgan 27 (choices were few, I put it back the same way). Some folks say that they use 'Liquid Nails' or similar. It's just contact cement with fillers and might be good enough for applying sheathing or subfloor to house framing.

[falcon]

Hi quetzalsailor,
The original pannelling was similar to what I have re-made, teak veneer over thin plywood. It had failed due to water damage from chronically leaking ports. I laminated the teak venner using waterproof wood glue reactivated with an iron. This seemed to work well. Like you I coated the edges with neat epoxy. The original pannels were glued directly to the fiberglass cabin sides. No idea what they used back in 1968. The pannels were not that difficult to remove probably because of their deteriorated condition. The fiberglass did require some sanding to clean up the stubborn remanants of wood still adheared. I suspect that adhesives have come along way since then and thought that something like 3M 4200would be appropriate, but wanted to check with the experts first. Your idea of screwing to cleats is certainly an option, but would create a gap between the fiberglass and the thin pannels.
Falcon

[nhdory]

Hi there Falcon,
I would suggest asking the guys/girls over at the Cheoy Lee Assoc members website. there are a lot of people out there with the same set up on their FF's and have had to replace/repair this over the years.

That being said, I cant wait to see pictures of the inside pf your boat these days. I had mine gutted out last winter and while it was fun and a great learning experience, I don't envy the work ahead of you. Have fun, share pictures.

Matt