12" x 12" acoustic tile in engine room

[Mambo42]

I removed all these panels from my boat. Not because they don't work, but because they are highly flammable.
As long as the panels are sort of in good condition they will burn a bit more difficult. But as soon as the surface is damaged they will burn like a candle, just a match will set them on fire.
So I now have fire retardent sound proofing material, about 8 cm thick, installed. On top of that I have sound proofing material below the carpet in the salon and pilot house and must say it is a lot more quiet now. The only thing I did not sound proof is the bulk head between the ER and the master stateroom, so that is still a lot of noise, but we don't sail while any of us is sleeping (only day time travel), so no problem there.

 

[Panama Dave]

Do you have any tile left? I need a couple. Thanks, John

Hi John.
I've decided to keep the remaining tiles for future need.

 

[Panama Dave]

I removed all these panels from my boat. Not because they don't work, but because they are highly flammable.
As long as the panels are sort of in good condition they will burn a bit more difficult. But as soon as the surface is damaged they will burn like a candle, just a match will set them on fire.
So I now have fire retardent sound proofing material, about 8 cm thick, installed. On top of that I have sound proofing material below the carpet in the salon and pilot house and must say it is a lot more quiet now. The only thing I did not sound proof is the bulk head between the ER and the master stateroom, so that is still a lot of noise, but we don't sail while any of us is sleeping (only day time travel), so no problem there.

I'm not sure if they're the same as on your boat. I tested one with a butane torch and couldn't light it.

 

[Mako]

They help with reducing acoustic reflection (which you'll never notice), but very little for sound absorption. Personally I hate those things. It's dirty work to remove them but gave me so much pleasure. This isn't the 1950's to 70's anymore. We have better products today as mentioned earlier. Sundown is an expensive material, so if you're on a budget then goto Amazon and order rolls of 2lb MLV, plus some closed cell foam as a decoupler and some adhesive.

 

[Keysdisease]

What Mako says. What stops noise is mass, not foam or ceiling tiles. "Soft" stuff like foam or the perforated ceiling tiles absorb reflective noise, but do almost nothing as a noise barrier.
The noise control industry moved away from lead as the primary barrier product (for all the obvious reasons) and moved to MLV (Mass Loaded Vinyl) which is readily available once you know what to look for. By itself it's a good barrier, by "decoupling) the performance increases significantly.

Consider: If you built a wall of newspaper, how much noise would that stop from one side to the other. Now, what is it was an 8" concrete block wall?

Don't look for performance in those tiles, you might be able to measure any reduction by installing them, I seriously doubt it would be noticeable. They do look like a noise reduction product, which is why they were installed in the first place.

They help with reducing acoustic reflection (which you'll never notice), but very little for sound absorption. Personally I hate those things. It's dirty work to remove them but gave me so much pleasure. This isn't the 1950's to 70's anymore. We have better products today as mentioned earlier. Sundown is an expensive material, so if you're on a budget then goto Amazon and order rolls of 2lb MLV, plus some closed cell foam as a decoupler and some adhesive.

 

[Mako]

Does anyone have experience with using green glue?

 

[Keysdisease]

I have no first hand experience with it, but I am familiar with the product.
As a decoupler it should work to reduce noise transmission between compartments if used with the appropriate type panel. I am not aware of its use on boats, and especially engine spaces, so all bets are off in that environment.
The thing about green glue, and the way I understand decoupling, the install would have to be with no fasteners, which would give most boat owners and carpenters 10 kinds of brain hernia.

Does anyone have experience with using green glue?

 

[Mako]

I used 5200 previously to adhere MLV to a hard surface. The slight flexibility of the cured adhesive would give some degree of decoupling (I figured). However, perhaps this green glue would be a better adhesive and maybe even increase the STC. Just my thoughts on it.

 

[Keysdisease]

I have a feeling that the decoupling performance would be very close to same same for 5200 and green glue. Knowing what a glob of cured 5200 is like I can imagine a softer glob, but not by much.
Just like mass is mass. And exactly how does one find a better adhesive than 5200? In my experience just about anything comes apart before a bond fail.

I used 5200 previously to adhere MLV to a hard surface. The slight flexibility of the cured adhesive would give some degree of decoupling (I figured). However, perhaps this green glue would be a better adhesive and maybe even increase the STC. Just my thoughts on it.

 

[guy with a boat]

I’ll throw in a couple comments based on a moderate level of experience with acoustic panels in other applications.

It was very common, if not standard, to have asbestos in acoustic panels until the late 70’s. I think 1977/78 was when they became prohibited, but lots of the earlier product got installed around and after that date until stocks were exhausted. Offshore manufacturers were/are more lax about their supply chain so the end dates are even harder to pin down. Asbestos isn’t a threat unless/until it crumbles and becomes airborne, such as when you tear out old panels from your engine room. Its worth assuming that material in this category and age group may contain asbestos and treat the removal accordingly. There is info easily available online on how to do that.

Green Glue is primarily useful between two hard products, such as layers of sheet rock and/or acoustic sheet rock. Less useful for something like attaching lead/vinyl sound barrier. In any case, the low-hanging fruit of sound barriers is the barrier itself, and the use of Green Glue probably isn’t a great fit in an engine room. Sound Down has good info on application of their range of products, which would apply to similar products also.

 

[Cigatoo]

I have the usual acoustic panels on our 84 GB36. They are in great shape. I was contemplating adding a layer of MLV over the panels. I never considered glue. I thought that I would use stainless screws with trim rings or the like. Obviously screws need to be long enough to penetrate the bulkheads under the acoustic panels. Thoughts? Anything wrong with that?

 

[Mako]

Glue would be better and would eliminate those penetrations which will transmit vibrations to the structure above. However..... are the tiles solid enough to handle the weight? 2lbs per sf for MLV isn't so bad, but still, those tiles are basically just compressed cardboard.

 

[Grim]

i'm refitting a 38 C&L and have spent 6 hours removing these tiles on a bulkhead. probably another 6 to go. 4 nails in each tile and glued.

 

[Mako]

Wow, "Grim" is an appropriate username, looking at those photos. Perhaps when the work is all done you can change your user to "Happy"