Adhesive for Engine Room Insulation?

My small boat has a small engine room. The insulation in the overhead has come loose and is falling down around my engine. What would you guys recommend to glue it back up? I have some Liquid Nails Extreme construction adhesive in my garage from another project. Will that work? Or is there some type of 2-sided tape that would work?

I used insulation pins held in place with PL premium and 3M Super 77 spray adhesive on the soundown foam.

Northern Spy said:

I used insulation pins held in place with PL premium and 3M Super 77 spray adhesive on the soundown foam.

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I think you need a mechanical fastener as well as glue.
I used insulation pins with perforated bases. I pushed the pin base into a blob of 5200 and then ran a short screw through one of the holes in the base. I then used 3m 77 spray adhesive to complete the attachment of the insulation.

If its foam insulation than any solvent based contact cement like 3M 77 will work, but if it already fell down it will fall down again. If you can use screws screw it up with a screw every 1-1/2 to 2 sq ft with an oversized fender washer. If you can't use screws then the insulation pins Parks mentions will keep it up, but also use adhesive in either case.

I would not recommend liquid nails.

Thanks for the quick responses everyone. I never thought of insulation pins. I'll give it shot. I can't screw them in, so I'll try using 5200 -- I think I already have some -- or the PL Premium if I can find it. The spray adhesive too.

PL adhesives are readily found at the Home Depot (and the like) and inexpensive. It sets relatively fast. 5200 may not be ideal in an overhead situation as it is slower setting. I bought the insulation pins at the local chandlery.

Northern Spy said:

I used insulation pins held in place with PL premium and 3M Super 77 spray adhesive on the soundown foam.

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If you use the pins, measure and re-measure. A few years ago someone posted some pictures of their installation. The pins were a little to long and went through the floor and finish. They did hold up the insulation nicely though.

The pins I'm thinking of are glue on, something like this. Except mine were perforated for good adhesive contact.



Come to think if it, I did use SS round head screws with SS fender washers on the underside of the hatch lids.

Mine look somewhat like that. Like Spy's they too were perforated for the adhesive. One exception are the pieces that slip on the pin. The ones I used are more like a cap and do not let the sharp point of the pin be exposed.

Chicks dig scars.

Larry M said:

If you use the pins, measure and re-measure. A few years ago someone posted some pictures of their installation. The pins were a little to long and went through the floor and finish. They did hold up the insulation nicely though.

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LOL!! Another reason for a carpeted salon...or whatever you call that room under the flybridge.

Northern Spy said:

Chicks dig scars.

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Yes, that's why I'm a hand model!

The pins are long by design. You push on the insulation, then you push on the "keeper.' You then cut of the pin leaving just enough for the "dome cap." I like epoxy for this, mix it up thick so the pins will stay in place until the glue sets, and no worries about adhesive failure.


Chicks did scars, yea, but we're talking ice pick like stab wounds here, not the cool knife fight type scars.

See the attachment in my post above, shows the perforated base

The Soundown pins that Keysdisease shows in his post are exactly what I used. I used 5200 to stick them to the underside of the deck and a very short screw to add some mechanical connection.

I tried punching holes into the foam and running screws through, but the screws always grabbed the foam and tore a chunk out.

A trick to keep that from happening is to wrap the screw with masking tape, keeps it from grabbing the foam. Use an icepick or awl to make your hole in the material, same tape trick on the drill bit if you need to drill a pilot hole.

How do you remove individual perforated sound insulation tiles? I have a few that are badly deteriorated that I'd like to cut out without damaging the intact adjacent tiles.

If you are talking about tiles that look like acoustic ceiling tiles, and actually are acoustic ceiling tiles, a razor knife should work to isolate the good from the bad tiles and then scraping and tearing the damaged tiles.

This type "insulation" is a very poor performer in acoustic insulation. It provides no barrier and ceiling tiles as a rule are poor absorbers. Very common in many trawler types from the 70-80's because they are white and make the engine room look brighter and bigger and because they look like insulation.

Thanks KeysD, I'll remember that for the next time.

Yeah, thanks! Just not too keen on a total replacement just now and the level of disassembly that would require.