Pilothouse headliner

[jungpeter]

I own a year-2000 Pacific Trawler 40. Immediately forward of the topside "stack" on the flying bridge is a deck fitting that carries the headstay load from the mast. The fitting is a 5/16" U-bolt, with the nuts and (hopefully) backing plate buried under the headliner in the pilothouse overhead.

Does anyone have insight how to remove the pilothouse headliner so I can inspect the backing plate and fixing nuts for this deck fitting? The headliner itself appears to be a vinyl-faced foam, about 1/4" thick, presumable glued to a backing board of some sort that is, in turn, fastened to the pilothouse overhead in some indeterminate manner.

But it's a mystery to me how to remove this headliner for inspection behind it. I'd hate to ruin the entire headliner for the sake of this inspection, so hopefully someone knowledgeable about how this headliner is installed can lend some insight into how to remove the silly thing! Any help would be appreciated.

Regards,

Pete

 

[2ndlaunch]

I own a year-2000 Pacific Trawler 40. Immediately forward of the topside "stack" on the flying bridge is a deck fitting that carries the headstay load from the mast. The fitting is a 5/16" U-bolt, with the nuts and (hopefully) backing plate buried under the headliner in the pilothouse overhead.

Does anyone have insight how to remove the pilothouse headliner so I can inspect the backing plate and fixing nuts for this deck fitting? The headliner itself appears to be a vinyl-faced foam, about 1/4" thick, presumable glued to a backing board of some sort that is, in turn, fastened to the pilothouse overhead in some indeterminate manner.

But it's a mystery to me how to remove this headliner for inspection behind it. I'd hate to ruin the entire headliner for the sake of this inspection, so hopefully someone knowledgeable about how this headliner is installed can lend some insight into how to remove the silly thing! Any help would be appreciated.

Regards,

Pete

Did you ever figure this out? I just bought a 2001 40 and was planning to lift a 300# dinghy until looked my mast the setup. My 40 does not even have the compression post under the mast. Adding the compression post, additional stays and a lifting motor would cost as much as a nice set of St Croix Davits.
Thanks,

 

[jungpeter]

Hi 2ndlaunch. Nope, never did figure out the headliner removal issue, and haven't poked a hole in it to inspect. It's on my list.

Interesting that your similar-vintage Pacific Trawler was launched without a kingpost for the mast. Methinks they were not exactly cookie-cutter boats, and each one apparently got different details at launch. Mine is equipped with a tabernacle-mounted mast ~12' high, supported by a headstay to the pilothouse roof, and two side-stays to the cabin sides, with a kingpost under the deck to the salon floor. Also included were two 1000-lb. Anderson manual self-tailing winches for lifting, with a 10' boom for dinghy handling. The mast is designed to be easily lowered for moorage inside. Very sailboat-like rigging.

As I upgraded my dinghy (originally a 10' Caribe w/8 HP outboard, probably about 300 lbs) to a 12' aluminum AB w/30 HP outboard), I very carefully calculated the rig loads (including the compression load through the kingpost to the salon floor) to accommodate the 500 lb. AB dinghy. Accordingly, I concluded the kingpost was essential, but did not need upgrading, but decided to upgrade all the standing rigging to 1/4" Amsteel. And, instead of replacing the manual winches, I bought a WinchRite electric winch handle (~$600), which works GREAT!

I'm not familiar with the St. Croix davits, but as my boat runs a bit bow-down because of the hull extension, I suspect that a dinghy handled off the transom instead of from the boat deck might be a very good option. Absent a kingpost, I don't think I'd attempt to handle a dinghy much above 300 lbs. from the boat deck, even with up-rated standing rigging. Compression load on the mast is amazingly high. I don't think adding a kingpost is terribly difficult (mine is simply a 2" square teak post, butted under the boat deck, to the salon floor, at the forward corner of the galley counter), But that's simply an opinion, of course, YMMV.

Happy to chat more if desired, although I'm in Alaska at the moment, with poor email coverage. But I can take pictures, etc if you wish when I return in Sept.

Regards,

Pete

 

[jungpeter]

For what it's worth, here's an update on my headliner issue. I finally got around to removing it, and inspecting the headstay fitting. Heck, I figured if someone could install it, I can remove it. Right????

On the pilothouse ceiling, there are three athwartships teak trim strips. One is located at the forward edge of the headliner, one in the center, and one at the aft end. Down came the forward and aft trim strips.

As the centerline strip was trapped by two teak handrails, these came down next by removing the teak plugs, and unscrewing the handrails from the overhead. Then, the centerline strip was removed, followed by the two pilothouse ceiling lights.

Lastly, as the headliner was still trapped by three ~1x4 teak planks around the sides and aft end, down they came as well. As with the handrails, simply removing the teak plugs and the screws buried below allowed these planks to be easily removed. At this point, I expected the headliner to be "free at last, free at last". Well, not yet!

Turns out the headliner is constructed of two 1/4" plywood sheets, faced with vinyl-covered foam, as expected. Upon close inspection, it became apparent that these plywood sheets were lightly stapled during initial construction around their perimeters to plywood runners between the headliner and the fiberglass pilothouse roof. Gentle persuasion pulled these staples, and down came the headliner!

The U-bolt headstay fitting (a Sea Dog 3/8" U-bolt) passes through the floor of the flying bridge, and into the interior of the pilothouse. On its journey, it intersects an ~4" wide by 1/2" thick plywood athwartships stiffener, which had been partially cut away to provide clearance for the 3/8" nuts and backing plate that holds the U-bolt in place. There was some evidence of water penetration, so I cut the plywood stiffener back sufficiently to mount a 1/4" G10 fiberglass plate, 4" square against the pilothouse roof. This plate greatly stiffened the underside of the roof, and facilitated re-bedding of the headstay fitting.

After pulling the U-bolt and closely inspecting it, I re-bedded it from above with 3M 4200, through the G10 stiffener, re-installed the existing (small) metal backing plate, and firmly torqued the two 3/8" nuts in place. That baby's not going nowhere!!!!

Everything went back together in reverse order (it took a 2nd pair of hands to hold the headliner while I screwed it in place), and after re-installing about 2 dozen plugs, all is as new again. And I breathe easier that the installation is again water tight, and absolutely strong enough to handle the loads imposed by my fairly large AB dinghy and engine through the mast and topsides Amsteel rigging.

Regards,

Pete

 

[Jay N]

Hi Pete.

Very nice description of the headliner project and your solutions!

Thanks.