Fletcher 19 GTS Sports Cruiser Headlining dropping repair

[Bigplumbs]

DSCF7083 (Medium).JPG (187.8 KiB) Viewed 5176 times

Like most Fletcher Sports cruiser owners the headlining in my cuddy cabin is drooping and has the look of a Bedouin tent. I had a firm of boat upholsters give me a quote to fix it correctly but because this quote was about 1/6th of what I paid for the boat and trailer I talked to a friend and using his advice I decided that me and her indoors would have a go ourselves. We have just completed the job which took about 3 hours and cost £25.00 and we are very pleased with the end result.

All we did was buy 4 no 2.4 m long x 20 mm dia 1/3rd round oak mouldings from B and Q. This was the £25. I already had the 20 or so screws

We then cut them to length in the cuddy and used them to hold back the headlining by following the natural curve at the top of the cuddy at the top 'corner' . I then drilled the oak with a 3 mm drill and then countersunk the hole. I then used a 2.3 mm drill which I marked with red insulation tape to only allow me to drill 4 mm into the top of the fiberglass to the cuddy from the inside. I allowed 2 mm thickness for the headlining. I then used 11 mm long rustproof screws which I cut down to about 7 - 8 mm long and screwed them from the inside through the oak, headlining and into the fiberglass. There are 2 strips each side of the cuddy

I am pleased to say that not one of my screw holes went through the fiberglass.

Here is a picture of before and afterwards. The camera does not actually do the finished job justice in my opinion and in real life the jobs looks quite a lot better than in the pics. Either way we are both very pleased with our efforts.

Now we just have to sort out the seal on the hatch and clean the headlining as best we can and have a little refurbish of the mirror. Her indoors has an idea here which I think involves some shells and sticking them in places

Dennis and Catherine (Her indoors)

[Ianfs]

I see what you were talking about.

You didn't go through the roof then?

[Bigplumbs]

No........... I was worried about drilling too deep and going through but all was ok. The screws really got a hold and the oak is very strong. Secret is the right size hole for the screw as fiberglass is very strong

To remove the lining and reglue etc would have been a very big horrible job and this is actually very effective and I don't think I could have got a better result if I did the reglue thing.

Dennis