Boat lining ceiling

[boater123]

Hi,

 

Looking to get materials for the ceiling in my boat build. It's a wide beam so going to go for 1220x3050mm sheets. I have a few quires if anyone could please shed some light;

 

Does anyone have experience using MDF sealed and painted for their ceiling? If so what thickness did you go for? I plan to use 6mm if MDF can be used.

 

A more expensive option is to use laminated MDF, again does anyone have experience with this on their boat/ info on how it performs? Particularity in the bathroom.

 

Lastly use plywood throughout, but the finish on this would not be as good.

 

Again any info would be appreciated,

 

Thanks,

 

Will

 

 

[Dave Payne]

Laminated ply?

 

6mm seems to thick to me, was going to do mine in 4mm

[Dave Payne]

http://www.robbins.co.uk/pdf/Retail_Pricelist.pdf

 

Page 14.

 

This is the product i am looking to line mine with.

[Phil Ambrose]

My head lining is 6mm ply faced with light oak to match the bulkheads etc.

I personally avoid MDF, others will have different opinions.

Phil

[Tiggs]

I agree with Phil, MDF tends not to have the stiffness to bend smoothly like plywood does.

[swift1894]

We used laminated ash ply but can't remember if 4 or 6 mm. Looked great.

Also ...... The ceiling in a boat is actually called the " deck head"

Strangely enough the ceilings are the walls .......or they are in Humber Keels.

The floor in the hold was called the "shutts" but in the skippers cabin the "dennings".

Just thought I'd throw that info in before it gets forgotten in the mists of time.

[Mike Jordan]

I suggest that the finish on decent quality birch plywood is much better than that on the far eastern type and looks good with a couple of coats of matt emulsion, 6mm is the minimum thickness I would be happy to use on the ceiling of a narrowboat, 9mm is better but difficult to fit if the roof has an average amount of curve. A wide beam roof has less curve in the roof and 9mm is worth considering. MDF is very good for making templates, jigs, and similar temporary jobs and with a timber veneer on both sides it serves well for door panels etc where the raw edges are fitted into grooves and are never seen. I have no experience with the moisture resistant MDF but see it mentioned in the timber trade press frequently, the dust from standard MDF is rated as dangerous so adding anything to it as a water resisting aid seems to be increasing the risk. Most sheet materials move to some extent when exposed to moisture, thinner sheets tend to show distortion more than thicker ones. In the winter your shell will be at its smallest while the sheets are taking up atmospheric moisture and expanding a little, for this reason, I prefer to leave a gap between sheets of 3mm covered by the cloaking strips.

I don't think that 4mm would be thick enough for any material for ceiling lining and would distort to easily.

It's never easy to decide what standard of materials to use since you are normally trying to get best results while not overspending the budget, but top priority must be to get the best quality of boat at the end of all that work, any savings which are visibly that will detract from your investment and turn your pride and joy into a budget boat.

I will freely admit to a prejudice against MDF when it's obvious in the finished boat, those builders who make furniture, porthole and window trims etc using veneered MDF with moulded and varnished edges are working to poor standards, you can go boating in the resulting product and enjoy it but it will always be a cheap and cheerful boat.

[boater123]

Thanks for the information so far. Would like a neutral colour for the ceiling or 'deckhead', so painting ply looks like the best cost to quality option.

I was thinking laminated MDF as I know you can get it grooved to make it look like paneling. Or at least I though that is how they achieve what's shown in the image below?

 

[Phil Ambrose]

We used laminated ash ply but can't remember if 4 or 6 mm. Looked great.

Also ...... The ceiling in a boat is actually called the " deck head"

Strangely enough the ceilings are the walls .......or they are in Humber Keels.

The floor in the hold was called the "shutts" but in the skippers cabin the "dennings".

Just thought I'd throw that info in before it gets forgotten in the mists of time.

Pedant alert!

Phil

[BruceinSanity]

One thing to be aware of with any white laminated ceiling is that in a boat the ceiling, sorry, deckhead, gets knocked from time to time. A matt painted surface is easily touched in, a sheet of melamine less so...

[Phil Ambrose]

One thing to be aware of with any white laminated ceiling is that in a boat the ceiling, sorry, deckhead, gets knocked from time to time. A matt painted surface is easily touched in, a sheet of melamine less so...

Have a greenie, you made me chuckle.

Phil

[swift1894]

Pedant alert!

Phil

Nothing pedantic about it. Just throwing in a bit of info. Some people are interested in tradition, some aren't.? Edited April 6, 2016 by swift1894

[Phil Ambrose]

Nothing pedantic about it. Just throwing in a bit of info. Some people are interested in tradition, some aren't.?

Sorry but tradition is a thing of the past, we used to row across the Channel but now go by Seacat. ?

[the barnacle]

Sorry but tradition is a thing of the past, we used to row across the Channel but now go by Seacat.

 

i think seacat stopped trading in 2004

[Murflynn]

Pedant alert!

Phil

spoilsport !!

[Phil Ambrose]

 

i think seacat stopped trading in 2004

There you go, still moving forward.

Phil

[Phil Ambrose]

spoilsport !!

Nah, not really but the OP asked a simple question and got what seemed to be, corrected and with a lecture thrown in. There are countless thousands of archaic words and terms that used to be used in all walks of life, but as we as a race move on so does our language otherwise we would still be conversing in grunts as our ancestors did in their caves.

Phil

[I Spartacus]

Have a look at the James Lathan website, or for MDF panaling this company has a good range and are based in London http://www.neatconcepts.com/

They do powder coating as well.

[Dave Payne]

Measured mine last night as some is exposed, 4mm, no buckling or distortion.

[FadeToScarlet]

Nothing pedantic about it. Just throwing in a bit of info. Some people are interested in tradition, some aren't.?

Just don't mix up nautical tradition with inland waterways tradition. Which boaters called it a "deckhead", apart from Idle Women with yachty connections?

[cuthound]

otherwise we would still be conversing in grunts as our ancestors did in their caves.

Phil

Some of us still do, especially before breakfast

[swift1894]

Just don't mix up nautical tradition with inland waterways tradition. Which boaters called it a "deckhead", apart from Idle Women with yachty connections?

Humber Keelmen ...........typical yachties.

Edited April 6, 2016 by swift1894

[swift1894]

Nah, not really but the OP asked a simple question and got what seemed to be, corrected and with a lecture thrown in. There are countless thousands of archaic words and terms that used to be used in all walks of life, but as we as a race move on so does our language otherwise we would still be conversing in grunts as our ancestors did in their caves.

Phil

Maybe we should just forget our heritage altogether.

[Claude]

A wide beam roof has less curve in the roof ...

 

Really?

 

[Phil Ambrose]

Maybe we should just forget our heritage altogether.

Not at all but just don't foist it on others unasked it comes across as patronising to correct in such a way, after all we all knew exactly what the OP was asking.

Phil ?