Exterior Vinyl on a 32xx-gctid387047

[ronbo404]

Hi All

I own a 1988 3218 and the exterior vinyl that overhangs the cabin ceiling / flybridge floor on the exterior side of the cabin (rear eyebrow) is starting to look real crappy. Just checking if anyone came up with any ideas on how to deal with this.

Thanks

Ron

[Nikko]

+1....

op

[CapMartin]

:coo-+2
..........

[nile]

I just cry anytime I look at it and feel so ashamed of the aspect.

[Guest]

Fortunately for us, ours is still in a reasonably good condition. When it does become time to replace it, I think I'll use 1/4" starBoard. Regardless of what product is used, it seems like it's gonna be one of those real big PITA nightmare jobs.

I cuss Bayliner every time I see vinyl on this boat. (except for the seats) Have any of you had to replace the vinyl wrapped wood that is behind the teak trim in the salon. It fastens the top of the windows to the bottom of the flybridge. It gets wet and never dries out because of the vinyl. Mine was rotted down to wet powder and the bridge was sagging on the port side. It was a reeeeeeal bitc..............h to fix.

One of these days I'll post pics of my replacement job in "Completed Projects". If you don't want to have to do this repair, I suggest you make sure the aluminum gutter around the top of the windows is caulked and not leaking.....if it's not already to late .

[ronbo404]

Hi Reed and Jan

I used 1/4" starboard to replace the vinyl on the radar arch, but I can see using it on the "eyebrow because of all the arches and curves in it.

Ron

[Guest]

ronbo404 wrote:
Hi Reed and Jan

I used 1/4" starboard to replace the vinyl on the radar arch, but I can see using it on the "eyebrow because of all the arches and curves in it.

Ron

Hi Ron,

I used the StarBoard on my arch too....That was last winters project.......It turned out well. I also used it when I rebuilt the sink cab in the cockpit and the locker below the ladder as well as the wings on the port and starboard sides. Gonna use it again when I need to rebuild the bases of the flybridge seating............probably get a few more years out of them before I need to take on that job. They're still in pretty good shape...I just hate the vinyl.

As far as the eyebrow goes, it's not a job I'm looking forward to doing. I'll be very interested in see what your solution ends up being.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[Mikalkc]

I too have vinyl on the cabin overhang that looks bad. A few years ago the light that is mounted there went on the fritz and I um well did some on the road rework and discovered under the foam was a relatively smooth fiberglass finish (not gel coated). At the time I just used some spray adhesive I had, loosened the gutter and stuck the stuff back up. I believe it gets water intrusion from the screws holding the railing on the flybridge overhang that rots the core and seeps through to the foam / vinyl(who thought that was a good idea!!!) I am thinking of stripping it all off and using a body filler to fill in the small imperfections and painting it. I have some matching gel coat paint but will probably get regular paint matching the gel coat since its a bit easier to work with upside down.

Another idea would be to use FRP panel material since it is only 1/8 thick and would shape easier. The color would be different but then again so is the retched vinyl!

[Guest]

Mikalkc wrote:
I too have vinyl on the cabin overhang that looks bad. A few years ago the light that is mounted there went on the fritz and I um well did some on the road rework and discovered under the foam was a relatively smooth fiberglass finish (not gel coated). At the time I just used some spray adhesive I had, loosened the gutter and stuck the stuff back up. I believe it gets water intrusion from the screws holding the railing on the flybridge overhang that rots the core and seeps through to the foam / vinyl(who thought that was a good idea!!!) I am thinking of stripping it all off and using a body filler to fill in the small imperfections and painting it. I have some matching gel coat paint but will probably get regular paint matching the gel coat since its a bit easier to work with upside down.

Another idea would be to use FRP panel material since it is only 1/8 thick and would shape easier. The color would be different but then again so is the retched vinyl!

I also recently discovered that it was glassed under the vinyl of the over hang. I was replacing the light with a LED light fixture. (The switch had gone bad in the old light) I thought it was just going to be wood behind the vinyl but realized it was glassed when I couldn't get a screw into it with a hand driver. Unfortunately I had forgotten to bring my drill with me, so the light is just hanging by the wires at the moment. I'll mount the light later today when we get to the boat...... if I don't forget the drill again........Hold on, I'll be right back .................................................. .OK, the drill's in the car now.

I really like your idea of filling and painting that area. It would be a quick, easy and inexpensive fix. That area has very little exposure to sun, rain or wear to worry about. The paint should last a very long time without needing to be repainted. The only issue I can see is that the wire to the light would need to be concealed. Perhaps just a piece of plastic wire concealment track from Home Depot would be sufficient.

[Guest]

Thanks for the reply Reed. I had a 32 20 years ago and can't remember how much of a curve exists where the overhang meets the cabin side. The 38 has a fair amount of curve. I was interested to read that the 32's had fiberglass under the vinyl. I assume the 38's do also? Anybody know this? The holes are becoming sizeable about dime size.

Richard

[Guest]

I looked at mine the other day and it's a pretty hard curve on the sides also.

I'm thinking Bayliner probably made the 32 & 38 about the same as far as construction of the bridge goes and the rest of the boat also for that matter.

It would have been much more cost effective to use the same building techniques and types of materials from one model to another.

You've had some great ideas in the past...let us know if you come up with a viable alternative to painting or just replacing the existing with new.