Deck hardware and headliner

[Tom Carter]

I hope this isn't a duplicate post because I think I lost it the first time, if so I apologize...

Does anyone, preferably with experience removing the headliner or removing/rebedding winches on the coach roof, know if there is originally any sort of spacer/filler between the headliner and the coach roof deck where the winches and mainsail traveller are mounted to prevent flexion of the headliner since the backing plates are mounted inside of the headliner?

I am fitting new hardware on the coach roof since I removed the staysail boom and would like to avoid removing the headliner in those areas, if possible.

[tjr818]

I just finished mounting turning blocks, halyard brakes, and a winch on the cabin top of our 27. The space between the headliner/overhead varied from almost 1" down to zero. The original jib sheet track on our 27 is actually bolted through the headliner, with the nuts showing on the headliner. Here is a link to that thread:

http://www.capedory.org/board/viewtopic ... 7&start=60

[Tom Carter]

Thanks Tim! I took a look at your thread and I like the way you managed the headliner issue. I ended up cutting out little squares in the headliner in order to put the backing plates against the coach roof deck. I wanted to use backing plates instead of just fender washers because of the higher loads on the sheet leads and winch. I also wanted to pot the holes to avoid and moisture getting into the core as well as reduced the possibility of crushing the balsa core when tightening the nuts. All is going pretty well and I plane to make up some teak covers for the cutouts that I'll screw into the headliner when I find s bit of reasonably priced teak.

[tjr818]

Tom, I did "pot" the holes through the deck. I first drilled through the top layer with a larger bit and removed as much of the balsa as I could, then filled that with epoxy before drilling the final hole.
I would recommend filling the hole with a very thin epoxy and let that soak in first, then come back with a thickened epoxy to fill the holes even with the deck. The thin epoxy seeks a level state and the cabin top is curved so it will not fill up to deck level on the high side of the hole. I used 1" diameter fender washers because the loads on the main halyard and the lazyjacks are just not that high. If you position the winch over an interior light fixture you can have a hole of about 5" in diameter to work with, but as I mentioned before, the position of that winch and the line clutches should take into consideration the shortest member of your crew.
Best of luck.