Insulating the hull questions.

[Hull376]

Ebb,

I got my sheets of Armacell Armaflex after visiting with their distributor in Houston. They said it is the best foam they have for enclosed areas and is used in school HVAC systems. I got 1/2" 36x48" sheets. I also sourced some white vinyl cloth and glued it to one side of each sheet. I tested cutting the sheet with the vinyl using scissors, regular knife, hacksaw blade, box cutter, and electric carving knife. The carving knife was way way superior to the others. Cut like butta! I made patterns with brown paper, and transferred to the sheets. Cutting them with the electric knife was soooooooo easy. Very clean edges, no tearing. I looked at the adhesives, and I decided to take a chance with the 564 enviromentaly friendly adhesive you used. No way do I want to use volatile death chemicals in the cabin. Also, the ability to slightly move the pieces during installation is a selling point versus contact cements. I don't know how I'd get a piece positioned properly with contact stuff.

There is a 564 distributor in Houston so I was able to just pick the stuff up. It cost me $70 for a 4 gallon pail. They don't carry 1 gallon containers. Guess I'll have a lot left over to glue AstroTurf on the decks of my boat and at least 10 others at the marina. The three women at the 564 distributor are into cats (the animals,not the boats!) and tried to get me to adopt one of the kittens that they find from time to time in their warehouse! One kitten sat on the keyboard while my order was being entered. Explains the typos on my invoice! I'll let you know how the installation goes. So far, so good!

I decided to apply the vinyl before cutting and installing, as the prospect of doing the vinyl after insulation seemed beyond my skill or patience level. I'll glue the seams, then stick on a white batten from Lowes using a 3M product for vinyl surfaces. The way I cut the sheets left me with only one seam in each cabin. I don't think that's too much of a distraction!
But I haven't tried to do the pieces for the roof of the V berth yet. Did you do that area and if so, how did you splice the pieces? Looks like several ways to do it.

[paulsproesser]

Sorry to chime in late but I wouldn't recommend the HVAC insulation Armacell or Armaflex as they will hold water. I am an HVAC technician by trade for 30 years now and I've seen it first hand. If I were you I would go with the thin sheet foam Ebb suggested and put it in with Vinyl Mastic made by Polyken. It comes on a 2 or 4 inch roll like duct tape but its thick with a removable backing and strong sticky but do your install in warm or hot weather to insure the bond. and theres only the mess of the backing to clean up and alot cheaper than liquid adhesives or epoxy .