Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Aft Cabin Carpet Underlay

Here's some pics of last weekends project. We cut and installed all the underlay for the aft cabin carpet. We used the same high density recycled rubber mass layer that we used in the wheelhouse to dampen engine noise. In the aft cabin, I am hoping this helps to dampen the noise from the running gear and propeller that is directly underneath this space. It's about 1/2" thick, weighs 2 lbs per square foot, and glues directly to the plywood subfloor. It has already made a significant improvement in the reflected sound in the cabin and it is a noticeably more "dead" space now. Templates were again the key to getting a proper fit up the first time around. It would be very difficult to get a good fit-up of such an odd shaped space with standard roll carpet, so we are going to use commercial carpet tiles with a waterproof backing. These can be cut to shape easily (I hope) and glued down directly to the rubber underlayment. Another plus is that, with a little persuasion, we should be able to be pull up and replace individual tiles if needed. I've never worked with commercial carpet tile before, so another learning curve is on the immediate horizon. After lots of searching, we finally found an affordable area rug that we like for the forward sitting area. It looks a little green in these pictures, but it has some nice toines in it that compliment the woodwork. Like The Dude said in The Big Lebowski: "It really tied the room together".














4 comments:

  1. Just a small tip...If you had to add trim ballast aft, you can locate part of it directly over where the prop wash strikes the hull. That significantly dampens vibration. Nothing dampens vibration better than mass weight.

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  2. Thanks Michael. I did use some mass barrier material glued directly to the interior hull plate at the back of the boat to dampen the noise from wave slap at the stern and it worked pretty well. I have a little leftover material and might try as you suggest to use this directly over the prop apeture.

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  3. Whats the name of the foam rubber mass product? I think this would be a good idea in my salon.

    Everything is looking good Peter.

    Are you guys going on a cruise this summer?

    Conall

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  4. The material we used is called Serenity Ultimate Underlay. It's carried by different distributers under slightly different trade names, but its always got "Serenity" in the name. The stuff is quite heavy by design (2 lbs per square foot) so it pays to find somewhere where you can pick it up locally to avoid crazy shipping charges. We've found it to be very effective in both reducing noise and vibration transfer.

    Probably won't be ready this Summer for any extended trips, but we will start playing around in the Bay here, maybe some overnights/long weekends in some of our favorite anchorages. Definitely looking forward to getting outside the Golden Gate (once we get everything screwed down and secured) to see how the boat handles in ocean swells.

    Peter

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