The original ceiling panels on Sugar Shack are made of corrugated PVC.  They are well over 23 years old and were in need of replacement.  We had replaced the salon ceiling panels in 2016 and it was beyond time to replace the panels in all of the cabins.

We took some of the panels down to fix the leaks a few months ago.  It is a very long, time consuming, and uncomfortable project.  Matt has to carefully remove the old ceiling panel without it cracking, tearing, or disintegrating.  I then come in and remove all the glue and sticky residue which requires me to work upside down.  Not a comfy position to be in for days on end.  

To remove the glue I use multiple tools to scrape it off (scraper, knife, pick, brillo pad, acetone, elbow grease).  Once I get the majority of the glue off I get to work on the sticky residue which is much harder to come off.  I use sand paper, brillo pads, and glue gone.  It has to be smooth and clean in order for the VHB tape to stick.

Complete Chaos onboard

Each cabin has been exposed.

Office and Guest Cabin

The main guest cabin (port bow) had some serious issues.  Once Matt removed the panels, the frame sort of collapsed.  Evidently the 5200 (glue) that was applied 23 years ago lost its stick.  So, Matt had to create new supports and reglue the frame prior to beginning work.

Guest Cabin

Normally it takes two people to put each panel up.  One holds one end while the other peels the tape and secures the panel.  However, Matt was able to do the ceiling panels all by himself.  He used everything at his disposal to get these panels up.  The green is just a protective cover and will come off once we are done.  I was in the states and unable to help him so he set up the GoPro to take time lapse photos.

Office Ceiling

And the finished Office with nice beautiful ceiling panels and new lights.

Completed Office

And the completed Guest Cabin.  Keep in mind that when we have guests we actually put bedding, towels and a little lovely decor out to make it more welcoming and homey.  But since this is just a “hey we finished the ceiling panels” photo I did not do all of that.

Master Bath “Head”

He also worked on the master bath which has a combination of corrugated pvc and fiberglass.  Unfortunately, we cannot remove the fiberglass panels so we will have to sand them down and paint them but that will be a project for another year.

In the photo below you can see where Matt is installing the new pvc panel and replacing the gross light fixtures that turned green from the salt air. He also removed the old shower head.

The updated bathroom or “head” is looking good.  We replaced all of the ceiling lights, the shower head and trash can. I bought a new scale, rug, and full length mirror.

Master Bath (Head)

There are not many times I need a full length mirror, but I’ve wanted one for years.  It keeps me honest.

New Full Length Mirror and Shower head

On to the Master Bedroom Ceiling Panels

Back to the ceiling panels.  It was a really long project with us living in chaos and mess for months!  We finished the port side office and guest cabin and the starboard master bath but we still needed to work on the master cabin.  Once we had the ceiling panels off we needed to address the leaks.  Yep, we have a few leaks.  Some were from joints that needed new glue, some from worn out fittings.

The elbow fitting and hose were just old and warn. We had to replace them in all four corners of the boat. All the water from the deck flows to the four corners of the boat and into these drains.  They all were replaced with new drains and new hoses.  But of course to get to them you had to remove years old thickened epoxy

Master cabin and leak above bed

We install the new drain and hose, replace the thickened epoxy and start working on leak under the bimini.  Lucky for us we can do this outside rather than inside.  So, we put our new ceiling panels and new lights in the master cabin.

New Lights

Since we had all of the ceiling panels off we decided to upgrade our lights.  The current lights stated that they were stainless but we found out later on that they were not as they turned green and speckled.  

We found a great lighting store that sold stainless steel framed lights and white ceiling lights that fit our holes perfectly.  We ended up buying 4 small and one large stainless steel lights for the salon and galley,  But for the cabins, master bath and hallways we bought 15 white ceiling lights.  They look super sharp!

I must say that it is glorious having the ceilings completed as it was a mess along with all of the other construction projects.  

Events from this blog post occurred from November 2022-May 2023.  Our blog posts run 8-10 weeks behind schedule.  In our last blog post I shared our brand new stainless steel counter tops – they are spectacular, did you see them?