Black streaks on monkey fur in R-25's forward berth

[baz]

THis subject has been covered before by others. This issue has been observed on my R-25 as well.

It's an issue where engine bay fumes or engine exhaust residues or whatever get drawn into the bilge area and then push/sucked out through seams and openings in the panels behind the 'head' end of the forward berth. These are panels that are on the starboard side the speaker is attached to same panel on the port side.

I removed these two panels today and will be taking them to the Ranger Kent factory on Friday to have them re-covered with a vynal material rather than the white monkey fur material.

While I had the panels off I examined them and found some poor assembly techniques that contribute to the black streaking. First, the panels are made with two pieces of plastic marine starboard. When they are joined or butt up to each other they are sealed with a vynal strip. This strip is glued to the starboard. Unfortunately the glue does not do a good job as I found the vynal strip were practically falling off. Also, when the panels were being screwed to the backing material the assembler wasn't sure exactly where to place the screws and made several attempts. This resulted in multiple holes being drilled through the starboard. These open holes allow the black media from the engine bay to penetrate the starboard and into and onto the white monkey fur.

I show a number of photos below that hopefully clarifies some of what I've posted above. I also show photos of what you see behind the panels when they are removed.

 

[baz]

As instructed by Andrew, I went to the Ranger Tug's factory in Kent last Friday and had my two panels recovered in a rubberized backed vinyl covering. Also, the panel center joints were sealed with a different material which makes the joint airtight and will avoid black soot penetrating through.

Re-Installing the panels requires the bow berth's side mattresses to be completely removed along with the cushioned side bumpers. Also, the panels being made of two pieces (for good reason) need to be folded slightly as they are angled into position. If the panels could not be slightly folded it would be impossible to insert the panels to their proper positions.

I found that the port side panel fitted so tightly that it required no screws to hold it in place. This was partly due to me surrounding the panel edges with 3/4" wide self sticking sponge tape that started off being 1/2" thick and ended up being maybe no more than 1/8" as I eased the panel into position. This edge taping makes for a very good air tight seal and will hopefully avoid black streaking.

The starboard side panel even with the edge taping wasn't as tight a fit and I ended up using two screws to keep in firmly in place. The main problem is that the hull side of the panel has no solid backing to which the panel can be attached to. However, the edge taping did a fair job in keeping the panel secure and it's now a much better snug fit than what the factory did.

Before installing the panels it was important to measure vertically and horizontally for where screws can be secured. If this was not done then finding the correct place to drill and place screws would be a hit-and-miss operation -- and one that the factory made the mistake originally as evidenced by multiple drilled holes in the OP's photos.

With the vinyl covering rather than the monkey fur these panels can now be damp washed to keep clean.

I give Ranger Tugs a BIG thank you for helping me resolve this black streaking issue and for recovering my two panels with a superior product, and lastly for doing all this for free -- just my time for removing the panels and taking them down to the Kent factory. Fantastic after-sales support. Thanks Andrew and Tom.

Below are some pictures of the new panel covering and the improved panel joint/seam sealing material.

Starboard side panel (has speaker)

Port side panel (it's upside down -- sorry for that)

Superior taped sealing where the two panel pieces join together.