When you pack your sailboat to sail overseas or liveaboard, you might sometimes need to bring a few decorations to make it feel like home. It’s a fact that on a boat it might be difficult to set something down and expect it to remain there. Most items or decorations must be secured so that when the boat is moving on the water you won’t end up dealing with damages and broken items flying all over the place! In this article, I’ll tell you some information about how to hang pictures on your sailboat’s wall, along with some other useful tips.

Common Solutions

  • You can use the simple method of adding two screws with covers through your frame or picture on the screw heads. However, this might ruin the sailboat’s walls if you’re not careful while hammering.
  • Alternatively, you can use some cheap medium suction cups that are about 2inch in diameter. These have hooks fastened to the cups and can be quite stable for hanging your pictures. A good idea is to cut two small holes through the suction cup, put silicone adhesive on them, and then place them on the teak wall. You should better wait for 24 hours to let the adhesive dry.
  • Brass Hinges: You can attach them at the top of your frames and then attach the other side of the hinge to the wall. In general, using a hinge can be a good solution because hinges keep the picture away from the wall, thus the metal frame won’t scratch the wall. And in case you want to oil the teak, you can just unscrew the bottom hinge and raise the picture to apply oil to the surface.

Alternative Ideas

In general, weather conditions on a boat such as humidity or heat can provoke the adhesive side of the tapes to peel off. However, regarding wall damage, it’s much better to use Velcro or other types of tapes in order to hang your frames and paintings. Like this, you avoid using hammering nails and ruining the sailboat’s teak.

  • Duck Adhesive Foam Tape: You can apply the adhesive on the slippery finish over the fiberglass or to uneven areas. Keep in mind that you might need some more layers of foam in order to better stick on your frames. Buy it from Amazon.
  • Heavy-duty Outdoor Velcro: The strips are quite resistant to humidity and safely hold items up to 10 pounds. They’re also water-resistant and are generally designed to securely fasten to many surfaces. In addition, you can cut one inch lengths and put one part of the sticky back on the bulkhead, the other on the picture, and then place them together.
  • 3M Double-sided Adhesive Foam Tape: Its acrylic adhesive ensures good adhesion to various surfaces. They can also hold heavy pictures on the wood bulkheads.
  • Self Adhesive Hanger Pads:  These can be really cheap but can still do the job! You can also fasten some small flat brass straps with holes to the back of the frame, and your picture is good to go! To prevent your pictures from leveling when heeling you can also add one strip of self-adhesive Velcro on its bottom.
  • Poster Putty: Simply place a small piece of poster putty on each corner of your frame. Then, hang the picture by the nail, straighten it, and firmly press it to the bulkhead. Poster putty is convenient because you can easily remove them from the walls and in addition, they don’t leave any marks.

Boat Picture-Hanging Tips

  • When using sticky back tape make sure to double it in order to ensure that the bulkhead is level. Also, prefer using red, and all-weather tape.
  • Think about hanging your pictures using a glue gun. The glue gun can withstand different weather conditions but the downside is that it will probably ruin the teak.
  • And what about mirror brackets? They’re made of plastic and clamp the picture to the bulkhead. Normally, you place two at each corner so you’d need 8 of them in total. Then simply, add one screw into the bulkhead for each bracket.
  • The safest idea is to use a Security Kit Lock-in wood frame. They’re safe because in case you’re in the middle of a storm, or sailing in harsh weather conditions they’re the ones that will remain attached to the teak. So, you can use them to attach pictures to the wall at the top or bottom rails of a frame. You can also unlock them and remove the picture if needed.
  • It’s recommendable to avoid putting holes on your boat’s walls, but if you’re traveling overseas it can be the safest solution than using Velcro or other types of tapes. This happens because tapes can not withstand alternating weather conditions on a long-term basis. So, you will generally adjust this depending on your needs and preferences.

How to Hang a Picture on a Boat – Summary

I know that hanging your pictures, artworks and drawings are the best decoration you can apply to the interior of your sailboat. Drawings and pictures make us feel more comfortable and keep our imagination alive. So, the best ways to hang pictures from your sailboat’s walls would be hooks, light cleat hangers, brass hinges, hole hangers with wires, or with the security Kit Lock-in. Other solutions would be Velcro tapes, 3M adhesive tapes, or adhesive hanger pads. But which one is the best and safest solution for you? In order to respond to this question, you should think about your travel plans, if you don’t mind putting holes in your walls and of course if you’re a true painting-picture lover! Because if you are, I believe that you won’t mind adding some small holes in order to adorn your home-boat with your beloved pictures. Wish you safe and artistic voyages!