I’ve worked out my favourite 1:25000 OS map (it’s double sided, so buying 2 and joining them) would fit almost perfectly to the interior ceiling board of my wee VW Caddy.

So, what to use to stick it? Wallpaper paste? Spray glue?

Anyone mounted a map on wood before?.

Cheers, Greg.

I have 9 Landrangers to go on the wall of my study. I’ll be using PVA adhesive. Wallpaper paste makes them stretch and difficult to align, though you might get away with it for only two maps

That’s a fancy sat nav!

I’ve got an OS 1″ map of the Lakes from 1967 hanging on my wall. I glued it to a thicker piece of poster stock to make it more rigid – so much thinner than hardboard but similar idea.

From memory I used PVA, possibly thinned a little with water. The difficult bit is stopping it from wrinkling when the glue wets it.

I read that you need to wet the other side (i.e. the printed side) to allow the fibres on that side to re-align. I can’t remember too well, but I think I used a spray bottle of water and a big pasting brush. It’s turned out not too badly.

Good luck, great idea.

Buy a matt lam version direct from os (come in a tube not folded) then have it mounted to 3 mm foamex at a printers .

Great idea 🙂

Whatever glue you will use I would suggest you practice applying glue / map when “upside down”. (Michael Angelo famously painted the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel lying on his back on scaffolding platform). You could remove the ceiling boards to apply the map then refix but you have to consider placement of screws and making holes in the map. Also glue on map or board or both ? I think the getting chosen technique well executed will be as important as the glue. Having some help maybe a good idea too.

Try PM-ing Stoner, I think he has some maps hung in his place

I’ll be taking the ceiling board off Jamba as I will be silent coating and insulating behind there.

There’s only one screw clip in the middle, I can live with that, and I’ll move the light to the back of the van, so it’ll be over the sea on the map.

I won’t be doing it for a few weeks, but will post pics when I’m done.

If the ceiling board is smooth and either flat or curved in only one direction, then I would have thought that using a laminated version might be better, because it will be tougher and more resistant to any damage or marks. I would expect that an exposed paper surface would inevitably get damaged and deteriorate, and would then look very shabby.

The encapsulation used for the folded laminated OS maps you can buy in shops is probably too rigid and not sufficiently flexible for your needs (even if you could get it rolled up rather than folded).

I would recommend that you take a look at the custom versions of the OS maps available from Aqua 3 (https://www.aqua3.com/index.asp), because they are very thin and flexible. I have one that is folded, and it feels like it is printed onto a thin, tough plastic sheet rather than the three layer encapsulation used on the standard OS maps.

According to their website they are available mounted onto a PVC whiteboard (as well as flat and folded), and it might be that the whiteboard itself is sufficiently flexible and light enough to allow it to be affixed to your ceiling board.

Is it possible to download the sheet you want?
If you can get a file, it will be an easy job to have it printed onto self adhesive vinyl.
Not sure OS will let you download though.

Big sheet of clear polycarbonate. Screw to the board with the map sandwiched between.

Place screws in featureless bits of the map.

Good shout Perchy, that could be worth a look.

Good shout Perchy, that could be worth a look.

For wall mounting I suspect this would not work: you really want a non-reflective or anti-reflective surface, otherwise the glare from sunlight or interior lighting can make it difficult to see the map. Picture framers use anti-reflective glass for this reason.

However, polycarbonate might be ideal for a ceiling mounted map in your situation. I would suggest you get hold of a small piece or offcut of polycarbonate and sellotape it in position with a piece from an old redundant paper map behind it, to see what it looks like during the day and at night with artificial light.

It’s for the inside of a van I use for howfing the bike about, and sleeping in 5 or 6 weekends a year, not expecting it to be up to art gallery standards.

not expecting it to be up to art gallery standards

It’s not a question of art gallery standards. I have several framed OS maps, and I realised after I had wall mounted them that the picture framers had used anti-reflective glass, and that if they hadn’t done so much of the maps would have been obscured from most viewing angles by the glare from sunlight or artificial light. This would have made them not only difficult or even impossible to examine close up, but would also have greatly spoiled their decorative effect.

I appreciate that you are not going to be examining any maps affixed to the ceiling of your vehicle; I am just suggesting that reflected glare might have an impact on the decorative/aesthetic effect you are seeking, and if you wanted you could get an idea in advance of what the end result might be before buying and installing the maps and polycarbonate sheet.

Anti reflective acrylic sheeting ? Yes, that’s a thing…..