Which window shape?
 

What did you use for sealant?
--Alan Gomes

"RFP" wrote in message
om...
My boat was built with windows sealed on the outside of the hull.
They leaked adequately to cause enough damage that I could afford the
boat. I did replace them with acrylic and the installation leaked
after a few months. Next we tried nylon washers between the window
and the hull to maintain a minimum sealant thickness of about 3 mm to
absorb differential expansion and hull flex. This has worked well for
4 years.


"Wally" wrote in message
...
The windows on my boat need to be replaced. They're fitted into those
old-style channelled rubber strips that are used to hold vehicle windows
in
place - the rubbers are rather perished and the acrylic is clouded and
crazed. I'm considering putting tinted acrylic on the outside of the
cabin -
any thoughts on the wisdom of this approach?

By fitting on the outside surface, I have the opportunity to change the
window shape - here's a couple of side views of my vast, ocean-going,
18-foot mega-yacht, showing the original window shape, and the proposed
new
shape...

http://community.webshots.com/album/136291482TgUkPQ

Which window shape?
 

On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 11:08:44 -0400, Walt
wrote this crap:

Horvath wrote:
"Wally" wrote this crap:

The windows on my boat need to be replaced...

When I have that problem, i buy a new boat.

Isn't your bathtub getting awfully full by now?


My bathub is one of the Great Lakes.




My T-shirt says, "This shirt is the
ultimate power in the universe."

Which window shape?
 

Doug didn't know that either Kook! Wonder why?

Cheers

katysails wrote:

What is with this "windows" thread???? Boats have PORTS; houses have
windows...sheesh....

Which window shape?
 

"Horvath" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 26 Apr 2004 11:08:44 -0400, Walt
wrote this crap:

Horvath wrote:
"Wally" wrote this crap:

The windows on my boat need to be replaced...

When I have that problem, i buy a new boat.

Isn't your bathtub getting awfully full by now?

My bathub is one of the Great Lakes.


Do you fit?

Which window shape?
 

katysails wrote:

What is with this "windows" thread???? Boats have PORTS; houses have
windows...sheesh....

I thought ports were those little round things with brass frames...

(...or things where boats tie up for the night...)


--
Wally
www.artbywally.com
www.wally.myby.co.uk/music

Which window shape?
 

RFP wrote:

My boat was built with windows sealed on the outside of the hull.
They leaked adequately to cause enough damage that I could afford the
boat. I did replace them with acrylic and the installation leaked
after a few months. Next we tried nylon washers between the window
and the hull to maintain a minimum sealant thickness of about 3 mm to
absorb differential expansion and hull flex. This has worked well for
4 years.

Noted. I was considering using machine screws through both the acrylic and
cabn side, with lock nuts on the inside so that the fixings can be tightened
enough to bring the layers of material together without compressing the
sealing material.


--
Wally
www.artbywally.com
www.wally.myby.co.uk/music

Which window shape?
 

felton wrote:

That is how the cabintop portlights were installed on my last boat.
They leaked, but mostly from the forward end where the portlights came
to a fairly sharp point and where the curve of the cabintop was most
pronounced. The portlight kept wanting to "straighten out" away from
the cabintop and at the same time there was not enough lexan there for
a screw. If your setup wouldn't create as much stress, it might work.

I should get a chance to have a close look at the boat on Wednesday
afternoon if I get down early for the evening race - as I say in an earlier
post, it's pretty slab-sided and I don't think there's much of a compound
curve (if any), but it's better to make sure.


--
Wally
www.artbywally.com
www.wally.myby.co.uk/music

Which window shape?
 

Alan Gomes wrote:

I think butyl tape would be a good way to go. I have a Catalina 30
MK-II and the windows are sealed that way. No leaks, and I'm fairly
sure this is the original bedding. I also used it to replace some
silicone bedding that was used to seal a portlight located above the
quarterberth (but was leaking), and the butyl tape seems to have
taken care of the leak just fine.

Yup, I'm getting the impression that it's a good way to go.


Check out McMaster-Carr (www.mcmastercarr.com) as a good source for
the stuff.

Will do.


I also read on a list that C&C used butyl tape to seal their hull to
deck joints, though I do not know whether this is so.

Maybe a C&C owner can comment.


--
Wally
www.artbywally.com
www.wally.myby.co.uk/music

Which window shape?
 

"Wally" wrote in message
...
Noted. I was considering using machine screws through both the acrylic and
cabn side, with lock nuts on the inside so that the fixings can be tightened
enough to bring the layers of material together without compressing the
sealing material.

My windows are "surface mounted." I recall the builder saying they had to be
very careful to oversize boltholes a bit to allow for dissimilar expansion of
the fiberglass and plastic. Of course, I don't know what kind of plastic is
used, what the bedding is, or whether this was really a dream.

Good luck.

-jeff

Which window shape?
 

felton wrote:

Check and see how much bend. Bend is not your friend, as that lexan
(or whatever you use) won't want to stay bent. The bigger or longer
the piece, the bigger the issue. I agree that you see where folks
have drilled and installed exterior screws through the portlight into
the cabin top (slightly larger holes in the lexan to allow for
movement). That just strikes me as a bad design. Lots of holes, but
perhaps unavoidable.

Someone (elsewhere) mentioned that there are splined fixings which fit tight
into the acrylic and pass through the GRP to take nuts on the inside. The
idea is that one can't put a screwdriver or spanner on them from the
outside. So, I would assume that the oversize holes would be in the GRP if
using that type of fixing. That said, it's not the most luxurious of boats
and isn't exactly a thief magnet - and I'm probably going to use locknuts on
the inside, which would make unscrewing very difficult no what type of
fixing was used.


Not if you are selling the boat before the things start leaking in the
future, but otherwise, yes:) Given time, everyhting needs to be
rebedded periodically, or the portlight material will become crazed,
brittle or otherwise in need of replacement. You don't want to tear
up your cabintop getting them out.

Qiute. I gather butyl tape strikes a good balance between getting a good
seal and being remvable.


--
Wally
www.artbywally.com
www.wally.myby.co.uk/music