Windows to Date

It was pointed out by our fan that there has been only one blog entry to date this year. I knew that was not true - until I went and checked. It is true - just one entry.
I guess I've been waiting until I have a finished project to write about, but as that doesn't seem to be imminent I shall try and summarize some of what we have done to date.
I'm sure what we've done can be done in any number of different ways and we may not have even chosen the best way, but we've done the best we could with what we know and what we have.

Today I'll write about our windows. Our original windows, and I think they were original to the boat, were in a bad way. The front ones had gone so milky from the sun that they were impossible to see through, night or day. Some of the side windows were cracked and the previous owner had stuck a license decal over the crack. We heard later from Homeland Security that you should not stick decals onto your acrylic windows as it will actually cause them to crack. All of our windows leaked. The interior wooden frames were in bad shape with the varnish blistered, peeling and yellowed from both water and sun damage, and the joints were so flimsy as to make them almost fall apart.

We removed all our windows. We think the front ones were of Lexan, which is much stronger than acrylic but less UV resistant. One of the pluses is that it flexes rather than cracks if it is hit. The downside of this is that the flexing can break the seals around the edge of the window and allow water in. Not only does excessive sunlight lead to the windows becoming opaque and milky, it also decreases the strength. Because of this we decided to replace the front windows with acrylic, as well as the side windows. We chose 1/2 inch acrylic for the front windows, 3/8 inch acrylic for the side windows.
We slightly changed the original design of the side windows, splitting the original long piece of acrylic into three shorter pieces. We hope that this will help in preventing leaks as there is less likelihood of shorter pieces flexing out of sync with the body of the boat than there is for a longer piece. And the bonus is that it was much more economical!

The long window has been split into three

We bought the acrylic in sheets and Chris cut them to size. He used a router to round the edges and countersank the screw holes. We bought stainless screws, with black heads to complement the dark gray acrylic. As the fiberglass sides of the boat vary in thickness each screw had to be fitted for length and then cut to size, timeconsuming and laborious but necessary as the inside wooden frames fit over the nuts at the end of the screws and have limited clearance.

Rounding the edges

The screws on the inside-individually measured and cut

To fit the windows on the outside we used a gasket of butyl rubber. Butyl rubber is our new best friend. It is cheap and works wonderfully. In addition to the gasket of butyl rubber we wrapped a bit of it around each screw as it went in and was secured by the nut. Once all the screws on a given window were in we tightened them slightly but not so much that we would squeeze all the butyl out. After they had "seasoned" for a bit Chris caulked all around the outer edges with Sikaflex 295 UV. They look amazing.

We can finally see out of our front windows!

Finished windows

We took all the window frames apart. At first they looked as though they would only be good for kindling, but we sanded them all down to the bare wood and they started to look pretty good. Then we varnished them and secured the joins and we now have some super-solid and very attractive frames (yet to be fitted!). I wish we had had the foresight to take a "before" photo.


Better than new frames


Hatches: We have two large (20" x 20") hatches in the cabin top as well as 4 smaller ones along each side of the cabin top/coamings and 2 small ones inside the cockpit well. As with most fittings on our 1985 boat it is hard to find the same ones to replace what we have, and if we can find them, the price tag is hefty. So in the end we compromised and bought two new stainless steel Bowmar hatches to replace the large ones, and 2 new hatches to replace the badly leaking ones in the cockpit well. The other small hatches had leaks that could be fixed by swapping handles/fittings with the hatches we had replaced. Chris made these old hatches look like new by cutting acrylic to replace all the crazed lights in them and at the same time fixed all the waterproofing problems. He sealed these with Sikaflex 295 UV as well, and each hatch was
tested for waterproofness before they were fitted.

New stainless steel hatch (covered in plastic while we work)



Old hatch with new acrylic

The area where some of the hatches had to fit was fiberglass with a balsa wood core. In these we trimmed the balsa back a bit and filled them with epoxy. This sealed and waterproofed the balsa edge. The hatches were seated with butyl rubber which we then caulked around to stop the rubber creeping.

We are in the midst of repainting the interior hatch surround a creamy white. Currently they are a yellow-cream which will not go with the cream headliner we are hoping to install. For the two large and new hatches we bought interior surrounds with integral sunshade/mosquito netting that slide across the opening. Very spiffy!


Hatch surround - top one freshly painted