[C38] Leaking windows, Steve has the solution

[Steve Smolinske]

Steve, I didn't have a problem with any of the glass breaking, pulled
them apart and reassemble using all new gaskets and sealant from
Catalina Direct,  the gasket for the window is tough to get fitted, when
you bend the gasket around the corners of the windows the material
bunches, they do provide sealant/bedding compound which is also
difficult to work with.   Take a look on the website at the window
replacement Chuck did, 

 

Steve

#312 Peregrein

Seattle

 

From: listserve-bounces at catalina38.org
[mailto:listserve-bounces at catalina38.org] On Behalf Of Steven Ribble
Sent: Sunday, December 30, 2012 11:00 AM
To: hlhowell at pacbell.net; Catalina 38 Listserve
Subject: Re: [C38] Leaking windows, Steve has the solution

 

Steve mentioned new style replacement windows. I'm away from the boat
for winter, but I'm pretty sure mine has a flexible plastic outer frame
(they are white and I guess they could be podwercoated or painted)...are
these the new style? 

 

When I bought the boat the PO said the windows had been replaced and
that "these" could be removed and rebeded if needed...sure enough they
ave needed it for a few seasons and it is the #1 item on the spring to
do list. For those that have been through it before, I have heard that
the biggest challenge is keeping the glass in one piece; usually they
break (apparently). Is this true form [your] experience?

 

Steve R

Tittravate

 

On Sunday, December 30, 2012, les wrote:

Hi, Steve,
        While that no doubt works, the frame and the fiberglass do
expand at
different rates, so the seal is not permanent.  And as Don pointed out,
even pulling things apart and sealing will not provide a long term fix.
On Jace, we ordered new seals from Catalina Direct, and replaced the old
seals as described in their documents.  One thing that I did that was
not mentioned was using lemon juice (actually acetic acid) to clean the
aluminum channel before installing the new seal with silicone, using the
silicon they suggested.  The frames were sealed to the hull using caulk,
which is flexible and seals better.  This was done quite a while ago,
and from what I can tell of the blog, the folks cruising Knee Deep are
not having any problems.  That is about 8 years since I did the work.

It is paramount to clean every trace of the old seals, caulk, silicon or
whatever off the interfaces to get a good seal.  It took the two of us
about 5 days to do the whole job working a window or two at a time.  But
I did not have to do it again.

Another leak is the stantion bases.  I hired someone to help with that
task (places I cannot fold my bulk into) but we removed all the
stantion's, the pushpit, the pulpit, then cleaned and rebedded each one.
I replaced all the screws and nuts at the same time.  Each screw is now
double nutted to prevent backing off.  I am not sure if they all were or
not when we took them off, but I think they were.  We used caulk on
these, too.  Caulk is better than silicon for a water proof seal on
dissimilar materials.

Regards,
Les H

On Sun, 2012-12-30 at 07:26 -0800, Donald Strong wrote:
> Steve:
>     For years we had a full boat cover on Discrete Charm and did not
> have to face the music of a 30-odd year-old boat in winter rains. Two
> years ago we switched to cover just the cockpit, and all of the
> windows held forth with big leaks.
>     After reading and messing around, I found that the leaks come in
> between the aluminum frame and the window as well as between the
> aluminum frame and the fiberglass of the house. On the outside, remove
> the old silicone with a probe (frame-window) and a razor blade
> (frame-fiber glass), tape, and apply new silicone. You don't even have
> to remove the inside frames. While San Francisco is not nearly as
> rainy as Seattle, this year has been very wet. NO LEAKS YET!
>     The mast, of course, leaks onto the depression on the floor and
> into the bilge. A tiny Rule bilge pump empties the bilge into the sink
> and out the sink through hull. The other two large bilge pumps would
> come on automatically if the little guy failed.
> Regards, Don
>




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-- 
Steve Ribble
207/852-0971

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