Advice on removing porthole rubber join

[Lou_tribal]

Hello,
I am about to start working on my boat and first thing to tackle is to remove forward portholes and replace them (plastic windows show yellowish aging and join start leaking.
Does any body has any advice/hint/best practice to remove rubber joins that hold the plastic windows? These a a bit like what can be find in campers/rv/automotive. A kind of H join that take in sandwich the glass on one side and the fiberglass on he other.



L

 

[boomerang]

This guy has a segment on his youtube channel about removal & replacement of portlights that are mounted the same way. His boat is steel but I'm sure the method is the same for fiberglass. Maybe it would help you.

 

[Lou_tribal]

This guy has a segment on his youtube channel about removal & replacement of portlights that are mounted the same way. His boat is steel but I'm sure the method is the same for fiberglass. Maybe it would help you.

Thank you vey much will watch this!

L

 

[Frosty]

In case it helps, this type of gasket is often called self-sealing two part weatherstrip.

Basically you have the "H" part (the size of each half of the H can be different, say if you have 1/4" fiberglass and 3/16" window material).

Once the window is installed with the H-strip (a piece of string helps, pull it out as you go), then you put in the second piece, which is a little triangle and is called the "lock strip." It basically wedges the H tight. There is a lock strip tool you can use.

School buses often (used to?) use this type of window gasket.

One manufacturer whose product I've used is CR Laurence.

Here are some of the "H" parts:

https://www.crlaurence.com/crlapps/...5&History=30587:19748:19783:20834:19783&pom=0

Lock strips:

https://www.crlaurence.com/crlapps/showline/default.aspx?GroupID=20885

And a one piece variant with the lock strip attached:

https://www.crlaurence.com/crlapps/...4&History=30587:19748:19783:20834:19783&pom=0

 

[boomerang]

Lou, I guess maybe you found out that the link I attached was about the installation of the glass & not the removal. Week 5 in the series of blogs seems to detail his removal method. Maybe you already found it. It appears that you'll definitely want to have some new rubber gasket material beforehand for the replacement and not try to reuse the old.. Warm weather seems to help with the material pliability so you've timed you replacement correctly, it seems.

 

[Lou_tribal]

In case it helps, this type of gasket is often called self-sealing two part weatherstrip.

Basically you have the "H" part (the size of each half of the H can be different, say if you have 1/4" fiberglass and 3/16" window material).

Once the window is installed with the H-strip (a piece of string helps, pull it out as you go), then you put in the second piece, which is a little triangle and is called the "lock strip." It basically wedges the H tight. There is a lock strip tool you can use.

School buses often (used to?) use this type of window gasket.

One manufacturer whose product I've used is CR Laurence.

Here are some of the "H" parts:

https://www.crlaurence.com/crlapps/...5&History=30587:19748:19783:20834:19783&pom=0

Lock strips:

https://www.crlaurence.com/crlapps/showline/default.aspx?GroupID=20885

And a one piece variant with the lock strip attached:

https://www.crlaurence.com/crlapps/...4&History=30587:19748:19783:20834:19783&pom=0

In my case there is no locking strip. I see the one you describe (like buses windows) but they are not the same.
Thank you anyway!

L

 

[Lou_tribal]

Lou, I guess maybe you found out that the link I attached was about the installation of the glass & not the removal. Week 5 in the series of blogs seems to detail his removal method. Maybe you already found it. It appears that you'll definitely want to have some new rubber gasket material beforehand for the replacement and not try to reuse the old.. Warm weather seems to help with the material pliability so you've timed you replacement correctly, it seems.

Thank you to point me out week 5. I started to search but did not reach week 5 yet [emoji846]

L

 

[Frosty]

In my case there is no locking strip.

Just curious, but did you look at the last link where it has a "built in" lock strip?

Otherwise, if your two edges are just blunt ones (i.e. just a plain edge of fiberglass and then just a plain edge of window "glass"), I wonder if that's why you and PO's have had leak problems? And perhaps a locking strip style of gasket would solve the problem (the lock strip "jams" the rubber tight against the glass and the body).

(If you have some type of window frame of metal or some other design then nevermind.)

 

[Lou_tribal]

Just curious, but did you look at the last link where it has a "built in" lock strip?

Otherwise, if your two edges are just blunt ones (i.e. just a plain edge of fiberglass and then just a plain edge of window "glass"), I wonder if that's why you and PO's have had leak problems? And perhaps a locking strip style of gasket would solve the problem (the lock strip "jams" the rubber tight against the glass and the body).

(If you have some type of window frame of metal or some other design then nevermind.)

This the profile of the join I removed.



I was wrong it not a H, the glass was residing in the U shape while the flat bottom was resting on a flat bed. The glass was itslf pushing the join to keep it in place. The leak occured at the join end ( where both end finish).

I will remove it completely and will bed this properly after cleaning, applying epoxy and paint the window bed.

L