Window replacement

**koliver** · 06-01-2018, 12:03 AM

Last summer a crack appeared in the window in front of the helm. It didn't obstruct the view, just looked bad.
This week I replaced it.
My boat is a C & L 44, Taiwan built, completed in 1980. The window frame is the inner moulding, screwed onto the Fibreglass molded house, from the front. The glass is then stuck to a rabbet in the frame with 5200, then the outer moulding is stuck with 5200 and screwed on from the outside. Plugs over the screws, varnished.
I removed the outer plugs, screws, moldings.
Then traced the glass on a piece of plastic which I took to a glass shop. 1/2 hr and $88 later I had the replacement laminated glass. The only issue on installation was that I tried Butyl tape and it was hard and not sticky, so I went back to the hardware store for some 5200. Ended up with Sika 291, which is now curing. The outer molding is at home, to be stripped of its varnish before being re-attached.

This is a job I had been dreading for quite a while. It turned out to be a lot less work and not something to dread. I have seen a few boats that look like mine, where the owners have had window leaks under the sliders and wrote off all of the windows, spent a high dollar replacing them all with Diamond Sea Glaze or equivalent. I now know that I will never do that, as the installation method of the fixed windows is bullet proof. I have already fixed all of the slider leaks, so until I get another cracked glass, (could happen in a Diamond Sea Glaze installation too) there is nothing to be concerned about.

Doug · 06-01-2018, 12:24 AM

Thanks Keith, I appreciate your post.
Nice to know the job is not too difficult. I have two side windows with small cracks that I have been avoiding repairing.

FF · 06-01-2018, 05:14 AM

If using laminated glass it might pay to seal the cut edge with varnish or epoxy .

**koliver** · 06-01-2018, 09:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FF

If using laminated glass it might pay to seal the cut edge with varnish or epoxy .

Only an issue if the edge of the glass will be exposed to moisture. In my installation, all edges are bedded in Sika 291.
I do note that some of my portholes, in bronze fixtures, where the glass was factory installed, the laminate plastic is cloudy around the perimeter. This is likely an indication that moisture has arrived in those locations.

DHeckrotte · 06-01-2018, 09:57 AM

Been there, done that! What a lot of work!

I used the same black polysulphide sealant as was used originally. Utterly tenacious except where it wasn't.

**koliver** · 06-01-2018, 10:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DHeckrotte

Been there, done that! What a lot of work!

Yes, lots of work, but not as bad as I had expected, not enough to deter getting it done.

I used the same black polysulphide sealant as was used originally. Utterly tenacious except where it wasn't.

White on my boat, and in your photo it looks white on the one window where the glass appears to be out. Utterly tenacious for sure, but no voids and with the glass going in on top of the 291, all is visible through the glass so you know right away that there will be no voids.
My moldings are somewhat wider than yours, so too the width of the bedding area, a minimum width of about 1/2".

JDCAVE · 06-02-2018, 09:30 PM

I rebedded all 7 of my Pilothouse Windows. I replaced the glass in the 3 forward windows. Well worth it.

FF · 06-03-2018, 09:15 AM

"Only an issue if the edge of the glass will be exposed to moisture. In my installation, all edges are bedded in Sika 291."

All these goops may be water proof , but not moisture proof , it can take years but moisture (usually enough to creep into the window edge) gets in....eventually.

Even varnish only slows the moisture from the window edges , in my GM 4106 (1964) bus conversion about 2 inches around the side windows is foggy.