Help. PO used 3M5200 to reseal leaking windows

[Seanair]

"used BoatLife brand caulk. Worked well, was easy to manage and clean up."

Excellent advice, and as others mentioned the Sika products are good too. I'm fairly "anti government intrusion" but I would whole heartedly support a law that says you need a permit to purchase and use 5200 on a boat. Its not a caulk, its an adhesive and a pretty darn good one at that.

More boating blood, sweat, tears and curses have been caused by 5200 than anything else I can think of.

 

[Lecomte38]

Heat

Use a heat gun or hair dryer to weaken the 5200. Very effective

 

[cdb]

There are a number of products that help break down 5200. They help but are not miracle cures. Harbor Freight makes a windshield removal too that is basically 2 adjustable handles and some piano wire. It works. As you start to lift the window frame (we used heavy metal putty knives), start putting in wooden wedges under the window frame. As soon as you can, get the piano wire between window frame and the boat and attach the handles to the end of the wires and start cutting like slicing cheese. Not so easy. You will break a lot of wire. Drive the wedges in deeper as you can to open up the gap. Keep cutting with the wire and your putty knives. A heat gun may help but you may damage the fiberglass. It did not work for us. Of course the rest of the process will likely do some damage as well. I assume you are not trying to save the frames or the existing glass. Ocean Alexander installed the original windows on our boat with gallons of what appeared to be and acted like 5200.

We went thru the process last year. Good luck.

 

[Dougcole]

I have never heard of "Debond" I wish you luck though. 5200 is generally forever. I rarely use it out of consideration to the next owner. For my nickles worth, I like 4200 for almost any sealing, attaching job. Im 70 years old, 4200 will last a lifetime for me.

pete

I'm with you, Pete. I like 4200 and it has plenty of strength for almost any above the waterline job.

 

[cdb]

If you call 3M they will tell you that they no longer recommend any of their products for marine glass installation. In the end I had flush frameless glass installed by Marine Glass Technicians here in FL. See Marine Glass Technicians. They used Bostik 7008 using big electric sausage guns. The work was beautiful. Since I was installing flush glass that was not fretted, any adhesive had to be UV stable. If you are using aluminum frames, most of the adhesive should be protected from UV, but I would still use a sealant that is UV stable.

 

[Capthead]

I have heard strong bleach works. People here use it with success

 

[Seevee]

Uncle Matt,


I'm a little late to the party, but would have suggested the sawzaw. Regardless of how you get it taken apart, you're gonna rebuild most of it.



Now, with it all out, you can do a nice frame for the windows and get things to fit perfectly.


Give us some idea of what your plans are. What are you going to use to frame it? Any trim needed? 4200, Sika or other to seal? With that knowledge we can pick it apart.

 

[Seevee]

Re: 5200


I'm not a bit fan of 5200, unless it's absolutely permanent AND structrual.



Where's that PO... need to throw the noose over the tree and teach him a lesson.




I'd never use it for thru hulls, fittings, sealer for anything. 4200 makes a MUCH better sealant. Sika is a close second, perhaps first. And for sealing, just Bedit works excellent for anything that will be held in place mechanically (screws, bolts, etc), and will keep water out.

 

[Unclematt]

Thank you for all the help and ideas. I tried almost everything you guys suggested In the end the only thing that worked was a sawzall, stiff putty knives, masonry chisel and a hammer. I only had one piece of glass require taping up due to breakage and it was the last one. It had epoxied teak fillers where there was a bit of rot then a heavy dose of 3M5200. Hopefully all my demo is done so I can start the rehab.

 

[Wayne]

'Lo all, 3M 5200 is only a fair adhesive/sealant on some substances, such as glass. It failed miserably on gluing/sealing the glass prisms into the holder on our old sailboat. I ended up using something from Bostik. I forget what it was called. That worked well. I also tried a Sika product that they recommended, which held for a while, but failed after 6-8 months or so. The Bostik product worked very well. Just called their tech desk and used the recommended product.


Heard a story about 3M 5200: Guy had his boat tied down on a trailer, hitched to his truck. He had tried to remove the outdrive after removing all of the bolts, etc., but it was stuck. Tied the outdrive to a stump using a rope. Took a running start and pulled the outdrive off the boat, including most of the transom. Found out it was stuck on with 5200 by the previous owner. Don't know the veracity of the story, but it sounds about right.
Have a great and safe Thanksgiving!

 

[Wayne]

'Lo All again, Another use for Debond is to free stuck-on exhaust hoses. May work on other hoses as well, but did a good job for me on the Celestial's exhaust hoses when I had to repair the mufflers. Hoses were sort of vulcanized onto the SS muffler tubes. Wedging a screwdriver up along side partially loosened the hoses, but couldn't get to the backside. Squirted Debond up in the area I had pried loose and the next day they were free. YMMV....