Vegetation in my Window Tracks???

[Pineapple Girl]

Hi Everyone, I need some advice on cleaning out my window tracks.* The tracks*have gray*fuzzy stuff on the*inside sides*that I guess is weather stripping. Unfortunately at the bottom of the tracks the gray fuzzy stuff is more green / black--I think there is algae living in there??* There is so much goop in there that the tacks don't drain properly.* I don't see a way to get that gray stuff out and replace it--if there IS a way please let me know.* Barring replacing it, how can I clean it??* When we were on the boat in a rainstorm the other day I used about a roll of paper towel trying to wipe the stuff out of the two large windows in the saloon*and*the gunk just kept coming.* Yesterday I used simple green on one of the tracks and scraped green stuff off the grey fuzz*for*awile. *Still no end in sight and the scraping was tearing out grey fuzz along with the growth.* I wanted to hit it with something containing bleach but my husband was not too keen on that idea.

Advice please!!

 

[Larry M]

There should be a drain on one or both ends on the out side.* See if one*end is clogged.* You can replace thr tracks or window channels.**Stanpro makes window them.**

** http://www.stanpro.com/Product.aspx?ProductId=75000118

Fisheries Supply also sells them.

You replace them from the inside.*

Good luck.

Larry/Lena
Hobo KK42
La Cruz, Nayarit, MX

 

[Daddyo]

Q-Tip and a shop vac should do the trick.

 

[Phil Fill]

I save our old battery power tooth brushes that work great for small areas to clean.* A small wire brush also works the size of a tooth brush as the bristles are stronger.* I got tired of the drain holes plugging so I cut notches about 1 long on both ends so they drain.* In the winter the north side out our boat gets very little sun so I have to clean/wash that side several times during the winter. A good dose of Listerine/vinegar will reduce the growth.* *The South side gets plenty of sun, so there is not much growth during the winter

 

[Pineapple Girl]

Daddyo wrote:

Q-Tip and a shop vac should do the trick.

What do I kill it with?* Seriously I have wiped and wiped and wiped and there is soooo much of it in there.* When it gets wet it is just a black-green SOUP that never seems to end.* There are two drains and they are not blocked but they seem inadequate for the volume of water when it rains.*

I see Phil Fill has added an idea while I have been typing.* I will try that (enlarging drains, toothbrush, Listerine/ vinegar, the whole nine, THANKS!) and see if I can get ahead of it, if not I'll be looking into getting new track*as Larry M suggests...* I'd hate to pop out windows that currently aren't leaking and possibly end up with them leaking!* Or does the track somehow sit inside the frame so this can be done without popping out the frame?* I'll take a look at the instructions in the link.


Thanks for the ideas!*

 

[Steve]

I had the same problem on mine, keeping the weep slots clear is a problem our high rainfall and humidity weather. A friend had some canvas covers made for his sliding windows I copied them, they work fine. We leave them on while we are not on the boat and remove them while we are cruising. The tops slide into a grooved track over the window frame and keep water off of the entire window assembly, the sides and the bottoms are held in place by snaps.
Steve W.

 

[Pineapple Girl]

Steve wrote:

I had the same problem on mine, keeping the weep slots clear is a problem our high rainfall and humidity weather. A friend had some canvas covers made for his sliding windows I copied them, they work fine. We leave them on while we are not on the boat and remove them while we are cruising. The tops slide into a grooved track over the window frame and keep water off of the entire window assembly, the sides and the bottoms are held in place by snaps.
Steve W.

Oh yeah, great idea!* The boat has snaps all around the opening part of the sliding windows but whatever used to snap on is long gone.* I'll have to add this to my (long) list of canvas projects!

*

 

[Marin]

Larry M wrote:You replace them from the inside.*

Depends on your boat.* On a Grand Banks, you replace all the window components from the outside.

 

[Marin]

Pineapple Girl wrote:Seriously I have wiped and wiped and wiped and there is soooo much of it in there.

Unfortunately this type of window track (it's used on most Grand Banks boats) has a finite life.* The thing that goes first is the felt or whatever it is.* We kept our felt as clean as we could with a toothbrush and a degergent like Simple Green.* Some sort of bleach, tile-cleaner, etc might kill the algae but the bleach might also do in the felt itself, plus whatever effect it might have running down the sides of your cabin.

But the track inserts will deteriorate under the effects of dirt, UV, algae, etc. to the point where the only real answer is to replace the track.

Our boat came with covers over almost everything including al the main cabin windows.* My wife made covers for* all the small opening windows, too.* We have been rebuilding windows (our boat has 21 of them) over the past several years and only have a few left to go right now.* But we have found that keeping the covers on the windows when we are not using the boat does more to preserve the integrity of the tracks than anyhing else.* Rain water can still run down under the covers and over the windows and into the tracks but by keeping the dirt out of the tracks with the covers, it makes a huge difference in how the inserts hold up.* We keep the drains open (a simple piece of coat hangar wire does the trick) so water doesn't sit in them.* And when it's not raining, the covers protect the track inserts from UV and the rest of the weather.

*


-- Edited by Marin on Monday 15th of November 2010 02:23:44 PM

 

[Steve]

*" Rain water can still run down under the covers and over the windows and into the tracks "

Using the kind of track pictured below*has kept*water from the* window assembly and track. It is held in place with small screws and caulked.
Steve W

 

[FF]

What do I kill it with?

Vinegar

 

[Phil Fill]

You can do the same thing in clear plastic then you do not have to take the off.* I put 3/8 Plax glass over your salon windows with weather stripping that keeps the windows dry, holds in the heat and cuts down the draft.* Anyway you have to brush/clean you windows canvas a couple of times during the year.

 

[C lectric]

The window covers that slide into the track helps a lot. I refused to use screws though, no more holes. I carefully prepared the area on the boat and the track and used silaflex 291lot.
That's three years ago now and it worked well. We didn't use solid sunbrella , but rather a wide perimeter of Sunbrella to cover the varnish area and panels of mesh to allow a reduced amount of light in. Some rain gets through the mesh but a lot less than before.

Pineapple Girl,
we too have had problems with the fuzz. Most of the window tracks, new fuzz, have been redone. But I also enlarged all the drain holes in the frames and cleaned any loose fuzz out. That helped a lot. Those slots are probably too small. A dremel tool and very carefull work will probably help.
If you have algae then, as suggested, a cleaner like simple green should help. Actually just frequent washing with soap will help. If bleach is not in the cards , hydrogen peroxide is effective and a bit gentler. Just keep a hose handy so you can flush the area thoroughly

 

[Pineapple Girl]

Alright!* we will take the dremel down tomorrow as we start our loooong weekend on the boat.* Hopefully we will figure out what is up with our heater not wanting to work and we won't freeze!* the cleaning of the tracks that we have done so far seems to have helped keep the water from overflowing out of the tracks into the inside of the boat (we had a LOT of rain over the weekend and NO LEAKS).* I'll have plenty of time Wednesday-Sunday on the boat to do more cleaning.* Hopefully I can kill off my little black-green stowaways and get ahead of them!* I hope to have a quote on some new canvas soon.* I was going to try to do (at least some of) it myself but I am not finding the time!* Or at least, I'm not choosing to spend my time sewing!*

 

[Pineapple Girl]

my little indoor garden

plants I TRY to grow don't do this well...*

I didn't get anywhere on my attempt to clean the tracks as I quickly decided I needed access to a water hose to deal with the nasty blue green vinegar juice run off.

 

[Keith]

Dayum! Maybe you need Round-Up.

 

[Pineapple Girl]

Keith wrote:

Dayum! Maybe you need Round-Up.

LOL maybe so.* I only have the full on PLANTS (I guess that is moss??) in the little windows in the aft cabin.* The big windows in the saloon have more of a black / green SLIME.* Tasty.*

*

 

[skipperdude]

Wow!!
looks like a terrirum.

SD

 

[RT Firefly]

Hiya,
** Moss salad (sort of)** http://www.missmoss.co.za/2010/04/29/greek-salad/

 

[C lectric]

Holy moly, you really do have a garden there.
Maybe try scraping it out to reduce it, keep the vac. cleaner hose next to it to suck it up and then maybe treatment of hydrogen peroxide, moss killer or whatever to kill it.

I'm guessing it will come back though unless you get the track cleaned out and drier.

Never had to deal with a forest so that's about the limit of my suggestions, no help.

 

[koliver]

PG:
seems you have lots of moisture in the window tracks, so try a little better ventilation as a moss preventer.

 

[Pineapple Girl]

koliver wrote:

PG:
seems you have lots of moisture in the window tracks, so try a little better ventilation as a moss preventer.

LOL, yeah.* We've had a lot of rain lately and those buggers are flourishing.*

*