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Some of the Aluminium windows on the boat we are about to take on are in need of replacement. Does anyone have any
information on supliers etc.
many thanks
AlanHi Jean
Yes, I may be able to help.
Ronar M’s windows were also at the end of their life (or so I thought) but then I discovered Seaclear Windows of Maidstone, Kent, UK. To cut a long story short, I took out all the windows from the forward cabin and saloon – I had to drill out the old bolts but the job was not difficult. I took the windows to Seaclear and they completely refurbished them – took them apart, cleaned them up and resealed the glass. Meanwhile the inner aluminium frames, which had become corroded and pitted, I rubbed down and had sprayed (to match the headlining etc – the colour was a Ford colour called ‘ermine’) by my local car body repairer. Seaclear supplied me with 150 of the inner female stainless steel ‘nuts’ and I bought a similar number of the outer male M5 machine screws from my local fastener supplier. Seaclear also supplied some neoprene strip which goes between the frame and the fibreglass to make a waterproof seal. Bingo. Total cost about £500. I am aiming to get the after cabin windows done soon in the same way
Hope this helps
Trevor Jones
Hi Jean
One thing I forgot to say was that I taped polythene sheeting over the windows to keep out the weather while the job was being done. This worked ok but the gaffer tape I used was difficult to get off the fibreglass afterwards. I had to scrape it off with a Stanley knife and then use powerful thinners to get rid of the residue – took almost as long as dealing with the windows themselves.
Cheers
Trevor
Hi Alan,
About 2 yrs ago I made some enquiries about the very same thing. I emailed photo’s of a couple of the saloon windows to Andrew Turner @ ‘SouthEast Marine Windows’ in Burnham-on-Crouch, & Tel No: (01621-774-430.
He quoted me £300 each for 2 of the aft-saloon windows & £292 each for the 2 forward saloon windows.
This was to completely replace all 4 with opening windows & included new frame, laminated glass, all the Interscrews, & flat backing-plate for each window.
I didn’t go any further with this job as I had to go overseas on another contract, but I’m hoping he’s still in business as I’d still like to replace mine, purely for the extra ventilation. They’re corroding all the time & there’s always corrosion debris in the teak grab-rail below.
HTH
Jeff on ‘Sea Eagle’.Dear Jean
I replaced some of my windows in 2001. I had them made to plans I drew,they fitted with very little adjustment to the fibreglass surrounds.I needed another pair of hands to tighten the captive bolts.
All the opening windows are in good order.Ireplaced 7 of 8 fixed lights,excl heads.
They were purchased from
Seaglaze Marine Windows Ltd
Wendover Rd
Norwich
sales@seaglaze.co.uk
0044[0]1603720745
The cost £742.04 incl vatThanks for all the feedback to my question. Will now sort through and and let you know how I get on.
onece again thanks.
regards
Alan & PatAnyone in the US may want to check out New Found Metals, Port Townsend, Washington. http://newfoundmetals.com/
My friend just put them in her Ericson, and speaks very highly of them. I’ve not compared their available sizes to the Nic 38 sizes.
Hello Trevor,
I have had a reply from Seaclear, they can supply me the ‘interscrews’ captive nuts which are either 6mm or 10mm in depth,
Can you recall which ones you used.In addition, can you please also send me the photos of your inner forestay, see the thread.
Best wishes
Mike
In addition, can you please also send me the photos of your inner forestay set up both above and below deck as you indicated on the post on the Nic38 site.
Hope I am not asking to much, but would be obliged for any help.
Best wishes
Mike
Here is the reply from Seaclear:
Dear Michael
Thank you for the enquiry, yes I do remember supplying these, the nuts you refer to are called ‘interscrews’, in profile they resemble a ‘top hat’ shape, they come in two sizes 6 & 10 mm (this is the depth of the thread), 6mm is the usual, if you have an idea of the machine screw you need I can also supply these. The neoprene tape comes on a 20 mtr roll which can be useful around the boat. If you can tell me the quantities you require I can give you a cost.
The white powder is corrosion which is quite common, once you have removed all the exterior screws the inner frames should be easily removed, the corrosion can then be cleaned off and the old interscrews removed by knocking them out with a hammer and a drift, they should come out easily then replace with new (all quite self explanatory once you start).
Freeing the windows from the boat might take some effort because ‘Captain Tolleys’ is glue, you will need to break the seal between the window frame and the boat, a fine bladed flat scraper and gentle use of a hammer usually works, once the windows are out you need to clean both surfaces of any old seal/sealant and refit them with the neoprene tape which acts as a gasket.
I hope the above helps, if you would like to give me a call to discuss this further please do.
Regards
Graham Beal
SeaClear Windows
07761882626
01622205837We just had to reseal one of our portlights last summer. It was while we were away on our cruise, Van looked up and noticed the water damaged teak handrail under the port side portlight. Next thing you know, we had the window in our hands and we’re trying to decide how to seal the big hole in the side of the boat.
Lessons learned:
1) The portlight was held in place with silicone, it was relatively easy to remove.
2) Most of the alumunum fasteners had turned to dust. The few that had not where the ones that were hard to get out, but using a drill we eventually got them all. Took about an hour.
3) If you have to pry on anything, be careful to not damage the inner liner that surrounds the window on the inside. The sandwich is (starting from the outside): fiberglass, gap, wood underlayment, and then that white vinyl covering used throughout the interior is glued to the wood. If you break that seal between the vinyl coating and wood, then lots of debris falls down between and you will not be able to get it out without further delamination of the vinyl. It’s just a losing situation – be careful to keep the vinyl sealed to the wood in the first place.
4) The PO had left some fasterners on the boat from his last go at rebedding another window. The barrel part was too short, so we had to leave the interior frame off when we rebedded the window. Most annoying because now we have to buy longer barrels and probably be forced to rebed the window another time. (In checking the window he rebedded, he ended up using the aluminum barrel on the inside and SS screws on the outside – YIKES! Yet another window we must service again soon!)
I have not yet measured how long of barrel we need, but the sandwich was surprisingly thick – at least two centimeters. You can buy new aluminum “Light Duty Binding Posts” from McMaster Carr for shockingly cheap – something like US$10 for 50. I need to do this soon, so I can post again once I remeasure what I need. From McMaster, the screw size stays constant, its the barrel length that varies. I thought I would need longer screws so I only know what screw size to get for whatever barrel size we have. I do know the screw the PO left behind is an #8-32. I would take a wild guess that if you are buying your fasteners as suggested above, go for the longer barrel because you can always thread them together further, but you just simply cannot make that thick sandwich of materials narrower (we tried very hard to do so!)
5) We rebedded using butyl caulk. Seems to have worked well for the few months since we installed it.
6) We wish we would have put a little insulation between the fiberglass hull and wood underlayment. We did not, and now condensation will form just below the window frame in one area. Not sure what happened, but I suspect we tightened it enough so the air gap between the fiberglass and wood underlayment closed up.Telltale sign that the window needs to be rebedded is that the inner aluminum frame is not well secured down anymore. If the aluminum fastners have turned to dust on the inside, the frame will appear loose – which is bad. Means only the silicone is holding the window in place.
Glad to answer more if I can. Will post the barrel size I purchase once I get down to the boat to measure that.
MarilynHi Mike,
You will need to drill out the old bolts. I did mine from the inside of the boat. Once the head is removed you may need carefully to punch out the bolt. The new fixings consist of a female part and a male part. I bought the female part from Seaclear but found it cheaper to get the male part from my local fastenings supplier. Seaclear may offer you the female bit with or without slots (for a screwdriver). I went for the slotted ones and was glad I did as they can be tightened so much more easily. I would wait a see what the diameter of the Seaclear bolts is and then choose a drill the same size but also one slightly smaller – the latter you can use to drill out the old bolts then clean out the holes with the larger one once the window is out. Also buy a few washers – the C & N layup varies a bit and you may have to pack out some of the bolts where the layup is thinner.
The inside aluminium trim was quite corroded on some windows. I cleaned it up and filled the pits with plastic metal before rubbing flat and then got them sprayed by my local spray shop. We managed to match the colour well to the headlining – looks very good.
One other tip. When you are sticking the neoprene sealer to the window frames, start in the middle of the bottom and overlap a bit when you get back (ie when you have gone all round). Also you will not be able to get it round the corners unless you pull the backing paper off. I did this progressively as I went round.
Good luck, Cheers, Trevor.
Hi everybody,
Following Dereks lead in his Sept post I contacted Seaglaze yesterday for a quotation on new saloon opening windows.
£437 each.!
Needless to say…I’ll be looking for another quote today.
JeffHi Jeff,
I recently bought some captive fitting nuts here for my windows, they have been mentioned previously when passed on to me:
http://www.seaclear.co.uk/
Be worth asking them, if you already haven’t.Mike
Hi Marilyn,
“Glad to answer more if I can. Will post the barrel size I purchase once I get down to the boat to measure that.
Marilyn”Did you get the exact measurement Marilyn.? What thickness of glass did you use.?
I’m thinking of replacing all my saloon windows with top-hung opening windows very soon as quite a few of the inner fasteners/heads are rotten on 2 of the windows & the inner frame is being pushed right off the side panel. I held a coin-edge to the glass to guage from the reflection how thick the glass is & as far as I can tell it’s no more than 2mm, which doesn’t impress me at all. So I’m thinking of replacing them all with something like 5mm, & bronze-tinted to keep the sun out of the saloon a bit. What d’ya think.?
JeffRegards,
JeffWe did not get around to measuring the window fastneres before we headed to warmer climates for the winter, leaving our boat behind to deal with the nasty weather alone. 8~(
We simply rebedded the original portlight. We have not considered replacing them with opening ones, though I can understand why people might find that interesting. But our typical problem is being too cold…. Maybe someday we will sail further south to find some warmth.
Marilyn
Hi Trevor,
Your advice was great, I contacted Seaclear as you did and he supplied me with the female ‘press in’ nuts and the gasket to fit between the frame and GRP. I also bought the screws online, neat countersunk ones that look good.
I did two of mine which had been leaking, but thanks to Capt. Tolley were not letting water in, but the corrosion between the nuts, screws and the frames and internal holding strips demanded replacement.
They came out ok, some had to be drilled out but no big deal, when I refitted I used a corrosion preventive, Duralac to stop the action between the aluminium and the stainless screws.
All in all very satisfactory, ran a hose on them for a while but not a drop to be seen.To those who may be interested. I have just installed a complete new set of side windows on ‘Salara’. The job was long overdue and all the frames were badly corroded. I realised that the cost of replacement would be a little heavy and so over time I had investigated various non standard options all of which were unsuitable and still costly. The only answer was to ‘go for it’ and order five new pairs from Seaglaze Ltd.
I provided some templates to enable them to quote and they quickly gave me a price for the windows and delivery to Greece. I accepted their quotation for five pairs of windows including internal fixing trims, all fixings and Arbocol tape sealer. The units being the bolt through type.
A set of hardboard templates was despatched to me in Greece to compare with the existing windows so that manufacture could go ahead over the winter period. I arranged to have the new windows shipped to Greece to arrive the week before I returned there from UK.
Nikki Chapman at Seaglaze dealt with my order most efficiently and all went exactly to plan. The product is very well made and I had no problems when I installed them. It is really a two person job but as I have run out of wives I managed to do the installation fairly easily alone.
The finished job looks great and I have no hesitation in recommending Seaglaze Ltd. Check out their website http://www.seaglaze.co.ukWe’ve been rebedding or replacing all portlights on Rainshadow this year because they were leaking.
In summary, we are simply removing and rebedding some portlights, we had to reglaze some portlights before rebedding, and we installed 3 new opening portlights (we did sail to warmer climates and now we need much more ventilation!).
I just added a post about this effort to our personal website, which you can read here.
Marilyn, Moderator
Hello,
I have taken all windows out for repairing and reseal and I am about to set them back in place.
I am thinking to use a composed solution for waterproofing between the external window’s frames and fiber glass: Neoprene Strip as gasket+Maritime Sika Flex.
Do you have any suggestions?
What width and thickness of the neoprene strip shal I choose?
Thank you,
Conche – João
Over the years, we used various materials to rebed windows.
Our first portlight was rebedded in 2016 using Sikaflex 291. That seal is still holding.
We later switched to using butyl tape, the best source being Bed-it Butyl from Compass Marine. The really good thing about this stuff is that it stays flexible forever, so a crack will never form as the boat flexes while underway. Other butyl tapes we tried were just not as good as the Bed-it Butyl.
You can read more about Compass Marine’s suggestions for butyl tape use here.
Marilyn
Dear Marilyn,
can you give me a tip for how many units of Bed-It Tape should I buy to rebed all the 11 windows?
Thank you,
João
Dear Joao, You measure the cirumferences of all the windows and buy the tape by the metre. In England, which may not be helpful to you, there is also a sealant gun butyl product called Arbomast BR which is great stuff. Also Jean_Pierre at Hadlow Marine http://www.hadlowmarine.com recommends Scapa 3507 tape and also every other product you need for re-glazing and/or re-bedding, and there are information sheets on his site. I have refurbished nearly all my windows myself now with success thanks to his products and advice.
Duncan
Hi Duncan,
thank you.
I realised that I should measure the perimeter after to post.
Indeed the Bed- It butyl tape that Marlyn has shown looks fantastically good.
Specially because it has no cure process. It’s possible to apply and then tighten the screws slowly along time. I got very interested on this solution but unfortunately the shipping and taxing is far too high and I don’t find the bed-it butyl in Europe.
And the issue here is to do the job one time with the right product.
So I’m to choose between Sika Marine 291 or a Butyl.
Have you used Scapa 3507 tape?
Thank you,
João
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