New Portlights

The windows on my Compass 28 leak like sieves, they could even be the originals, so I'm looking to replace them.
The plan is do do away with the frames, get a sheet of acrylic (what thickness?, what tint?) , 'cast' preferably but is 'extruded' ok?, cut it myself, and use the method the Boatworks Today fella uses, using the 3M VHB tape, similar method to this Coastal Passage article www.thecoastalpassage.com/windows.html , and then using the Fixtech 200 (FS200) , to seal it up.
Anyone one done this?, any "gotchas" to look out for?
cheers

I've recently been playing with fixtech, the blackout involved masking in and out side of the acrylic and painting the fixtech on was a case of squeezing a bead of black and spreading it with a paddle pop stick, I used a few screws to hold the acrylic in place. A stick set up to rest the acrylic on so you can place it in the right spot and a dry run or two, is a good idea, because you don't really want to smear the sealant about the job, likewise as you remove the masking tape while the goo is still gooey caution is required not to spread it ! A waiting reciprocal and disposable gloves are a must. Good thing is it takes a while to go off so there's plenty of time to work and no need to get in a glue frenzy

Yes , double sided tape and fix tech work well, No screws
windows were done 9 years ago with no issues thus far,
we did not do the blackout on edges as we went with an acrylic tint over the whole window..

Thanks,
the frames aren't too bad on the inside, with only one or two small spots of corrosion, but much worse on the outside, so I think the frames are gone. But may use the inside ones as an interior window frame, glued on.
Can you remember how thick was the acrylic you used Dama?
I may skip the painting blackout stage, may not need it then if there's a tint in the acrylic.

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BlueMoon said..
The step that is worrying me the most is the painting of the inside of the acrylic black, so you don't see the VHB tape and the sealant

What is the worry here? The bonding between the paint and the VHB tape or something else?

Yeah, I thought that might be an issue. Perhaps some of the paint or primer they use to paint car ABS bumpers might work. You could tape off the section to be painted and wet and dry to rough it up a bit first.

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BlueMoon said..
Have got 6 of the 8portlights replaced.
Not a job where you just "pop down to the boat" one arvo to undertake it, I have been surprised how long it's taken.
Went with polycarbonate after being talked out of acrylic by the plastics supplier, went with 6mm, would go 4.5mm or even 3mm next time. Still pretty happy with the effort.
The VHB tape is good stuff to work with, and the Fixtech 200 was also good.
Cheers

Great Post just what I needed , of course I did it just recently by the way he said not to do it , what a bloody mess the window which I had put the sealant on touched everything myself included and do you think I could find the screw holes in that mess ? I trimmed it all up when it dried which looked a bit better then it rained non stop for two days and found out the hard way ( mattress soaked) I had caused more leaks, a weeks work for a very disappointing job.
when I get the mental strength I will do it again the boat works way . could you post the information on the products you used and where you got it from also what dimensions the tape was please.

Thanks for the update and photos of your windows BlueMoon. The windows look great. I am about to do this same job on my Duncanson 29, same window configuration. Just wondering why you would go to a thinner panel? Easier to cut?
Also, did you bevel/polish the edges? It's hard to see in the photos. I have looked at "fire polishing" the edges, wondering if this is a good solution. My current windows are leaking and very crazed, but have a nice polished beveled edge which I would like to reproduce.