Center Window Albin 27

[tego]

Mark, I think I'd use 5200 myself. It stays flexible, it's a great adhesive and would contribute to the structural integrity overall. I use it as an adhesive a lot, unless I want some structure to be absolutely rigid. Boats flex a lot underway. You want a permanent seal anyway. If you plan on covering the joint with teak again, it'd be a natural. Some butyl caulks would work too, just not as strong. Ben

[JT48348]

Fyi: my own research indicates it's about $1500-1600 to replace the Pilothouse windows of the A27 through Wynn Inc. This includes: three non opening front windows and two sliders, fixed screens 310 model with shipping included. Black flex paint alum frames and clamp rings no tint. The front windows are about $200 each. The side $450 each. The difference between the mitered and round corners are that round corners run about $30-60 cheaper per window. IMHO idk if this worth the effort The shipping for the windows can be $100-200 alone. This is based on rough measurements of openings. Templates would be needed.

It would be a very nice upgrade. But then again the current windows are simple in construction and easy to replace it looks like.

Is it accurate to say that the window and frame gets sealed into the opening and then the trim just covers the edges? Did you guys seal the trim too? My concern is my hdpe solution may have a problem sticking to sealant if it's needed to seal the trim.

[don123]

I replaced the 3 front windows and the port side sliding windows for less than $300. I had them custom cut at a local glass shop and installed them in the frames myself. They are the same 3 layer safety glass as the original windows were made of

The owner of the glass shop explained that he doesn't sell a lot of the 3 layer safety glass and that it would be cheapest if I used most of the standard sized sheet he would have to order to make me just one or two

My port side sliders blew out in Katrina and were badly broken. One of the fixed front panes was cracked and one was scratched from a faulty wiper and my center opening window blew away in the hurricane, frame and all - I never found it. I would like to have replaced the starboard sliders too, but the 5 panels I had him cut for me used up 90% or more of the sheet he ordered

No fancy aluminum frames or screens - Just 5 panels of new safety glass for less than $300

Don

[sail149]

Don
Did you put your new glass in the existing wood frames?
If so were your frames easy to remove?
Everything on my '84 s glued down with 5200 and is not coming off with out serious brakage.
I was looking at Sprig1's boat an early '84 and he said his window came off easy
But he had hugh balsa rot around the lower sides of his windows....
I'm thinking mine were re sealed at some point...but I have the large gap in the opening center window to deal with!
Warren

[JT48348]

What exactly is it that keeps the windows waterproof? Is it the fram sealed into the fiberglass opening? Or the trim sealed onto the window? I want to know if my HDPE window trim with butyl tape will work, after I 4200 the frames into the fiberglass openings.

Approximate dimmensions for A27 pilothouse windows below

[Beta Don]

Don
Did you put your new glass in the existing wood frames?
If so were your frames easy to remove?
Everything on my '84 s glued down with 5200 and is not coming off with out serious brakage.
I was looking at Sprig1's boat an early '84 and he said his window came off easy
But he had hugh balsa rot around the lower sides of his windows....
I'm thinking mine were re sealed at some point...but I have the large gap in the opening center window to deal with!
Warren

First, pardon the unexpected (and unwanted/unneeded) name change - Switched my Asus Touchscreen laptop to Windows 10 last night and now I can't do much of anything. It's supposed to be leaps and bounds better than the 8.1 which worked so well for me, but I sure don't see it! Off to the library to pay to print a few pages because even that isn't possible anymore

Warren, keep in mind that my boat is an early pre-production model and I know lots of things about it are different from the later, factory versions. While my hardtop was really flimsy, my pilot house is made of MDF over an inch thick and I have no rot anywhere - Neither around the side windows nor where it joins the cabin roof. The pilot house to cabin joint is very tight and there is no wooden trim covering the joint - It appears to be nothing more than a small filet of 5200 which is still in great shape after 30 years

My forward windows are set in teak trim, removable from the inside without disturbing the teak at all. They were bedded in silicone and held in place by a thin trim board on the inside. I ran a double edge razor blade around the outside between the glass and the teak and a box cutter around the glass on the inside and the window panes came out easily. I reinstalled them in clear silicone the same way they came out. I DO NOT KNOW IF THIS WAS FACTORY, as the boat had been renovated here and there before I got it, but there has never been any window leaks nor any rotting of the pilot house anywhere

Don

[sail149]

Don how interesting , clearly different from the factory windows.
So what is you hull number? 101? I was in touch with Smackman and his is #5 (hull#105) and seams to be a decent boat . He and you got together earlier this year. He was impressed with you work.
I'm thinking your boat maybe was used at least for the pilot house as the pattern or plug for the mold for production.
And whatever they made it out of was good enough to sell as a finished product? (Pattern or plug making is my business).
I feel for you with the windows 10.... I got my brother a win 8 tablet and total confusion.......there was just no intuitive logic to apply...... I use an iPad, it's kind of clunky in the way it works but fairly simple...because it does not do anything very clever!
Warren

[Beta Don]

Warren,

My hull # is 16 - 116. Yes, I was aboard Smackman's boat and was surprised to see so many differences between his and mine - Some for the better (the aft edge of the hardtop especially) and some things I liked better on mine. Both of ours have separate doors for the forward cabin, done the same was as the aft cabin - One door hinged on each aide, not the folding arrangement which they used on the production boats. I'm going to add take apart hinges so I can completely remove one or both of the forward cabin doors and stow them elsewhere when needed

I drilled holes to mount windshield wiper motors and arms and the forward panels of the pilot house are 1 inch thick and they are made of MDF. The side panels with the sliding windows are made of the same stuff, but it's thinner. It's gel coated on the outside of course and it's got a thin layer of raw glass on the inside. The corners are generously glassed together. No leaks (around any of the windows) no rot anywhere and the pilot house to deck joint looks like it was just done last week, literally. I don't know if they switched to plywood later for the walls, but mine is definitely MDF and I can confirm that having drilled several holes in it. The wiper motor holes are 1 inch diameter and you can see the MDF all the way through - No layers of ply or anything showing. VERY tough to drill through . . . . almost as if the MDF was laid up with resin

But . . . . the roof was a balsa cored flimsy piece of junk, since fixed

Don

[sail149]

Don , it must have been quite the production of the first 20 boats, they seem to have been hand building each one.
You had said yours was used as prototype of some sort and with the MDF . I was building boats about that time and find it hard to imagine they were using MDF and espically not for a finished product. MDF is notoriously bad when wet so this must be SOMTHING similiar. They were making some hard foam products that were harder than wood, but still unusual product to use for a plug for a new fiberglass mold. I would be curious to see a cut out from the top!
Prehaps the orriginal cabin side were build from a tempoary mold and your became the new version without the extra stiffened edge that the earlier boats had.
The cabin doors on my #173 '84 boat are seperate on piano hinges so the bifold came at some later time, maybe when they moved the electrics fuse panel from above the galley to in the side of the hanging locker or larder depending on what they installed that week! But they also moved the electrics back at some point so who knows....!
With your thick walls I can see why you have a different window arrangement.
Interesting stuff......but does not lead to consistent manufacturing hence why some boat have more/different problems than others.......but it is 30+ years on so how many other $30000.00 boats of that era are still arround and getting fixed up?
Warren

[Beta Don]

You're probably correct that it's not actually MDF Warren - Todays MDF would not stand up well at all in high moisture applications. But, it sure looks like MDF - It's definitely not glass and I don't think my pilot house was built in a mold like you would lay up fiberglass. I *think* it was constructed of 5 panels, 3 for the front and one for each side and then gel coated when it was finished. Whatever it is, it's nothing like the rotted out pilot houses I read about here

The wiring for the wiper motors is in a channel inside the the panels - Runs from the starboard corner where the wires come up from below across the tops of all 3 windows - All within the MDF or whatever it really is. Keeps all the wiring hidden within the panels

Don

[sail149]

Sound like a decent setup. Wish I knew what the material was.
How do you know it was a '84 prototype model?
W

[Beta Don]

How do you know it was a '84 prototype model?

Well, it's hull # 16 . . . . plus, it's different in many ways from the later model boats

Don

[Dandy]

This is a very interesting thread. Just what I need at this point - I am looking at buying an Albin 27 FC. I need to know what to look for. I had an email exchange with a broker recently as follows: Me - "I have heard that some of the older Albin 27s have had big window leaks. Any such problems with this one? Or other issues?" Broker response - "It looks like this boat has that issue, in overall general condition is weak, but seller is very motivated." I have not viewed this boat (or any other Albin 27s) yet. What should I be looking for? I will of course get a survey before purchasing, but before spending that money what will stand out as issues common to the model?

(BTW I currently own a Cape Dory 33 sailboat which I will keep.)

[JT48348]

What should I be looking for? I will of course get a survey before purchasing, but before spending that money what will stand out as issues common to the model)

Respectfully, When you hijack a thread, in a ski mask or otherwise, you do everyone a disservice of making it impossible to stay on topic, use the search engine effectively, or keep information organized for all members.

Your question is a great one. But it deserves its own thread. Exciting! You will have your own thread now.

Please try and keep to the topic at hand. And feel free to create new ever-more-interesting threads for the topics you like.

[Dandy]

Noted with thanks. Sorry for the digression.