Albin 28 windows - leaking?

[gmberkley]

per the attached picture a few of the windows have a stain going down the inside of the boat interior...........what could be the culprit, and how is it fixed?

any help/guidance would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

[dkirsop]

The seal has perished. Remove the window, clean both the window and boat sealing surfaces and re-bed using butyl sealing tape. The mounting screws will need to be re-tightened as the new bedding settles in.

[gmberkley]

thank you for the reply, forgive my ignorance, where can i get the butyl sealing tape? any specific size/thickness/width/brand etc, completely new to me, ...........also, there appears to be a black gasket on the outside, it seems like a flexible sponge like material, does this get changed out also? again, thanks for your time and help.

[Norseman]

Replacing all 6 of my cabin trunk portholes as we speak.
They leak both from the rubber gasket and from the caulking being 20 years old and dried up.
Then the core gets water soaked and start rotting away.

It can all be fixed and no need to replace your metal ports, just remove, repair and re-bed.

Old and new on the Starboard side:

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All new Port side.

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New design of the Beckson ports, latches instead of screws and green tint instead of brown.

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[gmberkley]

Mr. Norseman, so I take it you furnished and installed new windows? if so, why, were the existing ones no good, or ??? what do you use for re-bedding material?

[Norseman]

[/quote]. Mr. Norseman, so I take it you furnished and installed new windows? if so, why, were the existing ones no good, or ??? what do you use for re-bedding material? [/quote]



Well, the old Beckson plastic ports were getting long in the teeth, 20 years in the Florida sun and with saltwater spray summer and winter, they were ok, but not great.
To fix the leaks I had to remove and re-bed the portholes anyways, why not install brand new ones?
The pain in the rear is the labor, not the materials.
(I get whole sale prices on most marine gear as I run a charter operation)
Paid $155 for the new Becksons rather than full retail @ $250.

I did a fairly detailed writing on the this, as well as all the other stuff I have done to the tub, look for a thread called Modifications, repairs and improvements, Albin 28TE.

In a nutshell, I started with Life-Seal white, but found it horrible to work with.
(Used clear Life Seal in the past, excellent stuff)
Not sure if my cartridge of white Life Seal was a dud, but switched to 3M 4000
White UV, much better stuff.

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[gmberkley]

I’ll check out your write up later tonight. Again. Thank you

[Nancy]

Just a note of caution here, Gregg - Norseman's ports are plastic and made by Beckson. Yours are stainless, and I'm not sure who the manufacturer is. Might be Bomar, but maybe not. Someone here will likely pipe up. In the meantime, look closely for the name of the manufacturer on your ports. Contact the manufacturer for their recommended procedure, and then you can decide how to proceed.

I'm not sure that butyl tape would be my first choice. Lots of reading here: https://marinehowto.com/bed-it-tape/

[gmberkley]

Nancy, thank you for you input, more research to do, this group is invaluable, great advise.

[Pitou]

per the attached picture a few of the windows have a stain going down the inside of the boat interior...........what could be the culprit, and how is it fixed? Any help/guidance would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance.

The staining indicates that your gasket sealing material has fractured and needs to be replaced.

I have the same port light windows in my 31 TE and needed to rebed one last year as one of the latching dogs had broken off at its weld point and needed to be removed to refasten the dog.

I contacted Bomar regarding the gasket material and they stated that they do not provide sealing gasket material and leave that selection to the installer. Albin had used a black rubber gasket that had fabric tape imbedded into it for strength.

I use butyl tape on any hardware that is bedded above the waterline. The tape is easy to work with, always seals out water/moisture, cleans up relatively easy and doesn't squeeze out when tightened leaving potential for voids as caulking materials can. I purchased 2 - rolls of butyl tape from Marine How To which Nancy linked in her reply and I use it every year to reinstall my antenna mast .. no leaks in 7 years.

As you have staining, which indicates water intrusion, that color in your photo indicates a wet wood core. When you remove the port light, be prepared for the need to remove the wet core and then fill with deck and putty. As best practice, seal all wood and filled areas with epoxy. I was lucky as all wood core was dry and just needed 3 - coats of epoxy to seal.

This project is certainly something that you can do yourself.

[gmberkley]

Kevin, great info, I assume I can dig out the soft wood, let the remaining area dry, and fill it back in with thickened epoxy, (I do have a lot of experience with epoxy), then re-install the window...........any secrets in using the butyl tape, never heard of it, let alone used it, any special size/thickness/width I should purchase?

thanks again, Kevin

[Pitou]

Gregg,
The butyl tape comes in only one thickness from Marine How To .. so what to buy is made easy for you. To apply just clean all surfaces with acetone and put one ribbon (I may have applied two) around the circumference of the port light and that's it. As you tighten the bolts pulling the inside and outside halves of the port light together you will "feel" the burly tape compress. Snug it up then clean any excess from the exterior fiberglass that may have squeezed out and you're done.

If you don't have one, consider buying a dremel tool and a couple of cutting wheels to grind any wet core away. You'll be grateful that you did .. it makes things easy peasy. You can pick one up for 25 to $50 at Lowe's or HD. From there you can utilize your epoxy skills!

[gmberkley]

thanks again Kevin, and to all who responded, can't thank you enough, bought the boat in December, and as I just took the shrink wrap off 3 weeks ago, I'm getting educated, and a lot more to do and learn. almost overwhelming,

windows, rub rail and bottom intake salt water strainer..........hope to replace both sinks as they were not kept up and are a mess.....that will be a future ask for guidance.