Pilot House Rot

[sail149]

Jay
How lucky to have the metal windows,
Us folks with the older wood have more issues.
W

[Jay Knoll]

Finally got the cavity dried out, the cardboard trick worked pretty well. Stuff pieces in, let the wick up water, pull them out, turn end for end, stuff the dry end back in, let the wet end dry out. Repeat until the pieces come out dry.

Decided to stick with the exterior ply option. I ran a 1/2" piece thru my planer until I got it to "just" fit into the cavity. I put several coats of West system on the wood with lots of attention to the bottom edge. I'm going to have to fit the pieces in stages, just can't put one piece in and get it past the slanted ends of the window opening.

First piece in today, I brushed lots of west into the cavity, then I coated the bottom half of the board I was inserting in the cavity with West system. Slipped that in far enough to hold it in place, and then coated the top half with West, drove it home, and put the clamps on. You'll notice that I left it proud, I'm going to make a template of the window and check the size of the opening, I'm going to get it as tight as I can. There was a ton of caulk around the old window, just plain bad workmanship which probably contributed to the rot problem.

Here is where I am so far

[billheadjr]

Hi Jay,

Not sure what you have for glass track using aluminum window frames, but on my 1988 A27 FC with teak window trim, the double track was stainless with a felt like liner and a Teflon strip where the glass slides.

900636_2.jpg

If this is what you have, Defender Marine has the exact replacement. It's a little expensive though. I replaced mine using this several years ago, but if I had to do it again, I might consider going with the other suggested products.

http://www.defender.com/product3.jsp?pa ... 7&id=48552

Hope this helps.

[Jay Knoll]

Thanks Bill

I puttered around with the window frame trying to figure out how to pull the tracks out, couldn't make much headway. Then I took a closer look and realized that all the tracks really needed was a good cleaning to get the accumulated "stuff" off of the fuzzy size pieces (sorry can't remember the technical term)

So I'm now in painting mode while the rotted areas in the cabin side are being epoxied. It is 80 today so I'll be able to get another piece in and be assured that the epoxy will kick.

More later, progress is being made albeit slow progress.

Jay

[JT48348]

Jay,

I went through the same thing. Ended up using the double track channel from Beckson. It has a nice tight grip on the 1/4 inch glass. Have you checked the joint between the pilot house and cabin top? You might find an unwanted surprise there also. The joint on my boat was covered by a strip of teak.
Vic

Capt Vic: which channel did you go with? Looks like there's a double channel for 1/4" and one for 3/16" glass. Did you buy enough channel to do the entire circumstance of the sliders?

Are you satisfied with how tight the Becskson channel holds the sliders? Any feedback?

Thanks
JT

[Vic K]

I used the Beckson channel. It's been over a year now and very happy with it. I used it all around the frame, nice snug fit on the glass. Be sure to install weep (drain) holes.

Vic

[JT48348]

Ok. There appears two sizes available. My glass looks original at 1/4" thick.

Where did u put the weep holes? Along bottom rail near ends so it drains where?

[Vic K]

Yep. at the end. Drains out through the frame.
Vic

[NickScheuer]

Builders use 3M 5200 when they want an adhesive/sealant to leak which won't leak. After all, how many boats get their windows changed?

[JT48348]

Working mine now. No rot, just separation of inner skin from balsa core.

[JT48348]

Takes a few clamps and some thickened epoxy to wet everything out and clamp the skins back tight.

To me this is another sign of poor boatbuilding. I can understand using balsa core to save money. But it's unacceptable to not seal the openings with at least a coat of resin before the pilothouse windows are installed.

Just like half-glassing the forward cabin sides this cutting corners at its best.

[JT48348]

Solid pilothouse now.

[JT48348]

I'm about to begin refinishing my pilot house frames and trim work. Many of my frames have come apart due to hardware and glue failure. Some pieces have chipped or broken pieces of teak.

My normal procedure for broken pieces of teak is to epoxy them back together (if the pieces fit well). When sanded the epoxy is virtually invisible Edith the grain.

On the window frame joints I'm thinking the same thing. A little epoxy to hold the frame together since I don't want to crack the frames with new hardware and I don't think the holes will hold anything any way. I'm wondering if anyone else has done this.

I'm a little concerned about joint expansion with weather changes. I thought about glue of some sort. But I like the idea of one piece frames that I can drop back in. They came out in one piece with ease, they just fell apart in the shop while moving around.

Any opinions?

[JT48348]

I'm referring to the exterior trim frames, the ones without glass

[Jay Knoll]

Sorry Joe, I have the metal windows so no help here