Rebeding Windows

[CARL GUZMAN]

I'm Going To Need To Get My Front Windows Done Soon Should I Try Doing It Myself How Complicated Is It Really??? Anyone Do It Before?? Looks Like My Rubber Shrunk Some And Leaks Now..

[Nonchalant1]

Carl,

I redid my 3 big front windows (1978 53MY) last summer, including replacing the center window which had a small crack in it. I think you have the same 3 plus a curved one on each side. I did this one year ago and they have been completely waterproof ever since, inculding some really hairy stuff, like green water coming over the bow and slamming the windshields. You definitely can do it yourself. Call Steve McPhereson at SAM's and order the correct bedding strips, spline strips and a piece of keeper shim strip from wich you can cut new keepers. He can also tell you the preferred sealant (like Boatlife Caulk, or polysulfide caulk). Don't use any caulk except what he tells you, even if a local genius tells you "this other stuff is better".

Go here to read the old "how-to" on SAM's Tips and tricks website:
http://www.samsmarine.com/tipstricks.htm

Then go here to see Jimmy Watts help for me when I was doing it.
http://www.samsmarine.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1641

To those two things, I'll add the following comments:

Make 2 or 3 "picks" you can use to dig sealant out of the nooks and crannies in the aluminum extrusion frames. I hope you have never had anybody use silicone to rebed them (see Watt's writeup). Mine were original caulking stuff. These picks should have something you can use as a handle and a right angle bend in them with a sharp point. See picture below. The small one with the handle was an exacto knife handle and a 3 in. steel screw shank bent and sharpened. These will become your most used tools. Be careful to not put any pressure on the edge of the glass windows with the picks as you're digging it out. Glass breaks more easily from an edge than from a flat surface and even the smallest crack will propogate. If you have or see any small cracks, replace that entire window. You don't want to do this twice.

If your inside fittings are all OK, you can do it with the windows in place. If they are damaged or need replacement you have to take the windows out, dig out the glazing and clean up and then put back in new. I did two in place and one with everything new.

If you need to replace any glass, the type of glass in my 1978 53MY was 1/4 inch laminated safety glass with a tint called "SOLEX". This tint was introduced for automobiles 30 years ago and is still available today. People also use tempered glass, which is much stronger but has to be made to spec. and if it ever breaks, it breaks into 1,000 pieces and leaves no protection from water intrusion. If laminated glass breaks, it usually stays there and still keeps the water mostly out.

Get two cheap suction cup glass lifters. They let you handle big glass panes from the front. Also wear good gloves when handling glass. I got some with very thick nitrile rubber grips on fabric gloves and they were great.

Clean out the aluminum frames prefectly. I mean get every piece of visible sealant out of there; vacuum it out for dust and crud, scrub it with alcohol and a nylon dish sponge, do it again and keep it clean when you reinstall. The cleanliness of the channel and the glass is important for good sealing. Mine still had little areas in the corners where I couldn't get everything out, but all the sealing surfaces were really clean. Imagine where the water could touch the glass and the extrusion channel to get in all the way around and those are the places to get really clean.

The frames are necessarily bigger than the windows to allow for the sealant, so remember to put some small pieces of retainer strip at the bottom of the windows inside the frame to hold the glass up so it is well centered in the frame. Gravity wants to pull it down too low in the frame so these hold it up at the right height and have to be small enough to also become completely covered by the caulk from the front so they don't interfere with sealing the window.

Get plastic sheeting and duct tape to cover the window openings when you're not working in them. I believe it took me 2 days total. Give yourself 4 days, I'd say. You may need help if you have to remove those curved windows to replace the inside bedding. However long it takes you, you're saving about $100 per hour and you know it's being done right, so work on and be happy.

When you put the spline strips on after caulking the windows, you "squirk" as Jimmy says, sealant under the splines and it oozes out from underneath them when you press them back in place. You leave the glops and gobs of caulk that oozed out just like that until it cures, then you cut it off with a razor blade and it looks perfect since all the globs were against glass and get cut and scraped off with the razor blade. Don't try to wipe it or it'll just get on the splines. Simply push the splines down against the glass while the caulk is wet and let it cure. Looks ugly for a day and then magically it looks perfect when cut off. I wasn't able to master the trick of heat welding the spline strips together at the corners, but that's no problem. I just miter-cut the splines there like a picture frame and smoothed a little caulk material over the seam, which works fine so far.

Good Luck,

Doug Shuman

[Fanfare]

Here's a tip on picking out the new glass, if needed. If you wear polarized sunglasses (not just tinted ones) take them with you to preview the type of window glass you pick out. Some glass looks patchy through polarization due to the tinting material the manufacturer uses. (The polarization in your glasses cancels the light coming through the windows.) Much better to find this out before installation!!

[CARL GUZMAN]

Thanks Alot Guys, ....i Don't Have The Curved Windows But Two Extra Side Ones But I Think There Ok So I'll Start With The 3 Front Ones. I Feel Better Now Going For It ....again Thanks Alot....

[mstailey]

Carl,
I would suggest contacting Jimmy Watts (he is on this forum) and look into having it done. Yes, you can do it yourself but I just had Jimmy do all my windows and it was a first rate job. When I consider what my time was worth, having a professional do the job and knowing it was done and I did not have to think about it anymore, it really is quite cheap having Jimmy do the work.

[Scott Mather]

Just did five of our salon windows last week, and discovered the perfect tool for digging out the caulk on the last window!

Was replacing carpet and purchased a carpet cutting utility blade with curved end that fits standard utility knive. This happens to be perfect angle to easily remove the caulk with the window in our out.