180 Feet of fuzzy stuff arrived today...

[MikeP]

Yep, time to do the windows so the fuzzie stuff and an appropriate amount of plastic track material showed up from Sams today so I guess I'll start on that tomorrow!

I've never done it but I've read some of the past threads. I've seen comments from "one of the easiest things I've ever done," to "worst job I have had to deal with on my Hatt." So it should be an interesting experience. I have plenty of plastic and duck tape so should things go badly awry I can use that to seal up the window opening and be Stylin' in the trailer park manner.

 

[jim rosenthal]

Don't say we didn't warn you. I thought it was a huge pain in the butt. Not only that, it's probably time to do it again. Noooooooooooooooooooo...

 

[Angela]

I'm a member of the "worst job I've ever had to do" club. Sadly, it's time to do mine, too. I'll wait for winter, cooler weather when I can enjoy the outdoors.

 

[dottieshusband]

Well, I haven't replaced the fuzzy tracks, but I have removed the window glass... And it was much easier than expected. Make sure you have the window glass suction cups. I got mine at Harbor Freight, and I found Popsicle sticks, or craft sticks as they are now called, very helpful in removing and replacing the glass.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

I replaced all of the glass, fuzzies, and plastic slider several years ago. This year, I just pulled the glass and scrubbed the tracks with water and a stiff brush. They cleaned up like new.

 

[lumina]

I'm a member of the "worst job I've ever had to do" club. Sadly, it's time to do mine, too. I'll wait for winter, cooler weather when I can enjoy the outdoors.

Hi All,

I'm with Ang on this one, one of the worst, and I too noticed yesterday they need redoing. They were last done in 2008.

 

[MikeP]

A casual pre-lim look reveals that, as has been noted by others, the glass will not lift out without a bottle jack to sightly raise the widow frame. I don't have one of those so acquiring a bottle jack will be my first duty tomorrow. I may have to check with my heavy-equipment supplier if the local hardware store or auto parts store doesn't have one in stock.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

Mike,
Cut a 2x4 about 1/4" larger than the opening and drive it in there with a hammer. That should do the trick if you don't have a jack. It doesn't take much.

 

[lumina]

A casual pre-lim look reveals that, as has been noted by others, the glass will not lift out without a bottle jack to sightly raise the widow frame. I don't have one of those so acquiring a bottle jack will be my first duty tomorrow. I may have to check with my heavy-equipment supplier if the local hardware store or auto parts store doesn't have one in stock.

Hi All,

Mike, the bottle jack, a small one from autozone ($29 I think) did the trick for us, along with the suction cups. Remember to use a piece of 2x4 to spread out the force on the frame and remember also you only need to jack it up ever so slightly.

 

[Angela]

My aft deck windows were so easy to lift out. The salon windows needed the bottle jack which I bought at Harbor Freight for $4.99, yes four dollars and 99 cents, plus tax. Then came the hard part...for all you fresh water guys up north whose boats spend 8 months a year in a shed, yes this probably is an easy job. In the salty places, not so much fun. I had to pick out the fuzz with dental picks. I broke several doing it and had to buy quite a few of them. Putting the fuzz back in was not as hard, but not one strip of fuzz on the boat anywhere did the "thread them in the track at one end and just pull it through. I had to use a tiny screwdriver and a dental pick to get the fuzz backing strip down into the groove. I'm sure my salty frames are not in the same pristine condition as a freshwater boat, and that's one of the prices to pay for living in paradise, I suppose.

Ditto for the glides - they came out in very small pieces. Every now and then I'd get lucky and get a chunk out that was about 1/4" long.

At this point, I have, under my ownership, re-fizzed and re-glided every window. Now, it's time to do it again, starting with the aft deck. It's on the list for December or January. I hope it will be a tad easier this time since the stuff isn't 20+ years old this time around.

 

[holtcl]

Mike- I'm reading this "pre-coffee" but I think I may have a bottle jack in one of my engine rooms. Feel free to come by and knock on the boat and we can check it out if you like.

"Your friendly tool rental place on G-Dock"

Cheryl
Cinderella
1971 53 MY

 

[MikeP]

I was thinking that my usual heavy equipment supplier might save the day!

 

[holtcl]

LOL- I'll pull it out and have a look- grabbing a cup of coffee now...will be around.

Cheryl

 

[MikeP]

Oh NO, now I actually have to do the work! C just brought me a bottle jack! My only hope was not being able to find one which would have given me an excuse to forget about it for now. RATS!



I'll post some pics as I proceed...

 

[34Hatt]

Hi All,

I'm with Ang on this one, one of the worst, and I too noticed yesterday they need redoing. They were last done in 2008.

Wow 6 years old and needs to be done again?
Isn't that kind of fast?

 

[MikeP]

One problem...and a solution to a different one...

The problem - I can't get the aluminum trim/window-pull off the end of one of the window on the Starboard side so there is no clearance to lift the window out of it's track because the trim hits the upper track almost immediately. The trim came off the other window easily - in fact it nearly fell off and that window came out with the help of Cheryl's bottle jack. I thought about cutting a bit of the upper part of the AL trim with a dremel but I don't want to cut the anodized AL if I can help it.

SO... (and this is a solution to a different problem that might help...

Initially picking out the old fuzzy was a real PITA and there was no way to slide it out as some have found it possible. BUT It suddenly popped into my head...HEAT. What works really well is a heat gun. If you heat the track/fuzzy, the plastic backing on the fuzz that fits in the track softens and it will just peel out in one long strip. If you fail to heat the track enough, he fuzzy will peel and then break where it wasn't warm enough but you can just start it again with a custom pick tool (made from a piece of coat hanger sharpened to point like a chisel blade and curved as necessary) heat the track again, and off you go. You can pull one complete track of fuzzy with the heat gun in a minute or two.

Now for the maybe solution - I can pull the fuzzy from the track where the one piece of glass is still in place by just moving the glass from one side to the other. This will mean that when the new fuzzy goes back in, it will have to be in two pieces for each length of the upper and lower track for that window but I can't see how that would matter. Same is true of the plastic track material. I'm NOT 100% sure this will work as far as installation of the new fuzzy with that window but if so, it would eliminate having to cut the AL trim to remove the window.

So the primary tools have been: Heat gun, coathager pick, needle nose pliers (to grab the end of the fuzzy to pull it out of the heated track.

 

[MikeP]

Well...I COULD reinstall the new material with that window in place but I don't want to; I want to pull that trim off and remove the window. I tried heat on the trim piece but that didn't do any good; I tried dribbling lacquer thinner in to see if it would soften the adhesive but no luck there either. I suppose ENOUGH heat might do it but that would mean a torch as opposed to a heat gun and I'd rather not do that.

How have folks tremoved that window trim so the glass can lift up high enough to clear the bottom track?

 

[Blaine Thorpe]

How have folks tremoved that window trim so the glass can lift up high enough to clear the bottom track?

Mike,

I used a block of wood and a rubber mallet. I do have to say I wasn't too worried about the glass as it was already cracked, and I was going to replace it.

Another option... can you slide that glass to the other end of the track and replace it that way?

As for installing the "fuzzy stuff", try putting one side of it in the track and using a screen roller tool to help push it in as you work forward.

 

[MikeP]

If I could have removed that window trim I'd be done now! (Or if I worked "around" the glass, I'd also be done by now!)

The glass will slide to either end of the track but that trim only allows the glass to move upward about 1/16", not near far enough to lift out of the lower track. I've been afraid to try the wood block/hammer method for fear it could end up breaking the glass but I guess at worst I can buy a new piece of glass...

 

[rsmith]

Where's the pictures??? Your slacking on us Mike!!!