Windows

[Marinka]

My windows are badly crazed and looking at some pictures on this site there are some really nice, tinted windows. One thing - Top Hats have large windows which always have been abit of a no no for going to sea and no means of fastening storm boards over them. the photos of boats that have circumnavigated or taken part in Pacific crossings or the solo transtasman race don't seem to have any means of fitting storm boards in place - may be wrong there - any comments on these? Any comment on the best means of renewing/replacing the windows? Cheers Peter

[storm petrel]

I had Storm Petrel's windows replaced by the John who puts the little yellow add in every Afloat mag. It cost $800 from memory and he did the job very professionally on the mooring. He fitted over-sized tinted windows that were a little thicker than the old perspex ones and dispensed with the old aluminium frames. He said that he had fitted similar sized windows to several yachts that had since made successful ocean crossing and claimed he had never had a problem. He seemed to be very honest and I am happy to recommend him. You would save quite a bit of cash doing it yourself but like bathroom tiles if your mess it up you would look at it every day.

Cheers,
Mark

[auriga]

I replaced the windows on Auriga a year or two ago when we rebuilt her. The style of window on auriga may be different to yours (mine are just perspex secured to the outside, not fitted). I had them made up by a company called plastix in brookvale, from memory it was about $400 all up and the look nice

Hope that helps

[Tales]

Peter,
Nick Creech wrote me this when I had a similar query. He is refering to White Tie and the 1978 Solo Trans Tasman.

"The key to drown proofing a Top Hat is to be able to fit really solid storm boards to the windows (I had them permanently bolted in place) and to be able to block the bottom half of the companion way semi-permanently, at least at sea. I left myself only a little crawl hole over a permanent fixture on White Tie, which probably saved her from sinking (got pooped, crash-gybed and partially swamped when she could have filled completely). The lack of a bridge deck is the boat's only real weakness, balanced by the fact that it doesn't have a sliding hatch which is often, itself, a fail point. Not hard to work a positive but removable system. The standard storm boards are a bit of death trap. The taper means they can float out or fall out very easily. If nothing else, they need retaining lines so that you can't lose them altogether."

I had new windows made up for Tales and fitted them a couple of years ago. They are the long one piece ones. They worked fine for a while then started to leak a bit.
Eventually traced it to the cabin roof/deck flexing and making the sealing rubber creep.
The original windows in Tales had an aluminium trim inside with a vertical brace half way along. Now I know why!
Currently making a stainless steel brace to join the cabin top and deck inside the window. Will post details when I finish the installation.
Cheers,
Tom

[Marinka]

Thanks Tom - looking at the picture of White Tie, it appears to be a form of perspex or plastic - is the storm boards he is talking about some form of plastic clear window that is bolted in place? I guess I am thinking that to make it seaworthy putting very strong plastic -lexan?- and not sure of the required thickness. Also how to attach - as have read in 'thecoastal passage' about using double sided tape and essentially glueing and not using bolts or screws - I would be concerned that it is not strong enough - I will keep learning about this before changing. Cheers Peter

[Maggsy]

Sea Monkey has been fully timber lined with small portholes on the inside of the perspex windows to allow for ocean journeys.

SeaMonkey Inside.jpg (35.3 KiB) Viewed 2837 times

[Tales]

Hi Peter,
The White Tie storm boards were boards not plastic.
Lexan has some great load carrying properties and there are some beaut videos on the web of motorcycle windscreens being assaulted with all kinds of projectiles including shot gun pellets. However motorcycle windscreens are curved and not rigidly mounted.
Also, data I have seen suggests that in tension its strength is little better than acrylic. Drill a few mounting holes around the edge and subject it to a load from the side (big wave) and tensile loads will be put on the material around the holes.
3M make double sided tape which is used to bond bus body work to the frames and it works very well. Check out any bus for rivets and not too many will be seen.
Trouble is one needs a parallel surface between the Lexan and the cabin. I looked at this method to re-window Tales but found that the top edge and the bottom edge of the window cut-out were not in the same line. Check with straight edge.
I imagine Lexan clamped in and well backed would be a good fix but it all got too hard for me and I had new frames made up.
Very interested in your final choice so please keep us posted!
Cheers,
Tom