Rebedding F26 Front Window

[The Dog House]

Since my front window has been leaking, I decided to take it out and reseal it with butyl tape. The window was held in place by 80 screws. I first tried using a cordless drill to take out the screws, but the torque was too great and I ended up snapping the first few screws in half. I ended up taking the rest out by hand, being careful not to apply too much torque. Even using this technique I still snapped a few more. I think the screws were at the end of their useful life. I drilled out the screws that snapped and will be using new stainless steel screws when I reinstall the window.

After all of the screws were removed, I tried to push the window out from inside the cabin. The window did not budge at all. I then tried hitting the window frame with a rubber mallet to try and jar it loose, but again it did not move.

The sealant that was used was acting as a glue. I had to use screwdrivers to pry the frame away from the cabin and then use a razor knife to cut away the sealant. This loosened the window a bit, but it still was not leaving its current position. We then used a claw hammer to pry the frame up from the outside while another person used a razor knife on the inside to cut away the rest of the sealant. This did the trick, and we were able to remove the window after this.

Below are pictures of the inside of the window frame and the cabin roof and sides before the old sealant was scraped off. The window frame sits in the hole with a lip surrounding it to fasten the frame to the cabin. I'm now in the process of scraping and sanding everything to get it ready to reinstall. I'll post updates as the project progresses.

[MattSC]

Looks like it's coming along, it seems all too familiar. I was lucky enough to get all of my screws out without breaking any of them. Make sure you get all of the old sealant off of the frame, it will take awhile, but you need it all off to get a good seal. When you remove all of the sealant off of the cabin top, you will notice that you have several screws that are countersunk. Those screws hold the interior wood trim frame inside the cabin. If you remove them, your headliner will drop down, and will be tough to get it back in place without any wrinkles. I ended up replacing the headliner while I had the frames out. As far as the the new screws, I punched all of them into a piece of cardboard, so I was able to spray them, and had them all handy when I reinstalled the frame. Make sure you get the same length, if you don't you run the risk of coming through the interior wood frame in the cabin. I bedded my frames with 3m 4000 UV. Look forward to seeing how it works out for you

[wolfnnj]

I don't envy this project I had a small leak in my front window as well but I think I was lucky I found a hole in the gasket and filled the hell out of it with 5200 that was two seasons ago and still no leaks. If you need any help let me know.

[lawyerdave71]

Oh Yeah this is a pain in the butt job!!

It will take a while for the windows to settle.

I had canvass made for my front windows and I recommend it. Water rolls right off the canvass and helps keep the windows dry.

[prowlersfish]

Oh Yeah this is a pain in the butt job!!

It will take a while for the windows to settle.

I had canvass made for my front windows and I recommend it. Water rolls right off the canvass and helps keep the windows dry.

That's what fixed my leak too

[yorklyn]

after removing as much of the buytl tape as possible from my portholes with a scraper,I had a small amount of success soaking them in mineral spirits ,scrape them repeat. obviously yours are too big to soak but spirits on a rag may help with the final cleaning.
one tool that I could not due without while working on my boat is my rigid 18volt impact driver. When I was using my cordless drill on stainless screws, i was breaking or striping a 3rd of them. I cant even remember the last time I did that while using the impact driver. Its also a huge help when installing screws as the impact hammer keeps you from striping the heads.
Good luck with the windows!

[The Dog House]

I finished scraping off all of the old sealant and sanding down the window frame and fiberglass. I used two rows of butyl tape on the window frame to seal it when I put the window back into the fiberglass hole.



I needed to use two rows to get the butyl tape past the ridge that was at the outside edge of the screw holes. It looks like this ridge is the primary way that the frame seals to the fiberglass.

The screws I took out of the frame were silicon bronze oval head #10 x 1 1/4 screws with a Frearson head. Silicon bronze has very good corrosion resistance, but breaks fairly easily. This is why I broke several screws when I removed them. I wanted to use stainless steel screws because they have good corrosion resistance and are stronger than silicon bronze. I found stainless steel oval head #10 x 1 1/4 screws, but could not find any with a Frearson head. The only screws I could find had a slotted head.






The disadvantage of the slotted head is the groove could allow water to get past the screw. To make sure water doesn't make it past the screw head, I wrapped each screw in butyl tape to make a watertight seal.



Here's a picture of the installed screws with the excess butyl tape removed.



I still have to sand the window frame and paint it once the shrink wrap is removed. Once I paint it the screws won't be noticeable.