FRONT WINDOWS F25

[larglo]

Hi all,

I'm on my way to the marina after posting this, to remove one of the front windows of the cabin. The windows leak because the rubber seal that goes around the rim are dry rotted, and all corners are missing causing major leaking.
After removing the windows, one at a time, then remove window from frame, clean up the frame and repaint. On the boat, I want to clean up all sealant that was added around the edges, sand and repaint, white.
I then want to apply window shade tinting, (black) so very little light will get through.

Now here is my problem,,,,,,resealing the window back into the frame. I doubt if I will be able to get the original rubber seal to install, unless I pay an arm and a leg for it, if I did find it?

So, I thought, who better to ask about how to do it, than you all.

My thoughts are,,,apply a sealant to bottom edge of the frame, then place window inside frame.
After that, use a paintable sealant on the outside of the frame, smoothing it at an angle, as one would in a home window.

After that, I can tape off around edges of the sealant and paint it black, the same as I will the frame.

Does this process sound,,,,sound? Am I missing anything?

Any and all suggestions will be appreciated.

Larry

[rooferdave]

for what it is worth, I do a lot of waterproofing on buildings, 27 years (I realize this is a boat) imo anything paintable will not be flexable enough for this application, for sealing I would look at the tremco dymonic in black, it has a lifespan of 20 yrs plus, remains flexible and has great adhesive properties. However lets see what those with more marine experience have to say

[captainmaniac]

I think there have been a few other threads in the past about replacing or rebedding the front windows on the F25... you should check out what others have done and ping them to find out how things are holding up.

[randyp]

When I replaced the front windows on the BH (F26) I used butyl tape to bed the windows to the frame and then used black silcone around the outside edges. I made the line of sealant very thick (about 3/8" wide) and then "tooled" the sealant with ice cubes. The silicone will not stick to the ice and the result is a very smooth, very shiny black exterior seal that replaces the original rubber gasketing. I used blue masking tape around the sides of the window and frame to prevent any extra silicone from getting on areas I did not want it. Peeled off the tape before the silicone cured (within the first 30 minutes of finishing the job). I did this over 6 years ago and they still look pristine. I used smoked Lexan (polycarbonate) as the replacements. This comes in all sorts of shades. Just be sure that whatever plastic you use you leave some room for expansion of the plastic in the hot sun. If you make it flush to the sides of the metal frame it will eventually crack alon the edges due to the pressure. 1/16 to 1/8 inch should be plenty.

[larglo]

Thanks to all, suggestions have been most helpful.

Larry