TriCabin Aft Hatch Seal

[Oxblood]

Hello all,

Well, I have sprung some leaks! The aft hatch is leaking, and previous owner did a botched job sealing it. I want to know what size windows seal/gasket material to put in there to reseal the hatch properly.

My salon starboard side windows have also sprung a leak, albeit very small. Does anyone have pointers on rebedding them?

Aaron also mentioned in a previous post he has the instructions for removing the cockpit area windows and frames. I also need to redo the seals/gaskets here, as the current "lets slap some more silicon caulking" method is not that good, and looks horrible.

Cheers,

Kai

[P-Dogg]

Is there none of the original seal left that you can measure to size the replacement? McMaster.com has an assortment of seals that will do the trick for you once you know what you need. See: http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-adhes ... am/=n0omh6 I believe I once told Aaron that the 1/4" x 1" was what he needed for his door.

[Oxblood]

Is there none of the original seal left that you can measure to size the replacement? McMaster.com has an assortment of seals that will do the trick for you once you know what you need. See: http://www.mcmaster.com/#standard-adhes ... am/=n0omh6 I believe I once told Aaron that the 1/4" x 1" was what he needed for his door.

P-Dogg,

Thanks for the reply. Right now I am afraid to rip open the hatch, as one of the previous owners crammed in a lot of caulking, and even and old tshirt to seal it up. I have adjusted my extrior canvas and by making sure it is in place properly I have stemmed the water intrusion. But until we get a lot better weather here (we are still getting a lot of rain), I am going to hold off on opening that hornet's nest.

[P-Dogg]

It is possible to open it without much difficulty though, right? While Aaron can attest that I use mine with regularity, it is after all, an emergency escape hatch. When you get around to replacing it, please report back, at least to Aaron. I don't think that he has done his yet and would probably like a pirep.

[P-Dogg]

Sorry -- just as I clicked submit, I noticed vernacular from my almost-former hobby. A pirep (pilot report) is a first-hand account of conditions, usually weather, but also other useful operational information. In this instance it would be hidden obstacles or other nice-to-knows about the seal replacement that wouldn't be readily apparent until you've been there.

[blair]

Or a NOTAM - Notice To Air Men.
As a rec.pilot and a new boater I almost daily find similarities between the two modes of transportation.The ones that stand out are 1) slow and small control inputs make big changes. 2) Each one takes up huge amounts of time in maintenance,and 3) Both are amazingly expensive.
As to the hatch,on my'79 Tri I think it's just a rubber seal.I like to open the hatch when I get on board and generally leave it open until the skeeters come out.As stated above,it is very usefull as an "escape hatch" and should probably be operational.Some time around '77 the hatch was made to open only from the inside?security issue I suppose.Regardless,I'm heading up to the boat for a few days this morning.I will take a look and see what's sealing mine.
As the pilots say "Blue skies and tailwinds!" Probably works for mariners,too?

[blair]

On my '79 Tri the rear hatch seal is a simple 1"x 1" closed cell foam strip applied to the door. It fits inside a channel and stands far enough off the height of the door to make a tight seal with the body of the cockpit.I weould imagine it is simply glued to the door frame interior channel. Hope this helps.

[Oxblood]

Sorry -- just as I clicked submit, I noticed vernacular from my almost-former hobby. A pirep (pilot report) is a first-hand account of conditions, usually weather, but also other useful operational information. In this instance it would be hidden obstacles or other nice-to-knows about the seal replacement that wouldn't be readily apparent until you've been there.

Similar jargon to a former profession of mine. Used to sending sitreps.

[Oxblood]

Thanks for the replies. I will hopefully able to get around to doing it soon, as it looks like we may be in for a couple of weeks of nice weather.

[Oxblood]

I have some time off coming up in August, and there are several tasks I wish to accomplish.

I would like to work on the salon windows, but I am not all that familiar with how they are mounted. I have very recently developed some weeping on the starboard side during heavy rains. I have used Captain Tolly's as a stop gap, run silicon bead around the mounting points for the grab rails, and tried my best using a spray on rubber compound to seal up the windows around the console/cockpit area.

Should I do a complete removal of the salon windows, or merely remove the outer fram, and reseal it? Either way, what is the proper procedure for doing so? I also noted the lower tracks are filthy, and I am not sure if there are any gaskets missing from there. The felt tracks seem clogged up, etc. Anyone familiar with the Tricabion salon windows and who can offer advice, awesome! I assume the aft windows for the stateroom are similar (1981 TriCabin with the sliders and not the portholes).

I would also like to reglaze the windscreen glass at the console. It is a mess. Some of the weather side gasket bead is gobne, and people looks to have been pumnping all sorts fo caulkin in there. What is the best way to redo these windows?

Thanks in advance,

Kai

[P-Dogg]

weeping on the starboard side during heavy rains

Are you sure that the lower window track is not just flooding, and that water isn't just working its way under the bottom edge of the glass before it can drain out of the track? That is the problem that I saw on a lot of the tricabs that I looked at. One thing on my to-do list is add RV gutter over the top of my salon windows. When it rains, all the water that hits the salon roof runs down onto the windows. I'd like to help it find a way around them.

very recently developed some weeping

Re-reading your post makes me wonder. If it is a new phenomenon, maybe the drains are clogged.

[gruhs]

My salon windows were leaking when I purchased the boat and the main problem were the drain holes in the bottom of the tracks were all plugged which was solved by using the shop vac in the tracks and then poking the holes open with a small rod of the appropriate size. Also the screws in the outside frame of our salon windows need to be tightened a couple times a season probably because of vibration.

[Oxblood]

weeping on the starboard side during heavy rains

Are you sure that the lower window track is not just flooding, and that water isn't just working its way under the bottom edge of the glass before it can drain out of the track? That is the problem that I saw on a lot of the tricabs that I looked at. One thing on my to-do list is add RV gutter over the top of my salon windows. When it rains, all the water that hits the salon roof runs down onto the windows. I'd like to help it find a way around them.

very recently developed some weeping

Re-reading your post makes me wonder. If it is a new phenomenon, maybe the drains are clogged.

I can see the wqeeping at the top. It is seeping in past the butyl tape just aft of the set of sliding windows. It is a very slow drip but annoying none the less. The boat does have a "track" above the windows which the canvas slides into, but it does not have much of a gutter.

The weeping started to occur after a warming up mid spring. We had a couple of weeks nice, sunny warm weather, then it turned as it is wont to do in vancouver, and started pouring again. This is when I noticed the leak. I typically do not put up the canvas on that side so that I can have some natural light in the cabin (I live aboard).

[Oxblood]

My salon windows were leaking when I purchased the boat and the main problem were the drain holes in the bottom of the tracks were all plugged which was solved by using the shop vac in the tracks and then poking the holes open with a small rod of the appropriate size. Also the screws in the outside frame of our salon windows need to be tightened a couple times a season probably because of vibration.

Thanks. I will be cleaning those soon. But as I noted above, the leak is from the top, and drips down onto the woodwork below the windows. It seeps in from the tape between the wood and aluminum frame at the top of the frame aft of the sliders. We have not had a super heavy rain recently, so I do not know if my application of beads of silicon to the mounting posts for the hand rails has had an effect, nor for that matter the hack job of rubber sealant applied to the windo frams around the console area.

That said, I am still considering resealing the windows, and want to know the best way. Do i just unbolt the outer fram, lift it out, clean up and apply something like butyl tape or Sikaflex? Also, has anyone reglazed the glass around the cockpit? Someone in the past had applied what looks like silicone caulking on the outside where the original glazing seal was removed (black vinyl insert).

Thanks for the feedback P-Dog and gruhs. I do appreciate the help.

[mark30h]

Our 79 tri starboard salon window began leaking this year at the rear due to the caulk seal around the outer window flange. We removed the window screws, pulled the window out far enough to access the mounting surface, cleaned and recaulked. I found that many of the screw holes in the fiberglass were stripped from years of retightening. A little epoxy and redrilling tightened the holes back up. No leaks since. My dockpartner had the same leak issue on their 86 tri as well. We did the same repair but it was evident that at some time Trojan switched to using 5200 sealer, making cutting the caulk, removing the window and preparing the surface a much more difficult chore.