Although I must admit that I quite liked the nice blue-dyed light that was shining through the blue garbage bags. I now returned just this weekend to finally finish this almost 2 year period of my windowless-boat.
#Porthole window van windows
Letting it dry over night (well, in fact some weeks due to my tight work schedule, to be honest) I gave the primer and the windows some time for settle down. The black stuff will protect the cement from UV – and it looks pretty cool as well The primer has two main duties here: First to form a UV-proof barrier to protect the cement from the rays of the sun, second to act as a sticky priming base for between cement and Plexi glass. I cleaned the Plexi glass thoroughly with a strong dissolvent and painted the thick, black primer onto it. Cleaning and priming the windowsĪnyway, by taking off the outside covering foil the inside part of the Plexi glass windows are now freed of the foil on exactly the amount of area which will later be the contact-surface between hull, cement and window. Why I do not use ordinary adhesives and sealants like Pantera? Well, my research into this topic brought me to this German company called Saba Adhesives and it was their profound counselling which brought me to trust in their products: And judging by the outcome of the dress rehearsal I did with their cement on the small head´s window (read it here) my trust was more than justified. Of course, they do work with much, much higher precision and surely the outcome of their work is way beyond the finishing-quality of my efforts, but nevertheless, it´s basically the same.
#Porthole window van professional
This is exactly the same technique applied by the professional yards and professional workers to cement their windows to the boats. Why am I doing this? Well, after the cut has been made, I repeated the cut without the template just to ensure that the foil can be removed on one side without taking with it foil from the other side because I wanted to remove the outer part of the foil, which I did on all four windows. I used a sharp carpet knife to cut the protective foil with which the Plexi glass windows are covered on both sides all around the wooden templates. Cutting out the see-through areas in the windows From making these panels I did save the cutouts which now served as perfect templates for the window openings, or the see-through areas. But first things first: Last weeks I was making some panels to cover both the navigation station and the galley. Nearly the same process will be applied to my boat. Normally, these windows are cemented to the hull – just like I am going to do – and in the yards, when done so, kind of pressure is applied to the windows so that the fresh cement may harden and form a firm bond with the boat´s hull. Roaming different boat shows in the past years and now working in the boating industry by myself I am accustomed to modern day mounting practices when it comes to porthole windows. Preparing the Plexi Glass Windows with Primer It took me about 2 hours and caused my arms aching in pain holding the pretty heavy sanding machine, nevertheless, it was a good feeling seeing the boat liberated from the garbage bags I used to cover the open portholes – for nearly two years now! So this is how time is flying when you are deciding to go for a yacht´s refit. That was a damn dirty sanding-job!Īnyway, now that the Silicone was gone I felt pretty satisfied. That was a tough work because with the screaming sander I had to be very, very cautious not to damage surrounding areas. So I had to grind off the gelcoat of the boat literally to the bare GRP – no other chance. Again: Don´t you ever use Silicone on a boat! The problem is that this stuff is so sticky to the surface on the one hand and so slippery on the other hand, that it won´t be a good base for the porthole cement I am going to use. Well, at first it was again putting on a breathing mask and taking the sander: I do not know why but the pre-owners of this King´s Cruiser 33 utilized ordinary kitchen sealant, say: Silicone, to attach the windows. So let´s roll! This is where I start: The sanded down gelcoat surface around the porthole openings in the yacht´s hull A job that is very important, not just because I do not wish to have water inside the boat when sailing, but for the whole refit process in the first place: Without having the windows being finished, I cannot go on inside the saloon fixing the Teak panels or the shroud-covering Teak furniture. This time: Cementing the new Plexi glass windows to the hull´s portholes. Wow, what a day this has been again! I finally found a nice weekend without any stress of my normal business at work to drive down to the marina again and do something nice on the boat´s refit.
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