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The windows on our Mk V are attached with four screws at the four "corners" and then sealed with silicon all along the perimeter. Having read the info on this site about windows makes me feel that this is not the way the boat came from the factory. My problem is that the silicon has come loose and the window on the starboard side is leaking badly. My question is, has anyone tried attaching the windows with more screws equally spaced along the top and bottom of the windows? Any problems with doing this? Any other suggestions?Gary
Mk V, #512
Gary
Mk V, #512
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Gary
I'm the owner of a Mark V #75, it is the boat featured in black Arts in the area dealing with window fixes. I strongly recommend that you NOT use screws to fix the window in place. The windows in the boat are designed to "float" in place, fixing them in place with screws will lead to cracks in the window or in the cabin top surrounding the windows. Imagine if you fixed the windshield of your car in place, it's designed to "float", as the car flexed as it goes down the road or as it expands or contracts in hot or cold something has to give, the same applies to your boat. The problem is that someone has used regular (marine or household) silicone to seal your windows, this stuff is terrible for this purpose. There is a specially formulated silicone type of adheasive, it's a two part product and is the only adheasive that will adhear to both the acrylic of the window and the fiberglass of the cabin top.
The only way to solve the problem is to remove the existing windows and carefully remove all traces of the silicone and clean both surfaces and then reinstall the windows.
you might consider contacting South Shore Yachts, you can get their contact info elsewhere in this web site, speak to Rob and get his suggestions, he may also be able to sell you the proper adheasive or puyt you intouch with a source.
Good luck, hope this is of some help.
Steve Reid
Still Knot Working Mk V #75
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From my experience with the similar window setup on a C&C24, the tricky part is clamping the windows in place while the proper sealer sets up. Cleaning out the old stuff is easy. I have seen some people , in similar situations, use a few screws for the clamping process, then after the sealer has setup, remove the screws and fill the holes with a clear resin. I plan on doing replacements on my markV during the upcoming off-season
In our club we have had great success with an alternative mounting for the 'bonded' windows used on late Mk III's, Mk IV's and Mk V's. The flaw with the methacrylate which C&C originally used to fix these windows is that it does not in fact allow the window material to 'float'. Instead, the acrylic becomes a rigidly attached part of the cabin structure. This leads to cracking of the gelcoat around the window as the acrylic expands under the heat of the sun at a different rate than the fiberglass surround.
A number of us at our club have removed the bonded windows and rebedded them in an entirely different style. For a sealer, we use the black mastic that is actually used for car windows by auto glass repair shops. This comes in a roll, similar to the grey butyl tape used on our toe-rails. The windows are then bolted in using either #8 or #10 bolts, with capnuts on the inside. It is important to oversize the holes in the acrylic when drilling, so that the window can truly 'float' in the mounting and respond to thermal expansion. If you are using #10 bolts, they normally require a 3/16" hole, so you might oversize the holes in the acrylic to somewhere between 1/4" and 5/16". The matching holes in the fiberglass should be the correct size (eg. 3/16"). DO NOT put bolts in at the corners, as they will probably crack! A 4" to 6" spacing between the bolts is perfectly adequate. I used flat-head bolts and cup washers on the outside, to cover the over-size holes in the acrylic.
This process has been successful, leak-free and crack-free on a number of boats in our club over the past years.
Marcus,
C&C 27 Mk III, Carriden
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