Window replacement?

I have a a Rampart 32 Diesel Cruiser. She has a marine ply superstructure and the windows leak! So after much time spent trying to repair the leaks I have decided that maybe the best thing is to replace the existing sliding windows. The thing is that I would like to keep the integrity of the old style as shown in the attached photos. This consists of teak strips around the opening both inside and outside. There is a double channel glued onto the ply and the glass sits in this (you can just about see this in the middle photo where the bottom teak strip has been removed). Water has been getting in and I think this is because the glue/mastic has degraded or the mitred corners are no longer watertight. And this is now damaging the ply surround. So what would folk suggest I do? Ideally a timber framed window that could be inserted in the openings would be best. Or maybe a aluminium frame with teak covering it? Oh by the way, I live in Ireland so that may be a problem with finding suppliers/installers.
Thanks in advance for any help.

 

Welcome to the forum.

That style of sliding port, has been notorious on every boat. If they're well scuppered, they do seem to work fairly well, but they have to be kept clean.

You have a few choices, the easiest is to rebuild what you have, but you'll still have leaking ports without care. Replacement ports will need to be custom and this is costly.

Their shape is so odd, that I'll bet they've been changed out or modified already. My memory of these was a consistently rectangular set down the cabin sides. The top edges mimicked the roof line while the lower edge followed the deck, so they tapered a slight amount, going forward.

You can prevent moisture from getting into the plywood sides with some epoxy. It's likely the plywood has some rot and this will need to be cut out and replaced. Of course this will force you to paint the cabin sides, which may spoil the look. You can apply a veneer over the repairs areas, restoring the look and the varnish work. The teak trim is easy enough to fit and replace. Make the scuppers bigger than previously, to help mitigate moisture ingress.

 

Had similar issues on my 37 egg harbor. Plenty big drains, drain holes lined with 1/2 inch copper tube epoxied into the wood. But the problem was water getting into the seams and rot and leaks result. I ended up sealing under the tracks with liquid polyurethane as a coating which forms a bathtub with the drain at back end. Window base is slightly tilted to help it drain away. If I did it again today I would use Loctite S30 roof and flashing polyurethane smeared all over with my finger or a small putty knife to seal the window tracks. Absolutely will not crack and is waterproof. I sealed up areas on the bottom hull, going on 2+ years without a leak.

Cleans off hands easy with dish soap and a scrunge. Very similar to 5200 but softer with more yield.

 

@sdowney Thanks for the reply.Do you have a photo or drawing of how you did this. I'm not sure what you mean about forming a bath tub. Thanks.

 

Hi PAR, thanks for the reply and the welcome. You're quite right about the shape of the windows, they do follow the lines of the roof and deck. Photo of the original attached. This was why I was wondering about installing new windows because I suspect the track I used is not watertight at the corners. It's called Channel Mate by Beckson (http://www.beckson.com/channel.html). I'll try enlarging the scuppers also and see if that works. Joe

 

Photo attached this time!

 

The bottom of the windows sit in the bathtub.
Basically you have the house side of the upper hull, flat wood, into which is cut the large window openings. A thick piece about 2 inches in width the length of the window is attached to the house side forming the base upon which the sliding window track rests. And is attached so a 1/2 inch outer lip edge is maintained along the entire window glass length, so it drops down below the edge of the large window opening in the house side about 1/2 inch.

Then a taller thinner piece of wood is attached onto the base sticking up 1.5 inches above the top of the window base forming the inside edge of the bathtub. At the rear of the bathtub, an opening hole lined with in my case copper pipe drains out any water that collects.

I just described the window base. Of course this by necessity include the sides and also top of the windows with identical wood construction that forms an inner frame encircling the entire sliding set of windows, following whatever shape the windows might have, trapezoidal or rectangular.

Basically imagine a rectangular box framing the windows to which sliding window track is secured and this is attached to the house inside side of the boat. To this box on the inner side are attached thinner wood slats enframing the box designed to keep water in the 'bathtub'. Then the entire base part of the bathtub frame is sealed with epoxy or polyurethane coating to keep it dry.