corrosion of alloy window frames - need help!

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Whitty

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Hi
Just wondering if any one out there can help, I have just noticed that there is slight corrosion starting on the aluminium window frames next to the rubber seal adjacent to the glass, there are tiny little holes with white powder around the area. Does any one have a miricle cure or is it a case of taking the frames out to reapair or replace? The boat is a 14 year old Halberg Rassey.
Looking forward to hearing from all you alloy experts.
 
The coating has failed, you don't say if they are anodised or powder coated.

The long term fix is to get them re anodised, not too expensive.

Short term you can rub ib some Vaseline or better a Lanolin based lubricant.

A mono hull we owned some years back was over 30 years old and the anodised alloy window frames were coated with lanolin about every 3 to 6 months and they looked like they were just a couple of years old.

We live on the coast and treat all the house windows and sliding doors with lanolin and they still look great after more than 20 years.

Hope this helps.

Avagoodweekend......
 
I had this when the rubber seal started to break down, so if there's any water coming in at all then get the seals replaced quickly. If, like me you don't, then it's possible to bed the windows in using sikaflex instead of rubber channel.
 
Afraid I have to disagree with oldsaltoz this time.

Re-anodising is a definite waste of time (try a search for previous posts on this subject) because the remains of the existing anodising needs to be removed, usually by acid dipping. This exposes tiny holes you never even knew existed!!

When the frames are re-anodised, ALL these imperfections show up - and the frames look DREADFUL!

I know. I tried precisely this operation on my Fulmar's alloy windows and it was a complete waste of money. I insisted the company doing the work did it again, and they 'heavy polished' the frames to reduce the pitting and re-anodised them. Still awful, so I threw them away and bought new.

May I strongly suggest that you do the same, otherwise you will be very, very disappointed.
 
I would suggets you speak to Andy at South East marine windows about making you up some new window frames. I have just done this on my Co32 and it was a lot cheaper than I thought it would be. Google will find them.

It may be worth a phone call.
 
Funny, my HR has developed the same problem this year on one of the windows. I'm planning to replace the window this winter, new (original) windows can still be ordered via www.hr-parts.com.

My guess is that the origin of the corrosion is the stainless steel screws that are used to assemble the inner and the outer (alu) frame. So I have little faith that it will be possible to take the window out, fix it and put it back without ending up with a lot of problems like screws that are completely impossible to remove without drilling them out.

Cheers,

Arno
 
SOme of Jissel's windows were in a poor state, with holes right through the frames, but when I found out the price of new, I decided to have a go myself.

I stripped the and cleaned frames then attacked the corrosion with a burr ball in a Dremel clone (don't know the correct term, but it's like an oversized dentists drill) in a Dremel clone.

I then filled the holes with platic metal and sprayed with Smoothrite silver. One's now a year old and looks as good as new.

Somewhat labour intensive, with lots of wet & dry work to get a good finish prior to painting, but 1/10 the price of the new frame
 
Did you just rub down with your 'miniature dentists tool' and fill with plastic before painting or did you use the 'Special Metals Primer' that is recommended for use on alloy? I have just bought a tin of the primer and am about to test it out on some old frame.
 
Thanks for all your suggestions, looks like short term I will be rubbing in a baby oil or lanolin and long term saving my pennies to buy knew. Thanks again
 
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