replacing/refurbing windows in hard dodger

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steve yates

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I have removed the perspex/acrylic (cant tell) windows from my longbows hard dodger, there was no sealant betwwen the windows and the fibreglass though there are faint traces that inidicate there may have been at one time. They are screwed directly into the fibreglass shell of the dodger with small bolts/nuts, no washers and overlap the cut out edgesby about a cm.

When putting them back in, should I be putting some kind of sealant on the perspex or is the overlap relied on to keep out water? Or even putting a neoprene seal around the windows and relying on the compression from screwing back in to act as a good seal?

The wndows themselves are quite misty and scratched. Will try and clean them up, but if they need replacing, any reccomendations for suppliers who can cut new ones from these as templates? preferably in essex but suffolk or kent might do once we open up again (or via courier)

Thanks.
 
I have used Hadlow marine for what you describe more than once, expensive I thought but an excellent job, they are usually busy so need to book the job with them well in advance.
they are in Kent....
 
How big are they? You can buy different sized pieces inexpensively and cut them to size and drill them yourself if you're careful. Use a small flat washer between screw/bolt head and window to spread the load (do not countersink) but If it was me I'd use a good quality adhesive sealant and not rely on any bolts/screws that you might use to attempt to maintain a seal, the pressure required would mean it'll crack. There are a number of different ways including using butyl tape instead of sealant, have a look on Youtube...

Edit - just seen your pics it'll make a world of difference being able to see through them properly, well worth doing...
 
Expect to pay £80 to £100+ each dependant on size if you get a specialist, (
Hadlow etc)
most cost effective is as V1701 suggests look on eBay for acrylic /Perspex and have a go yourself
 
I've used a firm called Cut Plastic Sheeting a couple of times now for acrylic. You can cut it by careful use of a jigsaw, and the blade I've found to work best has been Bosch "cleanwood", which has what looks like quite a coarse blade but gives an ok edge finish which i then finished off by light use of a random orbital sander around the edges. Don't use hacksaw or fine tooth type blades as all they seem to do is melt the acrylic and get stuck. For sealant, my 'go to' would be butyl tape, which will squeeze down slightly when the nuts and bolts are tightened (no need to go too tight) and if you want a really neat finish, if left for a few weeks to harden slightly, can be trimmed with a knife and the excess 'rolled' away. The thicker the acrylic, the easier it seems to be to cut. I used some 10mm offcut I had recently to make a lower washboard.
 
As v1701 says, diy as it's an easy job. Use Butyl tape as a sealant with a ss washer between the frame and perspex, using mushroom headed bolts and nuts. After tightening up the nuts wait a while then remove the butyl squeezed out with a sharp stanley knife. I believe Perspex is better than polycarbonate.
 
Brilliant, thanks all. I reckon 2 sq m of cler perspex from that plastic sheeting co and a bit of time with a jigsaw and some butyl tape will see the job done. Thats been really informative. Will post pics in a couple of weeks when job is finished.
 
Recently done this job in NZ.

Used a company that made signs who cut and drilled to the pattern of the old ones. Not expensive. As my tools in NZ are limited this was my best option.

Sealed with butyl tape.

I can now see where I am going and there are no leaks.
 
I remember those windows from 3 years ago and they needed doing then. Cleaning / polishing the old acrylic would be a waste of your time. If you take the opportunity to clean up or perhaps paint the surfaces of the grp and use white scapa tape to bed them they should look quite neat. At the time I thought the old windows had been a diy job. When you are working at the hood t you might think of a couple of small secure pockets for phone etc.? Hadlow have everything you want but if you are doing it yourself acrylic from a plastic rather than a marine specialist will be a good deal cheaper, use grey tint, you do not want them clear.
Well worth doing, it will be great to pop your head up to see where you are going.
 
If you do want to polish them Quixx Acryl works really well. I used P1500 wet & dry where scratches were deepest. All but the worst scratches are now gone, and those remaining can only be seen in certain light.
 
Quandary said:
I remember those windows from 3 years ago and they needed doing then. Cleaning / polishing the old acrylic would be a waste of your time. If you take the opportunity to clean up or perhaps paint the surfaces of the grp and use white scapa tape to bed them they should look quite neat. At the time I thought the old windows had been a diy job. When you are working at the hood t you might think of a couple of small secure pockets for phone etc.? Hadlow have everything you want but if you are doing it yourself acrylic from a plastic rather than a marine specialist will be a good deal cheaper, use grey tint, you do not want them clear.
Well worth doing, it will be great to pop your head up to see where you are going.
Click to expand...
Thanks, why grey tinted perspex? Is it anti glare or something? Also, we were trying to think of a way to make it look better too, and were considering sticking something like white neoprene window seals or similar to try and hide all the screws and leave a neat finish. With this scapa tape stuff, would we stick half of it along the panes, push the screws through it, screw the panes on then simply fold the other half of the scapa tape down over the pane to hide the screw heads? I had been intending to have some butyl tape on the frame edges of the hood when replacing to seal the windows, then stanley the excess off. Would that still work or would having scapa tape there be sufficient?
 
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