The sliding side windows in the salon on my CD 30 powerboat are becoming a leak problem. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
The sliding glass pane slides in a u-shaped channel lined with fuzzy weatherstripping. With the window closed, when spray splashes against the window, some of it gets down into the channel, follows it aft (so now it's inside the fixed pane in the window), and is supposed to drain down through a few holes in the bottom of the channel and out through vents in the outside flange of the window frame.
This worked fine for three years, but lately either more water has been getting in, or less is draining out. When quartering into a chop, water gathers in the aft end of the channel (which is tilted when on plane), fills it up, and spills over into the salon.
The boat yard says the only way to remove the glass to replace the weatherstripping (if that's the problem) is to remove the window and break the weld holding the extruded window frame shut.
Anyone else ever run into this problem? Any advice?
bilofsky@toolworks.com
Sliding Window Leak - CD 30 Powerboat
Moderator: Jim Walsh
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Tony Raymond
Re: Sliding Window Leak - CD 30 Powerboat
Walt, I have the same problem on my CD 28 powerboat. The only solution I have is a paper towel stuffed in the window to prevent the teak from getting stained by the water dripping down the cabin house wall. It's not very effective. I don't have a real solution.
Tony
raymonda@mail.dec.com
Tony
raymonda@mail.dec.com
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Walt Bilofsky
Re: Sliding Window Leak - Possible Fix
I've gotten a little further and may have a solution - it's slightly ugly, but not as bad as salt water getting behind the paneling and into all the lockers ... Anyway, I believe this will fix the problem, but it hasn't been sea tested yet.
The water drains down through a few holes in the bottom of the weatherstripping into a small space between the stripping and the channel in the window frame. In the side of that channel, there's a rectangular hole, covered by the weatherstripping, that lets the water drain out of two slots in the outside of the frame. On my windows, the inside hole is midway between the two slots.
My (potential) fix is to cut a couple of inches from the aft end of the weatherstripping to open up that hole. It's a little ugly, but no one looks there, and it increased the drainage flow by 150%.
I lifted the stripping from the aft end (where it butts against the rubber seal) with a piece of coathanger wire with a 90 degree bend in the tip, and pulled it out until the drain hole was exposed, then cut the weatherstripping. It has a wire frame which must be snipped first. Don't lift any more stripping than necessary to make the cut, because it doesn't hold together like it did when it was new, so it's hard to put back neatly.
It was a beautiful calm day on S.F. Bay yesterday, so there wasn't any chop to test the fix, although I did get lucky with a school of salmon and brought home a couple!
bilofsky@toolworks.com
The water drains down through a few holes in the bottom of the weatherstripping into a small space between the stripping and the channel in the window frame. In the side of that channel, there's a rectangular hole, covered by the weatherstripping, that lets the water drain out of two slots in the outside of the frame. On my windows, the inside hole is midway between the two slots.
My (potential) fix is to cut a couple of inches from the aft end of the weatherstripping to open up that hole. It's a little ugly, but no one looks there, and it increased the drainage flow by 150%.
I lifted the stripping from the aft end (where it butts against the rubber seal) with a piece of coathanger wire with a 90 degree bend in the tip, and pulled it out until the drain hole was exposed, then cut the weatherstripping. It has a wire frame which must be snipped first. Don't lift any more stripping than necessary to make the cut, because it doesn't hold together like it did when it was new, so it's hard to put back neatly.
It was a beautiful calm day on S.F. Bay yesterday, so there wasn't any chop to test the fix, although I did get lucky with a school of salmon and brought home a couple!
bilofsky@toolworks.com
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Curt Smith
Re: Sliding Window Leak - CD 30 Powerboat
I had the same problem with the sliding windows on my 1986 CD 28 and found that by simply keeping the outside drain holes (they are about 2 inches long and 1/4 inch up and down filled with the fuzzy window slider stuff) clear of dirt, salt and debris, they allowed the water to dissipate properly. It helps to spray the hose directly into these outside drain holes when washing down the boat so that the junk gets washed out of them.
Same thing applies to the track on which my saloon door runs. There are 1/4" drain holes there which always fill with junk and need to be cleaned out. Last week I used the sharp point from my navigation spreaders and stuck it in the holes to clean them out. This allowed the track for the door to drain properly.
Keep in touch,
Curt Smith
Middlebury, CT.
besson@ct1.nai.net
Same thing applies to the track on which my saloon door runs. There are 1/4" drain holes there which always fill with junk and need to be cleaned out. Last week I used the sharp point from my navigation spreaders and stuck it in the holes to clean them out. This allowed the track for the door to drain properly.
Keep in touch,
Curt Smith
Middlebury, CT.
besson@ct1.nai.net