Windows
You might want to put this on the web site as it might help some other members.
My boat is 1974 so it had the smaller windows. I did find Mark Plastics and as I have to drive through Corona, past his store I stopped by. As I was having the decks and cabin painted at that time I ripped out all the windows and portlights.
Mark just makes the windows from his patterns so I made my own patterns which had the same angles but were significantly larger, not so a non owner could spot but it just looks a lot more modern.
The rest were slightly larger Beckson portlights and a Lewmar hatch over the head. Mark makes a really nice hatch for over the V berth. It does need a little careful work for the hinges and I used Lewmar locks for the catches .
I've done lots and lots of things to the boat in the 16 years I've owned it and I'd be happy to share the information with other members.
We sailed back from Catalina on Saturday. 40 mph gusts and 15ft seas. The boat did great! I can't believe that I was so lucky to have chosen an Islander. The only drawback is the prop walk in reverse. I'm looking to get a Maxi-prop. Has anyone tried one of these and does it improve the reversing?
In 1991 we ordered new larger-size windows from Go Industries for our 1972 Islander 36 - because the old ones were leaking around the edges and we wanted the larger ones later Islanders had. Those new windows have crazed so much that it is very difficult to see through them any more, while the original smaller ones are still quite clear. I've been unable to track down the present whereabouts of Go Industries. Does anyone know where they have gone? I'd appreciate any help I can get.
Margo M Callaghan, margohpl@juno.com (ps "Bokonon" is still in Panama, at Pedro Miguel Boat Club, but we are preparing to finish our transit and head North. Or East. Soon.)
Dear Margo and other Owners:
The old Go Industries was acquired by Mark Plastics. They provide the fixed ports and also the headliners (at least they did). I got both the fixed ports and headliner in 1978 and put them in Vanishing Animal with the help of my crew. 20 years later, the headliner is doing fine, and there are only "normal" scratches on the ports. Their address is:
Mark Plastics
369 East Harrison Street, Unit G
Corona, California 91719
909-735-7705 Phone
909-735-0701 Fax
Let them know the Islander Association is alive and well, and counting on
them for the next 25 years!
Rick
Margo,
Mark Plastics also makes forward hatches, early curved lip & late 78
flatter style. Also engine instrument housing/cover for the I-36.
Here's some good info from Greg Thomsen who lives in Seattle.
Tuesday, February 19, 2002 7:28 PM
I just received your latest newsletter with yet two more ideas regarding
leaking windows. I've had three leaks - all in the larger, fixed windows. In
finding a solution, I carried one of my windows in to an auto glass shop,
reasoning that they have experience working on recreational vehicles, and
the originals on my boat looked very much to me like RV windows.
Their recommendation was to use glazing tape (a double sided butyl tape used
in the glazing trades) under the outside flange and to run a thin bead of
good-quality silicone around the outside flange joint - run into the seam
with the end of a finger. It helps to mask off the cabin trunk with tape,
because the silicone is difficult to clean up and eventually makes the
gelcoat look stained.
Previous owners had used the 'more-is-better' approach. I found applications
of silicone, geocel, and possibly 5200 filling the gap between the inside of
the cabin trunk and the window frame. They still leaked, and it took me
about two hours per window to reef out the old goo. My repair re-used the
original windows, and they're dry after a Seattle spring, fall and winter,
and I believe I stand a better-than-even chance of getting them apart again
should they need servicing in the future.
Greg Thomsen
Freya
November 16, 2002
Phillipe,
I will preface my suggestion with the comment that not all windows are original, so be careful as you go forward.
Most often the windows are made to "sandwich" the cabin trunk between two parts - the flange on the outside being drawn tight by screwing down the ring on the inside. The white stuff is the caulking that actually makes the seal, and is usually intended to flex a little bit as the boat flexes from various loads. Over time the original caulking can get brittle and crack, allowing water to penetrate either or both the inside of the cabin and the edge structure around the windows. Sometimes there is at least delamination of the interior wood veneer, and sometimes there is more serious trouble - like dry rot around the windows.
With luck (and you may have already gone there), carefully working a putty knife or utility knife around the window will loosen the original caulk and the window will simply "pop" out. Most folks seem to have chosen to replace the windows with new ones rather than try to scrape off the old caulk and rebed the old ones.
When I got my boat in 1978, several of the windows had leaked and the inside teak was discolored in many places. (My boat is a 1973 model.) I removed both the fixed and opening windows on both sides, and also the long hand rails on both sides. Then I sanded down the inside and used contact cement to lay in a mahogany veneer, about 1/16" or 1/32" thick. Then I put in all new windows (the fixed windows came from what was then Go Industries and is now Mark Plastics) and replaced the hand rails. Now, 25 years later, I have one small area where the laminate has blistered, apparently from a small leak at one window, but the rest is still holding up OK. I also replaced the headliner as part of the project, and it looks just fine throughout.
Many thanks for your e mail, I now can understand the compasition of the windows. Also it explain why, since I removed the inside plastic ring, it leaks more.
Again thanks to your original e mail, I have called Mark plastics and was quite
pleased to find out that they still have replacement windows, also most of the plastic trims im the cockpit as well as the engine control box and finally the forward hatch cover, (mine is
cracked nesr the screw perforations). His prices appear to be reasonable compared to what I paid for opening ports, $140.00 per window.
Due to weather conditions I shall wait until spring to handle the problem, most likely I will replace the windows rather than take a chance on the old ones which may have defects due to age, 22 years is a bit old for this type of plastic.