Parker Brooks
New Member
I recently purchased a 1999 Searay 260 Sundancer. The boat is in great shape for the year minus having leaky lower Portlight windows. All four were showing signs of leaking when we purchased the boat and the previous owner decided to silicone them closed. I tackled this project
last week and it wasn’t as bad as expected. A friend helped, which in my opinion, is a must. This project would be possible but hard to complete solo. We worked on one window from start to finish before starting the next. The outside frames came off using plastic automotive trim removal tools. We then removed the assemblies from the hull by removing the screws from the inside of the cabin. This is where a buddy comes in handy. One person on the inside and one on the outside holding the nuts and not dropping them. We made sure to keep the inside screws in order as they are length specific. We resealed each assembly with lifeseal white sealant. I love this stuff as it is really easy to clean up. Much better than 3M. It was recommended to me by a marine mechanic so hopefully it stands the test of time! After completed the sealing we reassembled and tightened everything down. We also tightened the dogs that hold the window closed to the gasket. It’s not a hard project, it just takes time to clean all of the frames and hardware. We reused the gaskets as I did not have replacements and the originals were in good shape. I did put o-ring grease on them to hopefully extend the life. I am very happy with the results. It took us about 1 hour per window with the disassembly, cleaning, sealing, and installing. It has been raining for the last two days in Wisconsin and so far no leaks. The most tedious part of the project for us was removing all of the silicon from the previous owners temporary repair. Those plastic trim tools came in handy!
last week and it wasn’t as bad as expected. A friend helped, which in my opinion, is a must. This project would be possible but hard to complete solo. We worked on one window from start to finish before starting the next. The outside frames came off using plastic automotive trim removal tools. We then removed the assemblies from the hull by removing the screws from the inside of the cabin. This is where a buddy comes in handy. One person on the inside and one on the outside holding the nuts and not dropping them. We made sure to keep the inside screws in order as they are length specific. We resealed each assembly with lifeseal white sealant. I love this stuff as it is really easy to clean up. Much better than 3M. It was recommended to me by a marine mechanic so hopefully it stands the test of time! After completed the sealing we reassembled and tightened everything down. We also tightened the dogs that hold the window closed to the gasket. It’s not a hard project, it just takes time to clean all of the frames and hardware. We reused the gaskets as I did not have replacements and the originals were in good shape. I did put o-ring grease on them to hopefully extend the life. I am very happy with the results. It took us about 1 hour per window with the disassembly, cleaning, sealing, and installing. It has been raining for the last two days in Wisconsin and so far no leaks. The most tedious part of the project for us was removing all of the silicon from the previous owners temporary repair. Those plastic trim tools came in handy!
