cabin window replacement

[Capt Harv]

I have a 1988 Grady White Sailfish. The front cabin windows need to be replaced. It looks like they are plexiglass. I want to buy the material ahead of time. Does anyone know the thickness of the "glass" and is regular plexiglass okay to use. Thanks.

 

[JeffN]

I did mine but unfortunately don't remember the thickness of the plexiglass. 1/4 maybe? I did use plexiglass that I had cut at a glass shop, I used a darker tint when I replaced. Removing the frame was not hard but getting the window out of the frame was a bit of a mess. They used a lot of black sealer when the boat was built. I had the frames powder coated and the finshed product looks good I think. You will need to get the rubber "gasket" material too along with the plastic stuff that slides in the channel to hide the fastening screws. I rebuilt the side windows at the same time.

Update - I just was looking around to see if I had kept the the old windows but it appears not. At the same time I replaced my windows I replaced the plastic panel over my instruments and I still have that. It is 1/4" I don't think the windows were any thinner. Perhaps someone will have more info for you.

 

[JUMPNJACK]

Capt Harv, I replaced the plexiglass front windows in my '87 Saifish a couple of years ago with 1/4" plexiglass. Lexan might actually be better but I already had the plexiglass. I used the two old ones for the patterns and saved them in case if I ever need to replace them again. I did not remove the window frames from the boat but removed the hard rubber retaining strips and popped the panels out of the frames. Jeff N is right about that black sealant that Grady used for the original installation. That is some pretty nasty stuff. I sealed the backside of the new panels with black silicone and reinstalled the retaining strips. I also glazed the outside with the black silicone. 8)

Ken