need window seal fix

[richrand]

My outer window seals are starting to disintegrate. They aren't leaking, but every time I wash the boat, black stuff continually comes off. Can I just scrape all the black sealant off and recalk them with silicon sealant?

[Marionete]

Silicone in not good for much in my opinion. I have replaced larger lexan panels on a prior boat and had good luck with Sika flex - they make a black polyurethane UV resistant cauld that will more than accomplish this repair. Make sure to mask off the surrounding areas first to keep the caulk where it belongs and your boat looking great.

[Pete]

If you look under the "Other Info" tab on homepage for this website you'll find a page from the S2 folks about window replacement / repair. They used DOW 700 Industrial Grade silicon caulk. I think this is the same stuff often referred to as RTV.

[dave]

Silicone is silicone no matter how much you paid for it. I too have had good luck with Sikaflex, the fast cure type. Even though the West Marine skippy explicately recommends against using anything but silicone on Lexan or Plexiglass. That's not the only thing that West Marine is all wet about!

[Marionete]

Sikaflex has quite a line of caulk/adhesives and I am sure a google search will find a nice website too. One of their polyeurethane caulks is used in the automove industry to seal and install windshields. Keep in mind the stuff has to be strong enough to adhere to glass and not let go while a passenger is passing through.

So I guess it might work on our S2's. I don't know much about any silicone caulk these days since I stopped using it about 10 years ago.

[richrand]

Thanks you! This is very helpful.

[Tom Line]

I did this fix not to long ago. I used a razor knife to cut out the old stuff as deeply as a I could. Then I taped the windows and used black 3M 4200 to fill in the groove that I had cut out. I used my finger (wetted down) to smooth the 4200 then peeled the tape just as the 4200 got tacky. Looks like new, no leaks, and no black smears.