RETROFITTING A SILKSCREEN WINDOW

[jim]

IS IT POSSIBLE TO RETROFIT A LARGE SILKSCREEN WINDOW IN THE AFT CABINS ? JAMES POWERS MAY HAVE VALUABLE INFORMATION, BUT I'M INTERESTED IN EVERYONE'S IDEAS. I LOVE LOOKING OUT THE LARGE WINDOWS WHILE LYING ON THE AFT BUNK, BUT I'M CONCERNED IT MAY AFFECT THE STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY OF THE BOAT IF THE WINDOW IS RETROFITTED. THANKS, JIM.

[duetto]

hi jim,

first let me say that i'm not an engineer. with that said, i've done a lot of fiberglass work including installing hatches. i believe that you will be able to cut the hole w/o substantially affecting hull integrity. pdq people could tell whether there was any extra re-enforcement applied to hulls with the windows. keep in mind you need to seal the opening, which will expose the core. you will also need to make the edge core area solid glass. you may also want to apply stiffner, like carbon fiber around the opening.

good luck,