1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Helm Windshield Wrap Up

The helm windshield has always been a big challenge on this Roamer. But it needs to be fully sealed and functioning properly before the tent comes down.

I first removed the original windshield back in 2013. I also messed around with various Chris Craft windshield frame extrusions to try and make something to replace the sheet of clear plastic a previous owner had installed for a center windshield. Getting the original windshield frames to fit back in where they came from was also a big chore. Then, just when I thought I had the windshield frames figured out, the bastard thieves cleaned out the boat and stole a bunch of aluminum extrusions that made up the windshield frame among other things.

So I regrouped and took a totally different approach. I had a fabricator make a new windshield frame that looked nearly identical to the original Chris Craft design, but it was welded together as a single unit rather than using 10 different extrusions held together with brackets and screws. Unfortunately, fabricators around me have been consistently awful, and the fit of the new windshield frame to the cabin top and helm roof were really poor. Since I couldn’t get a fabricator who could make the new frame fit the boat, we made the boat fit the windshield frame instead.

With the bodywork around the windshield frame done, I made patterns that I sent off to Motion Windows. Their clamp-in style of marine windows should work perfectly here. Unfortunately, Motion Windows really botched the build. Despite confirming the sizes three times, they made the clamps rings and individual window frames too big to fit in the new frame!

But finally, in 2016, the windshield installation was done. And it looked good, too. The only thing left was to refurbish and reinstall the center windscreen opener, which I finished in November of 2022. But there was a problem that I only discovered when we were washing the boat in late 2022: the center windshield from Motion Windows leaked!

Water is leaking through the screw holes for the center windshield clamp ring

The Motion Windows frame is installed from the outside of the main windshield frame. There’s a clamp ring that’s installed with screws from the inside of the main frame. The water isn’t leaking past the window glass…it’s coming through the screws of the clamp ring. This doesn’t seem like it should be possible.

A leaking clamp ring screw

Surveying the scene from the outside, I found a problem

The original Motion Windows exterior seal, which has only been directly exposed to sunlight for ~12 hours since new, has shrunk 1/2″.

The side seal has also shrunk

Those seals used to form a tight joint at the corners, when the windows were new. I’m guessing the fabricator pulled the seal material a bit, stretching it out when he cut it. It stayed stretched as long as friction from the rubber to glass joint was dry. But washing the boat for the first time lubricated that joint and the rubber retracted to its natural size.

I contacted Motion Windows about the problem. They very kindly sent out a length of their rubber seal so I could re-do it.

When I removed the original seal, I found more strange stuff

The glass is bonded with urethane to the windshield extrusion. That seal is fine. But there’s a very lightweight strip of foam filling a gap in the extrusion just outside of the glass. That foam strip is covered with dust and dirt that presumably came in with water through the gap at the corners of the outer seal. The screws for the clamp ring thread in to the space in the extrusion on the other side of that flimsy foam seal.

Found the breach

There’s only ~1/16″ of contact area between the extrusion here and the flimsy foam strip, but in this one spot there was zero contact. Even if the foam strip was watertight everywhere else, water could easily flow into the screw gallery here, then out the screw holes and onto the dashboard.

I cleaned up all of the dust and dirt and prepared to seal the gap

Another odd thing: notice in the picture above that the flimsy foam seal stops halfway up the window. That would seem to leave a large area where water can flow into the screw gallery portion of the extrusion.

I applied a generous bead of Lexel crystal clear sealant to fill the gap and cover the flimsy foam strip

Lexel claims that it ‘sticks to anything’ so I applied some to the rubber seal joints

That should hold the joints together

Ready to press the last section of new exterior seal home

Boom. Done

The new seals have been in place for two months now. Rain has come through some holes in Tent Model XXX’s shrink wrap skin (which is long past its expiration date) and I can confirm that the windshield no longer leaks.

Yea!

Next up in our 1969 Chris Craft Roamer 46 Refit: Installing the CAPAC Anti-Corrosion System (mostly)