I recently re-did all four of MILKY WAY's fixed ports. A few years ago I had a local glass company re-do the two small ones because I wasn't confident I could. My thought was that if they turned out OK, I'd take the larger angled ones out and let them do those as well - It cost me $85.00.
Initially they looked great, but I procrastinated and didn't bring in the other two. Glad I didn't because it wasn't long before the new ones fogged up! I did some research and learned that the reason is because the glass shop didn't use plexiglass. They used polycarbonate which doesn't like UV very much. I learned that from a company that specializes in plexiglass.
So, I decided that I'd already wasted money on the wrong thing done by pros -I can do this!
I bought tinted green 1/4" thick plexiglass sheets on Ebay for less than I paid 5years ago for the two small ports done by the pros. I removed all four, pulled the old glass from their frames and cleaned up the frames. I used the old glass as my templates to cut the plexi. I used my jig saw with a fine tooth blade. I attached blue painters tape - I just taped the outline of the template to the new glass and cut at the inner border so I could follow the pattern easily.
Bought some double sided tape (had to use to layers because it was too thin to raise it up in the frame to where the old glass sat - the factory had used a thicker black double sided tape - I improvised, and it's really just a place holder until you calk) to put all around the now cleaned up lip of the frame where the glass sits.
Got some good clear silicon calk from Home Depot. Applied painter's tape to the top of the frame to the inner edge (to make excess calk clean-up easy), and taped a (appx) 1/4" border on the glass itself also for ease in clean-up, and to help me create a clean and even line of calk.
The final step was to make sure my outside fiberglass at the cabin side was cleaned up before calking fitting the frame to the fiberglass. I again used blue painter's tape both on the outside of the frames, and on the fiberglass right snug up to the outline of the frames to control the slop of waste calk. I refastened the frames and cleaned up all the oozed excess calk.
It's been several weeks, and no leaks, and we can see out of them!
Initially they looked great, but I procrastinated and didn't bring in the other two. Glad I didn't because it wasn't long before the new ones fogged up! I did some research and learned that the reason is because the glass shop didn't use plexiglass. They used polycarbonate which doesn't like UV very much. I learned that from a company that specializes in plexiglass.
So, I decided that I'd already wasted money on the wrong thing done by pros -I can do this!
I bought tinted green 1/4" thick plexiglass sheets on Ebay for less than I paid 5years ago for the two small ports done by the pros. I removed all four, pulled the old glass from their frames and cleaned up the frames. I used the old glass as my templates to cut the plexi. I used my jig saw with a fine tooth blade. I attached blue painters tape - I just taped the outline of the template to the new glass and cut at the inner border so I could follow the pattern easily.
Bought some double sided tape (had to use to layers because it was too thin to raise it up in the frame to where the old glass sat - the factory had used a thicker black double sided tape - I improvised, and it's really just a place holder until you calk) to put all around the now cleaned up lip of the frame where the glass sits.
Got some good clear silicon calk from Home Depot. Applied painter's tape to the top of the frame to the inner edge (to make excess calk clean-up easy), and taped a (appx) 1/4" border on the glass itself also for ease in clean-up, and to help me create a clean and even line of calk.
The final step was to make sure my outside fiberglass at the cabin side was cleaned up before calking fitting the frame to the fiberglass. I again used blue painter's tape both on the outside of the frames, and on the fiberglass right snug up to the outline of the frames to control the slop of waste calk. I refastened the frames and cleaned up all the oozed excess calk.
It's been several weeks, and no leaks, and we can see out of them!
