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Hi Jay. That makes a lot of sense. If you have an "O" ring, the seal is
only at that small point where the rubber contacts the plexi. With a bed of
sealant, the water has to get past the sealer between the outer support ring,
and then through the back flange as well. In my case, that's 5 inches of
sikaflex versus about 1/8 inch for an "O" ring. The down side of course is that
there's no way you're going to save that window if you need to remove it.
I have a method in mind when I mount the plexi. I plan on
rolling the sub so the window is on top, put in some small spacers to set the
plexi at just the right depth. Tape off the frame to the plexi so there's no
places where the sikaflex can dribble out the bottom. Next, I'll make some
nozzles from sheet metal that fit just inside the space between the steel frame
and plexi. Again, seal that connection so nothing dribbles out. Using a pump,
I'll inject the sikflex into the space from the bottom and all the air will be
pushed out the top. I've used this method before when I was making gaskets on
some high pressure pumps that were too difficult to remove from their
locations, and it worked quite well. As far as I know, the pumps are still in
service and it's been over 10 years.
The sikaflex came in 5 gallon buckets. The biggest pain was cleaning the
pump between applications. We used solvents, but ultimately had to dis-assemble
the pump and hand scrape the whole thing after we were done. Frank
D. It's only a deal if it's where you want to go. Find your travel deal here. |