Rutgerson portlight window frames

[Yngmar]

How are yours attached? Mine were attached using 3M dual lock (plastic mushroom "velcro") and some with Blutac. I'm sure the Blutac was PO's doing, not sure about the dual lock.

Both don't work. The Blutac randomly falls off when sailing and gives me a scare (lots of clattering below). The 3M dual lock is so strong that the adhesive rips off rather than the mushrooms parting as intended, so that doesn't work either. I did some experimenting with normal velcro, but that is too thin (see shims in photo) and also not strong enough.

What did you use, and what was originally used?

[tiger79]

Why not glue them on? Silicone sealant would do the job, and still be able to be removed reasonably easily if needed.  How often do you want to remove the frames?

[MarkTheBike]

Hi Yngmar

Same problem with the dual-lock but sorted it by gluing both pads with Gorilla Glue (brilliant stuff) and taking out alternate lines of mushrooms on one of the pads with a small pair of cutters (actually, I used a nail clipper). A bit fiddly but they still seem to lock in place OK and they're not so strong that they tear the glue from the frame. Worked for me but I did do a test run on the aft cabin first just to make sure.

[Nigel]

I replaced all of mine when I stripped and painted the plastic trims. I used 3M Dual Lock SJ3550 with VHB adhesive cut into 10mm x 25mm pads. Providing the substrate is clean the VHB is almost impossible to remove. I use it for all sorts of fittings: two bulkhead clocks, four battery chargers to inside of hull, notebook PC to chart table, galvanic isolator to bulkhead ...

[Yngmar]

Thanks. I'll give the 3M stuff another try, as I guess that was the original and maybe the adhesive simply failed due to age or moisture (some of them had minor leaks that went away with just tightening the bolts - that's why it's good to keep the frames removable). Might use Marks trick of "declawing" them a bit

[MarkTheBike]

yes - it's just experimentation of course but the covers are very light and don't need quite so much to hold them. They're just the right thickness to hold the cover against the frame, too...

Never heard of VHB adhesive, Nigel. I found the 3M VHB tape - is that what you used or is there a glue as well? Only the tape came up in a search. Anyway, I assume you use the VHB with DualLocks for the notebook - tricky removing the battery if it's glued down! 

[Nigel]

Never heard of VHB adhesive, Nigel. I found the 3M VHB tape ...

Sorry, my answer could have been misunderstood, I've edited the link above.

The point I was trying to make is that it's the Dual Lock with VHB adhesive that you need. Link repeated below, also 1 metre option.

3M Dual Lock SJ3550 with VHB adhesive 5 metre.
3M Dual Lock SJ3550 with VHB adhesive 1 metre.

[MarkTheBike]

Ah, ok that looks like a good solution, Nigel; certainly better than the original stuff. I did try Salty's idea of silicone goo and it worked until I actually wanted to remove one (to trace a drip) and all the pads came off because the dual-lock was too strong. I was so annoyed I used Gorilla + snipping. It would have worked if I'd snipped and re-siliconed. Silicone is much cheaper than Gorilla, that's for sure.

Edit: Sorry, Salty/Tiger , I meant Tiger's idea.