[jrmarohn]

It appears the windshield gasket on my '98 2900 Open has failed. Water is hitting the windshield and running down and getting through the gasket between the aluminum trim and the glass. Very little water is coming into the cockpit. The issue is that it is moving around and back down to where the arch connects to the boat. In this area there is a hole for wires to run through and the water is going through this hole and down into the boat. It comes to rest on a plywood shelf that seals off the engine compartment and the water is deteriorating this shelf.

Has anyone replaced the gasket and if so what was your experience? What other remedies do I have other than tp neatly caulk the outside of the windshield? If I do use caulk what type should I select?

Thanks for the advice.

[Veg]

I just had ALL of the windshield redone on my '01 2900 Open. This meant removing the radar arch, all the windshield covers (on the outside of the glass), removing all the glass, cleaning out all of the remaining adhesive from the old gaskets and butyl tape strips from the frames, the glass and the covers, then re-bedding the glass and covers with gaskets and tape provided by Tiara, and silicone to finish it up nice. It's not a small job, so I paid a professional who had lots of experience in both automotive and marine glass. This is a very common job on these boats though, and Tiara sent me a very detailed instruction manual for the job including pictures, parts lists and a step by step of how to go about the process. They also sent me a schematic section of the frames. The parts bill included both white and black silicone for the finishing, butyl and foam tape from Tiara, the glass gaskets from Tiara, the "L" gaskets from Tiara for the sash opening panel, isolators from Tiara for every single screw, Lano Cote to apply to the screws, and a few other things. The good news for me was that I believe people overstate the seriousness of the complications with these windshields... There was absolutely no evidence of corrosion at all on the screws or the frame assembly, which I was afraid there would be, because the windshield paint was peeling around many of the screws. Also there was no evidence of water getting into the coring. However, I decided to do the job because I was finding a significant amount of water on the inside of the windshield, mainly along the base of the two side windows, and a bit of water was starting to find its way into the cabin. The whole job cost about 2.5k and I'm happy I paid for it because it is a PITA. I also took the opportunity to have all of the covers powder coated before re-installing (that's a separate expense), and now the whole windshield looks like brand spanking new! It's also sealed better than new because I had him seal along the perimeter of both sides of the (black) frames, so that no water will find it's way into the cabin even if a leak developed in the future. I decided to NOT paint the new screws so that it stays looking new longer.
I hope this was helpful. Contact Rick at Tiara and ask about this issue, they'll send you that PDF instructions document and they can be very helpful... They talked to the guy doing the job for me several times to make sure the process went well. Good luck!

[Uhehner]

On my "88 31 Open the center glass leaked at the bottom because the gasket shrank. I cut it out, cleaned the area, masked it and caulked it with grey GE Silicone, the 50 year type. If you fill the void with caulk and then spray the surface with water and a little dishwashing soap you can trowel it out and get a perfectly smooth job that matches the original gasket. That was 10 years ago and it never leaked again. Total cost less than $10.
In your case I would check the windshield drain holes and then silicone caulk the hole that your wires go through to prevent further leakage below decks. Removing the windshield sounds like a tremendous job. Capt. George