For those of you who don't live on boats, the main problem in winter is condensation on windows and their aluminium frames.
Every morning my first job would be to wipe up the puddles on the window cills before they could soak in and discolour the wood.
You can see in the large photo of our boat at the top of the blog that we have LOTS of BIG windows and the heat loss on very cold nights was quite considerable. In previous winters we've put silver insulating foil behind the venetian blinds at night and that worked really well but didn't stop the condensation or the heat loss during the day. Plus we had the nuisance of where to store 7 large pieces of insulation during the day.
Roger's system is made up of 3mm clear acrylic sheet face fixed around the window by double sided magnetic tape and as you can see it works brilliantly!
It was -3' this morning and there wasn't any condensation on the 6 windows we've done so far. We weren't sure whether to do the kitchen window or not as I like to have the top hopper open while I'm cooking, but as you can see in the photos above this window was dripping heavily this morning and that's made the decision for us. The magnetic tape makes it really easy to put up/take down the DG so I'll just take it down and put it on the bed while I'm cooking.
I said the job was cheap(ish) and in total it's cost us just under £150 for the 7 windows. That included having the acrylic cut to size and delivered to Macclesfield. If anyone wants more details feel free to email me.
9 comments:
Very interesting- thanks.
Nice to have you back, hope you're feeling better. Dave
What an excellent solution! How did you raise the surround to support the secondary glazing clear of the triangular restraints for the top opening light?
Hadyn,
We didn't need to make any adjustments to the surround as our top hopper restraints are about half an inch away from the DG. It's face fixed onto the architrave.
Yvonne
It's a very interesting post with useful information. I really appreciate the fact that you approach these topics.keep posting!!
Hello. This is really fascinating. We have used the "special" film that you hairdry to the window frames, but last year the one we bought didn't stay taut and looked a bit messy. Can I ask you, does it have to be double-sided magnetic tape? When you remove the acrylic sheets in the year, do you leave the tape on around the windows to be re-used? Sorry, it's just that we are thinking of doing this for our windows soon. When you fitted the tape, did you fit it to the window frame first and then hold the acrylic over the tape so you could see where to fit it? I probably sound a bit dippy here, but I would want to get it just right. Thanks so much and I hope you don't mind all the questions?
Hi Susan, Its single sided magnetic tape A and B with adhesive on the other side. Fit A or B to the acrylic sheet via the self adhesive. Attach the other tape to the one already fitted, peel the backing paper exposing the adhesive and offer the panel up to a pre-marked window frame and press firmly down, carefully separate the two magnetic components while the adhesive has time to do its job. The A or B , whichever is fitted to the window frame is there summer and winter.
Hope that makes sense
Hi Susan, Its single sided magnetic tape A and B with adhesive on the other side. Fit A or B to the acrylic sheet via the self adhesive. Attach the other tape to the one already fitted, peel the backing paper exposing the adhesive and offer the panel up to a pre-marked window frame and press firmly down, carefully separate the two magnetic components while the adhesive has time to do its job. The A or B , whichever is fitted to the window frame is there summer and winter.
Hope that makes sense
hello,
which company did you use?
thank you
Anonymous,
We did the DG ourselves.
The self-adhesive magnetic tape can be purchased here: http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SELF-ADHESIVE-MAGNETIC-TAPE-MAGNET-STRIP-A-B-12-5mm-20mm-25mm-FWS-FRIDGE-/221127952725?pt=UK_Crafts_Other_Crafts_EH&var=&hash=item337c40c955
we used the 12.5mm size. It comes as A & B polarity so obviously you need to buy both.
The perspex is 3mm clear cast Altaglas. Cut to size & usually with free delivery from The Robert Horne group 0161 872 8585
Their sales team are very helpful.
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