As you may recall, during my trip down the east coast of Ireland to Falmouth, a small matter of a loss of a port hole sometime before 0100 happened.
How it happened will never be known, speculation amongst my skipper is that, like the replaced panels on my coach roof, that buckled in the sun. The port side hull window, which also happened to be predominantly in the sun when it wasn't raining, may have also distorted. Due to the smaller size of the window this distortion may have only been slight but enough to crack the glued seal allowing water to seep in. This in turn froze during the harsh winters in Scotland acting further on the seal, opening it up some more.
Externally there were black streaks running down the hull, but this was not uncommon on all six of these windows, no other sign of impending failure at all.
So my skipper e-mailed Inspiration Marine (IM) the Hanse UK dealer in the Hamble, just over the Solent from where I am now. They have contacted the manufacturer who have instructed IM to inspect the remaining windows and if necessary take them out, clean up & re-glue with a more advanced modern material.
Hanse themselves have gone further & located a more traditional clamped window, which may be more of a safer solution for the windows in my master cabin as these tend to take the onslaught of mother nature more than any other. I'm not sure what they look like and my skipper has requested images so he can see.
So soon I'll be off to Hamble Point Marina, where I'll be worked on for a few days and hopefully return the confidence of my owners that I shall not allow the dolphins to pinch the window again !
Photo's of my new works will be posted or alternatively look on http://www.myhanse.com/forum_topics.asp?FID=13 and look for JonB's entry
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