Remove, reseal, Replace repeat Leopard windows

These are the windows/hatches of a 2006 Leopard 47.

They’ve been sealed, resealed, taped and possibly glued in the course of their lifetime.

It’s a straight up mess. All that sealing and they still leak.

No one has ever had time to actually address these leaky windows…until now.

Step shade

The earlier Leopards are easy to spot with these front steps.

At first you might think, doesn’t that cut off the view considerably?

And to that I’d argue that if the view was so great you’d be outside 😉

The angle the steps are at doesn’t take much away from the view anyways and they create excellent sun relief, access to the sail…

…and a great spot to sit.

Our leaks were the worst on the two front windows.

So we took em out!

the repair

The steps were removed in order to access the windows.

The window holes tarped over to allow it to rain.

Which it did.

Torrentially, for 3 days.

An exacto knife was used to cut the existing sealer out both inside and out.

IMPORTANT: this Leopard catamaran model has flat windows.

Having flat windows allowed us to have a local window dealer make new ones.

NOTE: The newer Leopard catamarans have rounded windows which, by the sounds of it, has a more involved replacement process.

Taking no chances

Instead of taking measurements or an outline of our catamaran’s front windows to the shop, we brought both windows in.

Zero interest in tempting fate.

There are slight differences in both windows and you want the experienced window guy (is there a proper name for this profession?!) to have all the info he needs in order to replicate.

Since the louvers (steps) provide ample shade, we went with a 10 mm UV protected plexiglass and opted out of replacing the hatches within the window completely.

Honestly the latches were busted so if you did decide to open them up you would shortly thereafter need two people and a whiskey to get them closed up again so good riddance.