Jim Baldwin, #384, ATOM

I use to place heavy plywood shutters over Atom's cabin windows before each offshore passage because I worried about their strength.

Several years ago I removed the cabin windows and replaced them with 10 mm lexan. But first, when I had the frames out, I sealed the gap between cabin top and cabin liner with thickened epoxy. I did this to stop future leaks as well as to build up the width of the cabin side for the thicker windows to fit properly in their frames. The bolt holes on the inside of the frames were then drilled through the outside of the frames so that they could be thru-bolted. I countersunk the holes on the outside of the frames and inserted flathead 6 mm machine screws with cap nuts on the inside. These windows are very strong and I don't carry those awkward shutters anymore.