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Hi Sean. The hatch base ring area does coincide with the hull shell.
On the windows, the larger window appears to be a problem but the two
smaller windows are somewhat better. The window "base flange" at 1 inch thick is
adjacent to the hull except for a tiny bit at the top and bottom.
I kinda figured that just "slapping" some plate steel on the outside
wouldn't do anything.
In the case of the two smaller windows it would be real easy to build up
some additional weld beads at the top and bottom areas where the base ring is
"outside" the hull profile. This was Cliff's suggestion also.
As for the transition where the window sleeves and the hull meet, the
weldment there is fairly thick. I'm guessing it's about 7/8 inch so far. My
thought here has always been to cover this area with a layer of silicon/bronze
weld beads and grind it down so it has a nice radius. My thought here was not so
much to add strength but to give me a smooth transition so the paint would be
smooth and less likely to breakdown prematurely.
Silicon/bronze is almost as strong as a steel weld bead but is easy to
grind down to a radius because of the different color. It also imparts a lot
less heat than a comparable steel weld bead.
On the big window, I'm leaning toward just replacing the whole assembly
with a 1 inch thick sleeve with the same OD as the one there now.
Frank D.
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