Azimut window etching

Most of the tinted glass you see is laminated with a colored film in between the layers. But the kind of mirror effect some of them have, may be applied outside..?

Since you have found a way of "cleaning" it, why don´t you continue? On windows with marks of calcium, you may use lemon or vinegar to remove it. To avoid it, never wash down the boat in sunshine.

Cant speak for Azimut (e-mail them and ask) but its very unlikely that tinting film is applied to the outside face of exterior glass. Tinting film is common, but on the inside face....for obvious reasons.
Most European glass plants (Isoclima, Taylor-Made / Trend (Ireland and England) etc.) can supply monolithic and laminated glass that is self tinted. Either smoked tint or mirrored tint. There are also a few forms of 'solar gain' glass that is laminated with a smoked / mirrored tinted layer within that is effective in cutting out UV and heat. The warning not to use abrasives is very common....glass will scratch and get dull with a lot of commonly used polishes.

You are right CODOG, we were using tempered single glass that is coloured on our smallest boats, before we started with DNV classification. Azimut seems to deliver tempered, not laminated, glass as well.

These days you can have laminated and chemical toughened glass which is very good when windows are becoming a part of the structure.

AMG,
I have tried lemon juice with little or no success. Will give vinegar a try. I have bought a number of different products to remove hard water stains with little success. Even using a buffer.

I've used a product called C-L-R to remove water spots and etching on my boat with success.

As noted, try CLR or Wink Rust Remove. Even mild acid based toilet bowl cleaner will work.

And as you have found you can polish glass if you're carefull.

To keep it from happening again seal it with Zaino, Rain-X or Aquapel.

Hey Sagharborskip,

We learn't the hard way with our previous yacht. Water left on the windows was bad. We now 'squeegy' our Azimut windows dry after we've washed the boat down with a hand held squeegy blade to prevent or at least prolong the event of window glass etching.
best of luck!

The "no abrasives" warning is because it's tempered glass and scratches alter the surface tension which alters the strength and that can lead to the window turning into 10,000 tiny bits of glass with an impact much less than it is required to endure. Who in the hell ever thought of putting big windows in a hull near the waterline....

It looks pretty. Isn't that priority One for yacht building today.

Errr......that is the waterline these days.

Where do you put the fenders? Will the windows push in? Do you want to sleep in a cabin with all the allure of a basement apartment on a busy street when in the marina?

http://azimut53.****************/

Years ago I awoke at 0500 and my tired eyes immediately focused on the TV screen with a reflexion of a wave going past my porthole on it. That was all she wrote for the next 18 hours . Can't imagine what the alure is of waking up with a big window right at water level. Alot of people must be going to sleep with a Dramamine IV drip. Hey, but it looks cool at the shows right.

Did the Whink Rust Remover really work that well on the windows. I have tried just about everything with minimum results. Will have to give it a try.

Hi,

I was riding on a 70m Yacht a couple of years back with the biggest windows in the guest cabins that Class would allow. I was in a guest cabin and laying in bed I was just a bit above the water. It was a great way to be lulled to sleep.

This cabin also had a bath and it is a strange experience having a soak whilst underway especially when you put your head under water and can hear a lot of things you couldn't when your head was above the water.

Years ago housekeepers developed a phrase: "I don't do windows". Designer's response was to build bigger windows and tint them dark so they'll show as much as a shiny black hull. Finally, they put them near the waterline were they'll get a 30kt blasting of salt water and put a sticker on saying "Do not use abrasive". I seem to recall a line from a poem but don't remember the author it went something like 'give me a ship, a stout hardy ship, and I will sail the seas'. Must have been written in the days before the "Metro-sexual".

Whink Rust Remover - Great Stuff

Wow that is the first product that I have tried that really does the job. Tried vinegar, lemon juice, CLR, and a few other hard water stain removers with little to no success. Whink did the job. I put RainX on after cleaning.
Thanks