Frameless Window Upgrade

Aeronautic1:

Having experience with the window frames on the Vikings, I know what you're thinking.
I don't know if Brand V chose poor paint or really cheesy aluminum and/or anodizing, but there are a lot of kids that got put through school by guys that painted and repainted these frames.
Seems to me, without an inset to hold the frameless glass inserts, you'd be talking serious dollars to invent these PLUS the cost of all that tempered glass.

Paint the existing frames (again) and you'll be all set for a few years, which is what virtually every Vik MY owner has had to do.

Old Hatteras frames appear to have been brown anodized and I've seen some over twenty years old that still looked good.

Bertram used to make a real meal out of this by acid-etching, then alodyning ( kind of an anodize process), then priming, then Awlgripping, which lasted about as long as Brand H.

Powder Coating

Are the frames removable? If so, powder coating may be an alternative. I have been experimenting with this process on many of my removable parts such as jet ski chalks, flag staffs, etc. I even had my entire davit arms coated recently (finding an oven that was large enough was the challenge). So far, my experience has been very good. A good powder coater will be able to match the color, and will fair them with an epoxy before applying the finish.
Good luck.

Ken's idea has a lot of merit, aeronautic1.
While I have no experience in removing Vik frames, they had to install them somehow.
The challenge may lie in finding an oven large enough as Ken suggests.

My caveat is in carefully reinstalling those stainless screws into the aluminum frames: the galvanic couple is what starts the paint to bubble in the first place.

Maybe the powder-coat process ameliorates this...

Every type of finish applied to aluminum frames being used in a marine environment has problems. Once the finish starts to deteriorate or is damaged then the aluminum itself will begin to corrode and once that happens it becomes very difficult to restore the aluminum so it can be refinished properly.

It is my opinion that Fluropolymer finishes provide the most durable finish on aluminum especially when they use a 70% Kynar resin along with a clear topcoat. This is available as an air-dry process but the best method is to bake the finish onto the primer coat.

Anodized finishes are used quite often however the anodized coating is not a coating that is really made to stand up to harsh marine environments.

Many powder coatings are just a step above a baked enamel finish and they too will break down.

I sent aeronautic1 a lengthy e-mail describing general glazing practices and methods that he can use as a guideline to build frameless windows.

Hopefully he'll post some pictures of the process in October.