One of Steve’s many little projects on the never-ending list that seems to come with living on a narrowboat, is to fit secondary glazing. Some folk have proper double glazing and you do wonder why in the 21st century that boats don’t come already fitted or are even statutorily obliged to fit double glazing as in the case of modern housing . To retro fit the whole boat would cost £1,000’s so here goes . .
We bought a single piece of 3mm acrylic from a local firm – they took ages to deliver, charged a lot for delivery and didn’t cut the corners properly but hey, it’s just a test piece. We then drove to Leicester, to have a day out, walk dog but mainly to visit the OneStopPlasticShop – which as it turns out was a brilliant move as Ian, the boss chap, was extremely helpful – he sold us some plastic edging and some clips to hold the glazing. He also said he could supply all the acrylic, cut to size plus edging for around £70 – for the whole boat!
On our return, the plastic was OK but very hard to fit to the window – it needed to be in complete contact all the way round. So scrap the edging idea and try plan B – magnetic tape. Now starts a 4 week merry-go-round. We ordered the two types of tape (a and b) but one firm, who took over 10 days to deliver, delivered the wrong tape – we now had two lots of tape A. Another 10 days and the type B turned up and we had a go at fitting it. Not a snug fit but we need a week to see how it stands up & then it’s place the order with Ian for a more precisely cut pieces of acrylic. Meanwhile, here’s a short video . .