The bonding on my window failed across the top, down both sides, and about 3-4 inches in from each lower corner. Most of the bottom was still attached. Some of the folded over top material around the opening had also separated. The black material that was bonded to the glass was still well attached all around.

I used the two part epoxy that I am using on my boat restoration for all the repairs. This is a liquid epoxy rather than a paste or caulk type material. I get my boat epoxy from Jamestown Distributors out east. It is their Total Boat 5:1. Unfortunately, the smallest quantity they sell is by the quart. Smaller quantities of suitable liquid epoxy may be available at hardware stores. I cannot vouch for their effectiveness in this application.

I had to take the project in three steps. Step 1 was to rebond the folded over top material around the opening. I first sanded the inside surfaces to be certain they were somewhat smooth. Then I wiped them with a paper towel wet with lacquer thinner. I then coated both surfaces with a thin layer of epoxy and clamped the material with spring type paper clips.

For bonding the glass to the fabric, I felt that I did not want the top material to be under tension so I operated the top opening cycle until the bar below the window had lifted off the deck about one inch.

Step 2 was to lightly sand all the surfaces to which the epoxy would be applied. Then I wiped the surfaces with lacquer thinner. Doing a pre-position of the glass relative to the top showed that it would be hard to hold the glass in position to do an all around bond, so I decided to do the bottom edges and corners and about half way up each side. I used towels and a blanket to hold the glass in place while the epoxy set up. The next day I removed the towels and blanket and left the window hanging, planning to do the rest later in the day. The weight of the glass was enough to cause the bond to fail as the epoxy had not yet reached full strength. So I had to repeat this step and this time I did not remove the towels and blanket after bonding.

During steps 2 & 3, I taped the outer top material to the glass to get a tight fit along the edges.

Step 3 was to bond across the top and down both sides to the previous bonded areas. I then left the whole setup in place for two full days to be certain that the epoxy had achieved full strength.

It has been finished about a week now and I have cycled the top once. I did push down firmly on the glass and there is no indication that it was going to come loose again, so at this point I am considering the process to be a success. Time will tell if aging has any affect on the strength of the bond.

By being careful with the epoxy application and using thin coatings, the mess during application and the cleanup after was minimal. Total time involved, including the do-over for step 2 was about 4-5 hours.