Delamination above portlights

[bnewt]

Hello all,
After a season of soggy cabin cushions I have decided to remove all six of my portlights to re-bed and re- seal. Upon removal of the ports I noticed moderate delamination above the cut out of 4 of the six ports. The question I have is two fold. 1. Is the delamination the source of the leaks? 2. If so, what is the best method to address this without pulling off the skin?

The delamination seems to extend about 2" max above the cutout. If the delamination is caused by the moisture getting in the ports, Can I just fill with an epoxy filler or a dry rot filler?

Thanks.

 

[The Garbone]

Pictures would be helpful.

Are the spots just cracks between the liner and the outer house or is the wood between friable ( crumbling)?

Having just rebed most of my ports I would say as long as there is no friability reinstall with a good butyl tape and don't worry about it that much. As long as the mating surfaces are clean and flat you should be ok.

The fact that you say it is above the ports is worrisome, could the water penetration be from the housetop hardware?

 

[bnewt]

Thanks G. I'll get some pics when I'm at the yard on Tuesday. I'm worried that it could be the upper deck as well.

 

[The Garbone]

Sometimes these things can be a combination. I had what I thought was a pretty bad leak from my port main chainplate. After I rebed it still seeped water just not as much. I then rebed my port side cabin top bomar hatch (just aft of the main bulkhead). It had a very slight drip in heavy rain.

When I pulled the hatch it actually stunk. It turn out the outer bedding ( plumbers putty?) had failed and the inner (5200?) was keeping the water inside the liner and it was running down to the chainplate.

I have now taken to rebed one fitting a week with butyl. Keeps me from going nuts and Slowly but surely the leaks are going away. I now suspect my port teak hatch rail is seeping. Not looking forward to that one.

 

[bnewt]

Great advice! It's funny, I paid my boatyard to re-bed all my stanchions last season. Makes me wonder. Also, all my hatches we're leaking as we'll so I replaced all the lenses and new gaskets. What I didn't do was re-bed the hatch frame that is inserted into the deck. Looks like I will need to do what you've done. Re-bed EVERYTHING! Gotta buy stock in the Butyl company. Thanks for the advice, I think I've been in denial that all else was water tight.