Fixed Portlight replacement on Passage 42

Jul 7, 2014
90
Hunter Passage 42 Jacksonville
Hello everyone,
The large tinted acrylic portlights on our 1994 Passage 42 are badly crazed and I would like to replace them.

From reading other posts here I know they should be replaced with cast acrylic, held in with 3M VHB and caulked with Dow 795.

What I can't find is the thickness required and color/tint percentage.

Does anyone know exactly what thickness and color they are?

Can anyone recommend a vendor for this material, preferably whole sheets in the southeast US (or better, Florida?)

Thanks in advance,
Daniel
 

eianm

.
Jul 7, 2010
517
Hunter 42 Sydney
i just removed one yesterday to re seal it and they are a lot more than a piece of cut perspex! There is serious chamfering on the back side that will be a job for professionals. Getting it out was actually easier than i had expected- i used car windscreen removal tools.
 

eianm

.
Jul 7, 2010
517
Hunter 42 Sydney
sorry- saw this too late- job finished but i did measure the perspex- it was 8mm thick
 
Jul 7, 2014
90
Hunter Passage 42 Jacksonville
Interesting. What I'm finding from suppliers I've contacted here in the states is that their standard thicknesses go from 6mm = 1/4" nominal to 9mm = 3/8" nominal (and 12mm = 1/2" nominal). Is it possible it was 9mm? I'm not sure I'd want to go thinner than that.

I figured I'd go with 1/2" nominal (12mm/0.472") since there isn't really anything on the outside that would restrict the thickness if it was a bit thicker. My only concern would be the black ports that are fitted directly to the acrylic. I believe they are a customized shorter spigot depth so they can mount directly to the relatively thin acrylic vs to a boat hull.

It also seems that there are a set of standard colors that are commonly used for tinted acrylic. A couple of shades each of gray and "bronze" (a brownish tint). I'm probably going to need to get a set of samples to figure the color out, I'd like the color to match the existing Beckson hatches.

These definitely don't seem to be any kind of brown/bronze shade, so I'm pretty sure I've narrowed it down to either Gray 2064 (25% visible light) or Gray 2074 (13% visible light)... Just not sure how to pick between them without getting samples.

I found a copy of the factory build sheet for the P42 and it lists them like this, for example the aft hatch is described as "PLEX,24 3/4X24 3/4X1/2 AFT HATCH H42" That really makes it look like it's length x width x thickness so the "1/2" would be the thickness. No color I have also measured the companionway boards and they were also 1/2" thick.

I believe these are the black ports installed in the fixed ports from the build sheet: "5.0000 EA PORT-OPEN.BLK 4X14 WITH 5/8" SPIGOT"

I'm not familiar enough with these ports to know if a 5/8" spigot is enough for 1/2" mounting depth or not.

The fixed acrylic portlights I'm wanting to replace weren't listed on the build sheet, I'm guessing they were probably cut/shaped in the Hunter factory from sheets instead of ordered custom parts.

In case you wanted to see it yourself, this file is available in the Marlow-Hunter website files section here:
 
Jul 7, 2014
90
Hunter Passage 42 Jacksonville
Following up for anyone who might need this information...

Color is 2074 (dark gray), nominal thickness is 3/8" (9mm).

To match the color I got a set of acrylic samples (ePlastics) that included all the common solar control tints. To measure the thickness I attached "L"-shaped cardboard extensions to digital calipers and stuck them through one of the Beckson ports.

Hope this helps someone looking for this info in the future...
 
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