Hi !! My name is Mac. I'm in the process of replacing all the portlights in my 1979 Hunter 30. I am replacing the existing, plastic Gray Enterprises ports with new aluminum, Lewmar flush-mount ports. I'm using butyl rubber "rope" as the bedding compound. I installed one Size 5 Old Standard port so far, using butyl rubber to seal the outside port frame to the outside hull. My question is......should I apply butyl rubber to also seal the inside frame to the inside hull ? The instructions from Lewmar only address sealing the outside frame to the hull. I went ahead and used butyl to seal the inside frame, and it seemed to work fine. But do I need to seal the inside frame as long as the outside frame is sealed properly? Seems like good insurance against leakage to seal BOTH the outside AND inside frames with butyl. Thanks for comments !!
Lewmar Ports
- Thread starter seadiver
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Always seal only the outside. If water comes in, you WANT to know, so sealing the inside, too, only traps it.
Second what Stu said. Plus: I think it's a good idea to seal the edges of the plywood cabin top core (if it's nice and dry) with brushed on epoxy before installing your new portlites. Leaks often start slowly and water can be soaking into those unprotected plywood edges for sometime before you even know there's a leak, then you find saturated core and/or dry rot. I'm doing the same project this spring, going with new Gray Enterprises port lites to match the originals, and this is my plan.
I pulled the old ones out in November and have had the luxury of letting a couple areas of damp plywood core dry out over a long cold Chicago winter. Everything is bone dry now. There are some advantages to this climate, even though we do complain about it a lot.
I pulled the old ones out in November and have had the luxury of letting a couple areas of damp plywood core dry out over a long cold Chicago winter. Everything is bone dry now. There are some advantages to this climate, even though we do complain about it a lot.
Hi Capt. Jack,
I chose Lewmar because they had ports that almost fit the openings from the old ports. I still had to trim the openings to fit the new ports with a jig saw. After cutting, I sealed the edges of the core with Marine-Tex epoxy. So far, all is working out well.
I picked up 5 size 1 Lewmar port lights for the 512 GrayPorts at the defender spring sale for $50 each. This past Sunday, I installed the first 2 without too much problem using 3m 4200. I love the look. For the larger ports, I chose Vetus PZ673 which is the same size as the Lewmar size 5, but half the price. I ordered 2 yesterday. If they also look right, I will order the other 4.
Added photos of Lewmar and Vetus ports installed
Added photos of Lewmar and Vetus ports installed
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