Be careful for sure. I intend to get a scrap piece of plexiglass and do a dry run of drilling and screwing that stuff before I touch the real thing. I have two new precut plexiglass ports from Rudy still in the shipping container. They do not come pre drilled.RAD said:
Did you get an OEM replacement port from Rudy or did he cut frameless plexiglass ports to your dimensions?
In my bit of experience, u must remove the port, component, or whatever, then properly clean, repair ( which includes soft core, beveling screw holes, and all that), prep your surface, then reattach said component. Anything else is just a waste of time and money. Unless u r looking to waste time and money. Then it is ok to just put a bunch of ( fill in the gook of your choice) on it.Mad Dog said:
I am also concerned that if I try to pull out and rebed the ports, they may crack (I think they're original to the boat - 1976). Knowing that I'll have to replace very soon, I'm trying to buy myself a few months of dry(er) sailing until I can replace the ports over the winter.
Well then try this. Prep your surface with alcohol or acetone, the try carefully applied white duct tap to the outside e. Just along top and sides. Not bottom. Trim off excess. Should buy you a month. R u talking about your opening ports? If so, consider new found metals ports.Mad Dog said:
Thanks - I'll try that. These are just the fixed ports. If I understand Rudy correctly, the plexi and trim are manufactured as one piece, so even if I took out the port and rebedded properly, I wouldn't solve the leak here until I replaced it. Thus the attempt to caulk as a temporary patch until I replace.
Oops. For sure. I meant the gell coat. Thanks again Joe. Alcohol would bee all u need. Reason for tape? Cheap, flexible and usually readily available. A bead of life caulk would be better. But could still leak anyway. Best is to do the job the right way as soon as u canTrinkka said:
Plexi sheets with no trim? Interesting....... I asked Rudy about that, and he said he only carried the OEM portlights, which were sold as an entire window kit (plexi, exterior trim, interior trim). That's also when he told me it wasn't possible to remove the plexi from the trim ring.
I rebuilt a plastic Gray Marine forward hatch on my boat several years ago with a used hatch that I bought off Rudy. I was able to remove the lens from each hatch by using a heated putty knife. I had replaced the lens on my original hatch with piece of Lexan and I had glued it in the frame with Devcon plastic epoxy. I was able to remove it from my hatch cover by using a blow torch on the putty knife blade. I also used a heat lamp bulb. I was able to make one good hatch out of the two. The hatch I bought of Rudy had a small crack in it and the lens was thinner than the one I installed my hatch. This is why I removed both lens from the hatches. My hatch cover had broken dog latches. Heat will remove anything if it's applied right. Give it a shot and let me know how you make out.
