My portlight dogs are frozen solid (liquid wrench and vice-grips be damned) and the plastic is extremely brittle (damn those vise-grips). Time to get new ones. Someone posted somewhere (can't find now that I need it) about replacements (these are Greys) for my 78 Hunter 30. I think I will stick with plastic (someone is making stainless replacements I hear). Is Pompanette the right place to go? THX - Keith
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H
Howard
Replacements
Thrifty Mariner (Thriftymariner.com) has the best price on replacement for the orig. Grey ports on the hunters. I bought 4 for my old Huntyer at less than 1/3 of the price than West marine. I know that there are stainless and others on the market that look great, but the orig ones lasted almost 20 years so I went with the flow.
Thrifty Mariner (Thriftymariner.com) has the best price on replacement for the orig. Grey ports on the hunters. I bought 4 for my old Huntyer at less than 1/3 of the price than West marine. I know that there are stainless and others on the market that look great, but the orig ones lasted almost 20 years so I went with the flow.
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Paul Akers
Maybe replace just the dogs?
Can you get by to just replace the dogs? Defender sells replacements. They are online at the link below.
Can you get by to just replace the dogs? Defender sells replacements. They are online at the link below.
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Keith Redfield
Dog mountings too brittle
The dog mountings break when you look at them cross-eyed. The PVC/plastic has a very "powdery" appearance, which looks like good old UV degradation to me. So in a nutshell, I've busted 3 just trying to punch the pins out so I could get them in a vise to crank on them. Thanks for the link though - I'm sure it will come in handy...
The dog mountings break when you look at them cross-eyed. The PVC/plastic has a very "powdery" appearance, which looks like good old UV degradation to me. So in a nutshell, I've busted 3 just trying to punch the pins out so I could get them in a vise to crank on them. Thanks for the link though - I'm sure it will come in handy...
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Ian McGain
Hunter replacement ports
My 1979 Hunter 30' was purchased in 2000 fall with all the ports leaking and broken, both at the dogs and the trim. I replaced with Greys with little trouble. I did find the drains did not match-up and had to be filled and re-cut. I also found a lot of water damage that had to be filled in with epoxy. After shopping and geting prices, I found using Boat US was the cheapest price, even over direct which quoted a higher price for a web purchase. Boat US does not have retail in PA so I avoided sales tax. I believe they shipped from Florida via UPS. I gave port size overall to Boat US and they had a conversion product number chart at the special services number. Good luck.
My 1979 Hunter 30' was purchased in 2000 fall with all the ports leaking and broken, both at the dogs and the trim. I replaced with Greys with little trouble. I did find the drains did not match-up and had to be filled and re-cut. I also found a lot of water damage that had to be filled in with epoxy. After shopping and geting prices, I found using Boat US was the cheapest price, even over direct which quoted a higher price for a web purchase. Boat US does not have retail in PA so I avoided sales tax. I believe they shipped from Florida via UPS. I gave port size overall to Boat US and they had a conversion product number chart at the special services number. Good luck.
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Terry Arnold
Gray Ports
Keith, I just put a full set of new Gray ports in my 79 H33. The handscrews on the new ports are all plastic, without the insert of the originals. I think that this is an advantage, since they are not prone to freeze as as happened to you. Also, it may serve to emphasize that a lot of torque is not necessary to seal these ports. Best way to prevent them breaking is to just torque them down just snug and no more---and prevent hand handed visitors from torqing them down. There are also a couple of other improvements on the replacement ports. The drains are now molded integrally into the ports rather than having a separate clear plastic drain, a definite advantage eliminating the possibility of leakage into the core of the trunk cross section, though it does require a new cutout to match them. Also, there is a third hinge in the 7 x 14 ports in the middle, reducing flexing there and the possibility of the lens cracking. I took a lot of photos replacing mine and will post when I work out the technique of the photo forum.
Keith, I just put a full set of new Gray ports in my 79 H33. The handscrews on the new ports are all plastic, without the insert of the originals. I think that this is an advantage, since they are not prone to freeze as as happened to you. Also, it may serve to emphasize that a lot of torque is not necessary to seal these ports. Best way to prevent them breaking is to just torque them down just snug and no more---and prevent hand handed visitors from torqing them down. There are also a couple of other improvements on the replacement ports. The drains are now molded integrally into the ports rather than having a separate clear plastic drain, a definite advantage eliminating the possibility of leakage into the core of the trunk cross section, though it does require a new cutout to match them. Also, there is a third hinge in the 7 x 14 ports in the middle, reducing flexing there and the possibility of the lens cracking. I took a lot of photos replacing mine and will post when I work out the technique of the photo forum.
R
Ray
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Tim McCarty
Two words...
Bomar Grey Portlights...call Bomar. You can get lenses, gaskets anything you need. Bomar bought the old Grey Portlight line...
Bomar Grey Portlights...call Bomar. You can get lenses, gaskets anything you need. Bomar bought the old Grey Portlight line...
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