Took off my ports today

[Brian D]

What a task. I still believe the previous owner used 5200 to attach the ports. Took well over two hours to remove 5 ports. I took one off several month ago for a test to see how hard it would be. It was a lot of work removing, cleaning, and then putting it back on. I have not sealed it yet, but it does not leak either.

Next is to clean the ports and do a leak test of the gaskets. These are opening ports and I know that there is some leakage from the seal. Will clean them up and check. Hope they are still good. Might have problems finding gaskets for my ports.

We have a 30% chance of rain tonight. So, why did I do this today? LOL

Using 3M painters tape to cover the holes. And yes, I do have some dry rot. Plan on digging that out and filling the void with epoxy. Don't think I need to cut out that portion and replace.

 

[kito]

2 hours to remove 5 ports is pretty fast imo. I replaced all nine of my ports and took at least an hour each. I did mine different though. When I took one out I would clean up all the crap that the multiple PO's sealed it with. It looked like a combination of 5200, silicone and whatever caulk was on sale at Lowes. I then installed my new port. I could get 2 done in one evening.....that's when it stayed light out until 9:30.

 

[Brian D]

Guess I was in a hurry. LOL They are now home and I have the tedious task of removing all the old caulking. Boy my work is cut out for me. I do plan on using (Maine Sail's recommended) Butyl tape when I put them back on.

 

[kito]

I guess it depends on what portlights are being installed. The ports on my H30 are the Grey ports which are installed from the inside. There is only a trim ring on the outside and the gap between the port and the port hole needs to be filled in with sealant. I used about 3/4 tube of Dow 795 on each port to fill the gap. A trim ring is then installed to cover it. That's a lot of sealant to remove when you replace or re-seal them.

 

[centerline]

I guess it depends on what portlights are being installed. The ports on my H30 are the Grey ports which are installed from the inside. There is only a trim ring on the outside and the gap between the port and the port hole needs to be filled in with sealant. I used about 3/4 tube of Dow 795 on each port to fill the gap. A trim ring is then installed to cover it. That's a lot of sealant to remove when you replace or re-seal them.

I too, ended up using the dow 795..
i have beckson portlights and when i replaced 2 of them, i tried the butyl tape, but due to the viscosity of it, i couldnt get it to seal properly... after a week of tightening the screws in hopes that it would take a seal, I had to do it all over again, but using the 795... both ports sealed the first time.

 

[Brian D]

That's interesting information, thanks. My portholes screw from both sides. On the outside, there are twelve screws. I hope that will be enough to hold a good seal. I have a tube of 795 but by the sounds of it, that might not be enough for no more than one, maybe two portholes. We will see.

 

[kito]

If your outside frames are fixed to the port I would think butyl tape would work best under the frame and a small cone of butyl under each screw head like Maine Sail suggests. You just need to seal between the port frame and the cabin. The grey ports are a different animal. There is no frame on the outside to seal, just a loose trim ring to cover all the sealant. Butyl tape in my case is not a good choice since it's quite a large gap to fill. I did use butyl tape on the inside flange though. The only way it would see water is if the 795 I put in some how lets water through.

 

[Daveinet]

Any type of flexible Urethane glue should work. What ever you use, it needs to stay flexible, because fiberglass expands at a different rate than metal or Acrylic.

My windows are glued straight to the fiberglass. The PO apparently glued and screwed them with a hard glue. Every single window was cracked. 3 of the windows actually had gaping cracks in right down the middle due the different expansion rates. That was my first project when I got the boat. Pretty much took one evening per window.

 

[Brian D]

I got a couple of the rings sorta cleaned up. Lots of caulking on all of them, but only on the bottom, not the top of the rings. I suspect this will take maybe three days. I won't have time to play tomorrow but Saturday I should have all the portholes cleaned and ready. Next step after this will be to clean the fiberglass of everything. Then I will set and seal all the ports in one day. Maybe Sunday or Monday.