[C320-list] lewmar portlights

[JeffWillis111 at aol.com]

Hey Chris,
 
I just did all ( 7 total) of mine  myself and I know I had  to spend less 
than $100 in parts - and I went way overboard I think.  
 
In my humble opinion,  i would not dream of replacing these ports  unless 
yours are truly damaged - shattered lens, bent frame, etc.   
 
I purchased new gaskets for lens, o-rings for dog ear latches, and 2 tubes  
of life caulk - and only used 1 tube and even replaced the main saloon 
hatch  too.
 
I went overboard in the way I did the job.  I spent close to 1.5 - 2  hours 
per port.  I removed port, scraped old bedding compound off  fiberglass and 
then wiped down with acetone. then the fun began.  I used a  set of dental 
picks as suggested from the 320 website and began removing old  caulk from 
gasket channel of port light frame and from the horizontal split in  frame - 
very time consuming.....then dry fit new lens gaskets,  I  never siliconed 
them in place as suggested..   Fitting new gaskets in  radius of corners was 
very difficult for me.  I experimented with different  methods of stretching 
the gasket to fit in groove then pushing back in opposite  direction once 
gasket was in groove.  it took a  couple of different  attempts to get 
correct. The new gasket comes with the ends glued together  but I ended up 
breaking the glue when installing.  Also begin inserting  gasket into groove under 
one of the hinges and work around port slowly.   Removing dog ears and 
replacing o-rings was very simple and straight  forward.   
 
Test fit the cleaned up port back in the opening a couple of times before  
caulking to insure best position.  Some of the cutouts in fiberglass were  
pretty rough and left little room for error in repositioning port.   I  held 
the port in place with tape until I could get below and reattach interior  
frame.  When attaching frame, I did not tighten the screws down very hard  at 
all, just enough to hold port in place until caulk sealed.  Once it  cured 
overnight , I went back and tightened them a little more.  
 
Things to look out for:
 
Removing screws for the first time -my boat is a 1995 model.  I dont  think 
these ports had ever been taken apart before.  Some of the screws  needed 
soaking (PB Blaster) and still needed an impact driver.  I think I  still 
stripped off 3 screw heads.  Try to avoid this......
 
Also about screws - some were longer than others- note which screw came  
from what position and put back in same place when reinstalling.
 
Caulking - tape off the exterior around port to prevent extra work  later.  
I am still trying to clean up my mess around the edges of  ports.  i used 
the same caulk to fill the horizontal split in frame as I  did to rebed port. 
 Again tape will save you some work.  
 
Interior plastic frames - mine are yellowed and brittle.  I cleaned up  the 
interior frames very well and and smoothed the caulk on the interior side  
and did not reinstall plastic frames.  I like the look of the exposed  
aluminum frames better than the plastic trim frames.  I would be willing to  give 
these away to some one if they were interested.
 
Good luck,
 
Jeff Willis 
Esprit, #174
 
 
In a message dated 4/1/2014 8:13:19 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
brucestanley36 at gmail.com writes:

Test
On Feb 20, 2014 11:40 AM, "Christopher Nichols"  <cinichols at btinternet.com>
wrote:

> Time has come on Amanda  Rose (476) to rebed or replace the cabin trunk
> portights ajacent to  the shrouds. At present we have the original ones 
with
> the horizontal  split in the metal surround which i gather from posts a
> while ago are  often problematic.
> I'd really appreciate advice on if it is advisable  to replace the ports
> rather than simply rebed them in order to avoid  problems in future. Also 
if
> replacement is advisable then is there a  particular model that you would
> recommend?
>
> My yard are  quoting just about $1000 for rebedding the existing 4 so it 
is
> looking  pretty costly anyhow.
>
> Many thanks in advance for your  thoughts.
>
>
> Chris Nichols
> Personal  account
>
>