Opening Port Light Seals

[jreddington]

My '84 E-28 has three small opening portlights, one over
the hanging locker, one in the head, and one in the
quarterberth. On two out of the three of them I am
either missing the rubber gasket seal or the P.O.
replaced it with pieces of rubber foam. The other
portlight has a nice (I assume original) once piece
rubber seal around the opening but it's starting to
deteriorate. All three of these are leaking.

The profile of the seal (if you cut it and looked at the
end)is a half circle. Does anyone know who made these
ports and if replacement seals are available? If not is
there a source of this so I can cut it myself? I would
assume you'd leave the cut seam at the top to minimize
the chance of water getting in. Any suggestions as to
what adhesive to use to glue it to the frame and
possibly the cut seam to seal it?

--
Jim Reddington
Lady J 1984 E-28
Noank, CT

 

[Ray Rhode]

Can you identify the manufacturer of the port light? Mine were Bomar and I was able to order the seal from them. It is actuallya linear piece which you bevel cut and glue together before installing.

Ray Rhode
S/Y Journey
E35-III, #189

 

[jreddington]

Portlight Manufacturer?

I've looked all over those ports and never found any manufacturer's name. It sounds like from your experience that the standard is to have to cut them.

Do you remember whether the original gaskets were a single O ring or cut to fit?

I'll wait to hear from anyone else either here or where I posted on sailnet.

But may end up having to order linear pieces. Do you still have a source contact for the Bomar material?

Jim

 

[Ray Rhode]

I found the Bomar name on the hatch dogs. The Bomar gasket is 9/16 inch in diameter and is available in 10 foot sections from West Marine. It's on page 550 bottom left and the part number is 567745; Bomar's number is P100-55. It did appear that the original was cut fo fit.


Ray

 

[jreddington]

I finally ran across a screen insert in the bottom of my hanging locker which said Vetus so I assume these units were made by them. Found their web site and contacted them by e-mail. Their response was they did not make any spare components for these anymore.

I ended up buying some square (5/16"?) gasketing material that appeared to be the correct size. Used acetone to remove any remaining adhesive on the face of the port frame. Acetone didn't touch some silicone caulk the P.O. had used as temporary sealants so took a lot of time scraping every little bit off.

Cut gasketing material to slightly longer than lenght needed. Started in the middle of the upper frame where I assume possibiltiy of leak through the seam between the ends is minimal.
Used contact adhesive on the gasket and the frame to adhere. The gasketing material with its hollow core bent around the corners a lot smoother and easier than I thought it would. Closing the port onto the gasket is probably the ideal way to make sure the gasket seats while the adhesive cures.

Seems to be working OK so far. Just wish I had done this earlier to minimize the water damage to the wood trim in this area.