Pearson Boats - Common Systems > Ports & Hatches
Happy Holidays to my fellow 323 Enthusiasts! (also rebedding fixed ports)
Sea Haven:
I'm in line with this project too this spring. (Spring ??? WTF is that???)
Got a GoPro few weeks ago for the B'Day. Plan on documenting this and all projects on my VLOG.
Nice to hear about the extra material.
"Sub" Ed
Libations Too:
I finally started the rebedding project today on my aft, starboard fixed port.
After about 6 hours of work I was able to extract the port assembly and bring it home for clean up, painting, installation of new moulding, and reinstallation of the glass. The removal job was not too bad but I did need to work carefully from the inside and out to remove old foam caulk and a bead of silicone that had been applied the the space between the inner liner and outer cabin. A box knife, and a thin putty knife were my friends. Once I had removed most of the old caulk and silicone I could move the assembly up and down and found that I needed to move it up first so that I could push the bottom out, then go outside and pull the bottom and front of the port out first; then it slid out. Working alone probably made this more difficult than necessary but I worked slowly and carefully and all turned out well.
Two things that I noticed and wanted to ask others about (especially Alma and Selene who have been down this path before me):
1. I noticed that the "gap" between inner liner and outer cabin is nonexistent in many places and very small in others. This is definitely different than photos that I have seen of other boats where the gap may have been 1/4 to 3/8 wide. Based on this and the experience of others on this site, I am thinking that I will not fill the gap with epoxy. Perhaps a hardwood spacer? Any thoughts about this approach?
2. As Alma noted in another post, the cabin does have some camber to it while the port assembly does not. Selene, I ended up buying the butyl tape from Compass Marine as you did. Did you find that one layer of the butyl tape was sufficient to deal with the camber of the cabin? Does it make sense to use one layer in the middle and ramp up to two layers at either end to better accommodate the camber? Any thoughts?
selene:
I have thoughts, but no great wisdom behind them :-)
My ports also had an inconsistent gap between liner and cabin. This is what made me think of filling with thickened epoxy - not a lot, but (to use a British term) belt and braces (i.e. extra secure). I think wooden spacers would work as well - or indeed nothing, as it originally was.
As for the butyl, I think you need to add enough so that, when compressed, the butyl fully fills the gap and squeezes out - the key is not to have any voids, or crevices water can penetrate. I don't think I doubled it up for the camber; as I recall it took a few strips to get complete coverage, which provided the excess I needed. The bigger issue for me was the fact that when the port was installed the hole was larger than the port - over 1/2" larger in places - and so (this may not have been the best approach) I forced more butyl into that gap.
As ever, dry fitting will give you good insights.
Careful about dropping butyl on the deck/nonskid; it can be a pain to clean off!
Sea Haven:
Libations Too-Thanks for the detailed pix!
If mine appear like that I'm going to merely build up/fill in the voids with a healthy dose of "Marine-Tex" that I happen to have.
Make sure I saturate the existing liner/deck "glass" edges as needed.
I'm just looking to keep water out of the gap and fiberglass strands as not to migrate away, as opposed to any real structural integrity increase.
Any larger than what you experienced then perhaps I'll go with "cloth" saturated with epoxy.
Not looking forward to it, but it needs to be done. :-\
"Sub" Ed
Libations Too:
Ed, the Marine-tex sounds like a good, possible approach. Were you thinking of using the Marine-tex putty?
I also looked again at the Compass Marine site: http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/nfm_port_lights&page=1
Though the application was for NFM ports, the Compass Marine site showed using both butyl tape and a polysulfide caulk. The idea of working from outside and folding a length of butyl tape over the edge of the cabin (thus covering the outer face of the cabin and partially filling the gap between the cabin and the port assembly) makes some sense to me...but actually fitting the port assembly into the opening ringed with butyl may be difficult if not impossible.; especially so since I think I'll need to slide it back and forth, up and down much as I did when removing it. Adding a polysulfide caulk outside of that on the face of the cabin would seem to help deal with the camber of the cabin. Plus, it sounds as though the polysulfide would be easier to clean up than the butyl.
I'm starting to imagine a big mess when things go back together.
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