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ID portlight to replace seal?

Tin Kicker

Sustaining Member
Moderator
Would appreciate if anybody knows the manufacturer of this portlight or at least a source for the rubber seals. After "only" 34 years, the four opening portlights in my 1985 32-3 are leaking from both dried bedding and at the seals.

By year, the manufacturer should have been Lewmar or possibly Bomar, but the details look different than what I can find of their port lights from back then.

Thanks!
Bob / Tin Kicker

Exterior:
20190126_111954-L.jpg


The seals themselves are hardened, flattened, and definitely leak badly. Each seal is a D with a tail to tail that goes around the edge of the glass.
20190126_112018-L.jpg


20190126_112029-L.jpg

20190126_111941-L.jpg
 

Steve Byron

New Member
Bomar opening ports

Those are Bomar ports and are no longer made. I've been trying to get some of the dogs as my boat (1985 32-3) is missing several of them. Anybody have any suggestions? Bomar hasn't been much help yet, but what can you expect for hatches built 35+ years ago.
 

Tin Kicker

Sustaining Member
Moderator
Thanks Steve -
The dogs look like something which could be replicated by somebody with a 3D printer.
 

markvone

Sustaining Member
How do the hull cutouts look?

Bob,

I replaced four cast aluminum Gioit opening ports with the Size 1, Lewmar, opening port in stainless steel:

https://www.fisheriessupply.com/lewmar-stainless-steel-portlights

I didn't like the basic design of the Gioit port, it has a very small area used to seal it to the boat but mostly the port cutouts on my boat were done horribly (Ericsons are kind of famous for this), they were way oversized and did not conform well to the port, leaving almost no sealing area. I had to replace all the interior cabinside teak around the ports and didn't want to do this job or the ports a second time. The ability to get the Lewmars in stainless for the same price as the extruded aluminum convinced me to replace my Gioits. I don't think I could have fixed my port leak issues with my combination of ports and poor fitting hull cutouts.

The beauty of the Lewmar opening port design for replacing existing ports is that the overall port size is close to the size of typical port being replaced AND the cutout size is large relative to the port size, allowing you to expand the existing cutout in the hull for the new Lewmars. This expansion of the hull cutout eliminated all of my factory poor fit issues with the original ports. You can expand your hull cutouts with a jig saw or a router. I was contemplating how to fiberglass fill areas of my factory cutouts to better match my Gioit ports and never came up with a good method.

Waiting for a sale or coupon at Fisheries Supply might take some of the sting out of the cost - $231.40 each.

Mark
 
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Tin Kicker

Sustaining Member
Moderator
Mark - That's a great price ($231.40), especially since the aluminum ones only save $5.
Thanks!
 

kapnkd

kapnkd
Here’s a contact for a company close to Cleveland, Ohio with a huge selection and variety of rubber and silicone moldings/extrusions. They had the seals for our glass to frame ports on our ‘73 vintage Ericson.

Best part - AT A GOOD PRICE!


LK Technology, Inc.
5116 Warrensville Ctr Rd.
Cleveland, OH 44137


 
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