BOMON custom portlights on 35-3

Well, removing one of my fixed portlights this weekend proved to be more difficult than expected. I had no problems last year removing the original opening portlights. The fixed ones are fairly flimsy though and got a little bent up after carefully working on one for about 2 hours. I can probably straighten it out and get it back in but I am assuming the other three will be just as difficult and may be unrepairable. So I sent an email to BOMON and they quoted me about $300 per port which I think is reasonable. Anyone here have any experience with them as a company or their products?

Or do any other 35-3(or other models) want to organize a group purchase?

BTW, I am also requesting a quote from Mariner's Hardware.

Thanks

Port Windows

Tim,
Here's my tale about Mariners Hardware.
1. I ordered one for a mock up.
2. Cost (HIGH)
3. Made over seas
4. After 4 months, no port window
5. I cancelled my order, took 4 weeks to post a credit back.
I order from defender Bomar # 3512, took 3 weeks and cost $299.99 and the fit was good, Now i just need to save for 6 more.
Good Luck. Thomas

Thanks Tom. Good to know. BOMON so far has been very responsive. Mariners is a different story.

Hi Tim

I purchased all 4 of the larger portlights for my E29
from a guy on the internet for $350.00 that are not fixed
and are very nice quality by moonlight.
I will give you his email if interested.

seeya dave

Bomon or Bomar? My experience with Bomar is the customer service is a bit lacking. Looking at new fixed portlights for my E38 Lewmar had some that were the right shape, similar sized however I just fixed my leaks instead! RT

Bomon. I am aware of Bomar's support. I spent months fighting with them.

The Lewmars are not the correct size for my 35. The top and bottom edges are parallel to each other where as my portlights get a little shorter as they near the slanted end of the window.

Moonlight portlights are made by BSI in Denmark. Here is their website. There product appears to be the exact shape of the Ericson Portlights. I suppose some European boats must use/have used the same portlights as the Ericsons.

http://www.bsi-dk.dk/bsi.asp?sideid=406

Dave, what do you think of the quality of those portlights? BOMON warrantees theirs for 2 years and they are specced for offshore use.

Keep The Info Coming

Tim-
I've been looking to replace the fixed ports on my 35-3. I went round and round trying to figure out a way to make the Lewmars work. But I really didn't want to mess around with the openings. I ended up rebedding the existing ports but am not confident that they're leak free. I spoke to the Mariner's Harware rep at the Annapolis Boat show a couple of years back and he was encouraging but reading this thread makes me think that's not the way to go. Please let us know about your luck with either Bomon or BSI, they both sound pretty good. It would be great if you could post model numbers once you've got that info. Thanks for being the guinea pig!!!

Laura

When ever I read these posts on the fixed port lights leaking I always wonder if the repair was complete before re installing the port light. When I bought Quennie the PO had replaced the opening port lights. I didn’t realize the fixed ones leaked until the next spring when my TV wouldn’t work. It sat right under the window and water leaking in in the winter had dripped right into the TV and ruined it.
I have a friend named Chuck who can fix a rainy day. Every boater needs a friend like Chuck. He works for lunch and beer and he can figure out almost anything. Anyway, I needed someone to hold my hand while I took the window out and so I called Chuck. My plan was to remove the beauty ring from the inside then break the seal of whatever was holding the window in, clean up all the old silicone or whatever and then plunk the window back in using copious amounts of silicon to seal her up.
Chuck and I went to work and in about an hour we had the window out of the opening and I was merrily scrapping away all the old silicon that had glued it into the opening. Once I had the opening sufficiently cleaned I turned to see that Chuck was disassembling the extruded aluminum frame that surrounded the glass. Oh no I thought. We’ll never get that thing back together. Chuck carefully pried the extrusion from the rubber gasket that edged the glass. Then he started working on the gasket, slowly taking that off the glass too. I knew we would never get this all back together again and even if we did it would leak like a sieve. Undaunted by my weeping and wailing Chuck painstakingly cleaned and inspected every bit of the extrusion, the gasket and the glass. Sure enough, in the extrusion on the bottom where it starts curving back on itself you could see where it had corroded and was allowing water to leak by. We put a little fresh silicon on the corroded area, rubbed the gasket with Vaseline to try softening it up a bit then carefully re applied the gasket and the extrusion. Then using less silicon then I would have expected we put the window back in and tightened it up with the beauty ring. We cleaned up the excess silicon that had squeezed out of the opening and hoped it was water tight.
The next week we got a real gully washer of a rainstorm and my window didn’t drip one drop and still doesn’t.
The moral of this story is that you have to take the window apart and inspect it carefully. It’s not just the sealing around the window that can leak.

Tim,
Bomon was recommended to me by a local repair contractor. I looked at a boat that had the ports replaced with Bomon ports and the quality looked very good. I'm planning to replace the fixed ports on my E34 next year and am planning to use the Bomon ports. I did get a quote in late 2006 from them - their price at the time was $195.00 US$ - 6-8 week delivery.

Kevin

REALLY Fixing the Leaky Ports

Hi, Bud-
I actually did exactly what you describe Chuck doing in your post. And I've had no evidence of leaking since I did that. But I also remember that before I rebedded my fixed ports, only one of the portside ports appeared to be leaking. The other three seemed fine. But I decided if one needed fixing, the others wouldn't be far behind. When I removed the other three, I found that two of them were leaking into the cabin core at the opening, and I wouldn't have known that unless I took them apart.
So now, they're all repaired and rebedded and I feel pretty good about the repair, but I wonder if they might still be leaking into the core. Which is why I'm tempted to eventually replace my 22 year old ports with nice new ones with no warps or distortions caused by age an stress.

Portlights

Dave. Can you send me his contact info? How are the ports holding Up?

dave66 said:

Hi Tim

I purchased all 4 of the larger portlights for my E29
from a guy on the internet for $350.00 that are not fixed
and are very nice quality by moonlight.
I will give you his email if interested.

seeya dave

Click to expand...

Two thumbs up for Bomon. I had the sliding portlight for the head in my E29 done by them. Required only a very slight enlargement of the opening to mount.

Paul
E29 "Bear"

I have four on order from Bomon. About $1200 so I hope they are good.