[Public-List] Large ports in cabin

[Mike Lehman]

I am not sure when Whitby changed from rubber to aluminum frames, but the early ones had rubber. Phil Beigle (US #17) changed his rubber for aluminum last year. We have made replacement plexiglass for many boats, we cut the plexiglass the same for each. The plexiglass is not a perfect fir, it never was in the original, but the silicon makes up the irregularities and forms a great seal. The trick is not to tighten the frames all of the way when you first install then new plexiglass. Tighten the bolts (almost); let it cure for a day; and complter the tightening the next day. This allows the silicon to form a good gasket and they will never leak (mine are gong on 32 years). The original caulking was some kind of gray stuff (maybe someone on the list know the name), but it harden, became brittle and they would leak. It was the wrong stuff, but maybe the only thing available at the time the boats were built.

 

see http://alberg30.org/maintenance/HullDeck/Portlights/ for more tip on doing this project

 
Mike Lehman 

 
><((((º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸><((((º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸><((((º>
 
 






 
> From: hugh_alberg at hotmail.com
> To: public-list at lists.alberg30.org
> Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:17:21 -0200
> Subject: Re: [Public-List] Large ports in cabin
> 
> 
> Good morning Mike,
> 
> 
> 
> I may be misunderstanding your comment but our boat (#39) has aluminum frames around all of the ports (large and small). Purhaps the rubber gaskets were only used in the very early boats. Our frames appear to be original to the boat and a standard size. They are through bolted through the cabin side fibreglass and finished on the inside with acorn nuts. There is some kind of flexible sealant under the frames (I'll find out what when I replace my ports next spriing) that was dried out when I bought the boat but seems to have absorbed moisture and re-sealed itself since.
> 
> 
> 
> With regards to the actual plexiglass replacement I suspect that each individual port will have to be cut to match its opening. I spent a year working for Vandestadt & MacGruer when I was in university. While we used templates to mark outlines for port openings in the fibreglass and, also, for cutting the plexiglass ports, the actual cutting was neither exact nor identical from one boat to the next. The rubber gaskets were able to handle the differences but I would not have trusted even the best fit ports to stand up to a serious impact. In the case of our Albergs, I would imagine that Whitby followed the same construction process and used the flexible sealant to fill the gaps. The bolted frames would provide much more strength that the rubber gasket.
> 
> 
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> 
> 
> Hugh Mcormack
> 
> Woody Point, NL
> 
> > 
> > The early boats all had rubber gaskets on the main ports and the smaller ones too. Probably the best solution would be to make aluminum frames for inside and outside and thru bolt the making a sandwich with the plexiglass. This is one place, the only place, where I think it is appropriate to use clear silicon. It would be best to have a frame to make a template, short of that, once the windows were removed, you could trace the inside of the hole and make a frame template from there. Maybe someone on list has a frame they could trace and send you the drawing.
> > 
> > 
> > Mike Lehman 
> 
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