Leaking Portholes

[Steve Sayian]

The six opening ports in the main cabin and vee berth have been leaking when any rain/salt water get on them at the bottom.  Although not a torrent, it's a pain to have to keep stuffing paper towels under tehm to keep the cusions dry

I have removed and rebedded all the ports, put new O-rings on all the exteriors of the latches, and replaced two rubber seals (Lewmar Type 1) yesterday in the vee berth ports (and those still leak).

I'm about ready to weld them all shut with PL-5200 and 6" lag bolts!

Does anyone have anything that I've missed?

Damp and Dizmal

[Roger Blake]

I had the same problem on my 1998 (post is here: http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,6634.msg43583.html#msg43583). I noted the factory had little or no sealant around the port, so I put a lot of sealant on...used a plastic wedge to smooth it out from the outside edge to the inside edge...no leaks after a couple of years. See my "warning" message in the above post. Given what I know now, would have gone wity Buytal tape instead of sealant.

[2ndwish]

I just replaced the gasket on one of ours which had been leaking. When we removed the old gasket, we found the aluminum was very pitted. Rather than replace the port, we decided to use a generous helping of silicone sealant in the pitted areas, closed it up, cleaned the excess and let it dry. Tested it the next day and so far so good. The pitting will continue under the sealant and we will eventually have to replace the portlights, but not this year.

[Stu Jackson]

Try reply #6 here:  http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,2979.0.html

[Ralph Masters]

The only comment I have is, "Stu, how the heck do you recall these little details like that??"  You are ammazing.

Ralph

[Ted Pounds]

I'm thinking it's more ability with the search engine rather than mental ability.     Either way though it is impressive.   

[Stu Jackson]

I know Ray Irvine.  I know he has Lewmar ports, with leaks.  I remembered his post.  I used the search engine "Lewmar" & "rirvine".  I've linked to this many times before when this same leaky Lewmars comes up, again and again, as it always does.  Not so hard.  Mind?  Gone...

http://c34.org/bbs/index.php/topic,2979.msg19472.html#msg19472

[Exodus]

I had the same problem.  After rebedding all ports and replacing all the gaskets I still had water dripping out from within a couple of the frames.  The water was coming out a screw hole on the bottom of the frame.  A small amount of clear silicon on the black plastic gasket gasket on the outside of the frame solved the problem.

[tonywright]

There may be a much simpler solution.

I found a couple of mine "leaked".  On close inspection, I could see that the main seal to keep the water out is between the plastic lens and the rubber gasket around the the port on the inside. Water collects If that rubber seal gets dirty or hardens, it will not make a good seal against the plastic lens. The solution is to a) keep both lens and rubber gasket clean (open the port and wipe them both several times a season) and b) use a product that will soften and preserve the rubber seal at least once each season. Since I did this, no leaks at all.

Tony

[Ron Hill]

Guys : I have only had 1 leaking Lewmar portlight. 

For that one I removed the inside trim ring and tightened (with a screwdriver) all the way around a little at a time.  On all of the others a little silicone spray EVERY year keeps the gaskets nimble.   A thought

[Les Luzar]

Ron,
This sounds good. I am going to try it! Thanks for the tip!

[Jim Hardesty]

Ron,
I just did the same thing.  Was very surprised at how very loose some of the screws were, one bottomed out before tightening (added a couple of washers).  One port still had a drip, I used "Captain Tollies" , think that's it's fixed.
http://www.captaintolley.com/
Jim

[Rortega46]

My Lewmar portholes are (Standard Portlights size 1RE) have developed minor leaks from the bottom closing latches.  I thought I'd start the troubleshooting process by replacing O rings but can't figure out how to remove and replace them.  I would appreciate any troubleshooting suggestions and advice on how to change the o rings.