Porthole Covers?

[SomeGuyInaShirt]

So, I have some slightly leaky rectangular portholes on my Westerly Centaur and in true lazy man fashion I'm looking for an easy fix with some added benefits of being able to leave the portholes open in rain. I saw a place online that sells Lexan vent visors but I don't like how they look and their smallest size is too big for my boat so it's going to look bad. I saw a boat in a marina once with bronze visors over it's opening portholes and I thought that looked good but I can't find them online. Does anyone know the ones I'm talking about? I'd love to get some.

I'm also replacing my traditional aluminum framed tempered glass deadlights in the main cabin with 3/8ths plexiglass and am considering installing some opening portlights in the deadlights. I've seen this feature in pictures of new boats and wondered if it's really as simple as cutting the appropriate hole in the plexi and installing the portlight with appropriate sealant. Also wondering how much this weakens the main deadlight as they will inevitably take waves straight on occasionally. But without opening portlights my main cabin has no ventilation apart from the companionway. It's tolerable in British Columbia but not so much in Mexico, I'm sure.

[Nekton73]

I have a similar problem with the seal on my not-so-high-quality rectangular portlights, and have been looking for a similar solution. A member in my club has little plastic visors over his, kind of like you see on car or truck windows so you can keep the window cracked if it is raining. They work but his are well aft and not in much danger of getting snagged by sheets; mine are forward so for now I haven't given this a try. I will be interested to see what other solutions are offered.


As for installing an portlight in a plexi deadlight, I would advise against it. Plexi/acrylic expands and contracts quite a bit as temperature changes and I think the number of holes you would have to put in it to secure a portlight would soon develop cracks. I say this due to experience with the old deadlights and forward hatch cover on my own boat which were installed with a through bolt every six inches. Eventually cracks developed from the radius of the holes, and leaks followed. Last season I finally replaced them with new plexi adhered with VHB tape and sealed with polyurethane. Aside from a locking hasp and a couple of support arms on the hatch there are no holes in any of the new plexi. So far so good and I love the result.

[OldManMirage]

Well, the thing about leaky ports is that you don't just want them not to leak in the rain, you want them not to leak when your sailing. Spray and even waves will splash up and over them and when you start getting salt water dripping into your cabin that really sucks some of the fun out of things.

The lazy man may just want to put a little more effort into that particular project, it will be worth it.