Reseal my portlights

[Solitude]

One of this winters projects is to reseal and polish my portlights.

The portlights dont leak as far as I can tell and they have an aluminum frames both inside and out. I am hesitant to take them out as I have heard that it can be a B!#¤ to get it back together.

I think thier original and the boat (Cascade 27) is 28 years old. The reason I'm looking to reseal them is the previous owner has used silicon on the outside. He seemed to have done a nice looking job but the silicon has now pulled away in strings.

I don't want to use silicon, as many of you have stated, "that it has no place on a boat", and I don't think you should use (polysulfide??) on plastics.

Question is there a product that I can use to caulk?

Do I have to take out the portlights and risk bending frames that I would never get back together?

The plastic is quite grazed.

[George Elliott]

Hi Haven't seen your portlights, but if they've al frames in aand out they ought to come out and go back in pretty easily. I've tried polishing acrylic, it's easier to cut new ones. There is a Sika system, can't remember the #s, but it's specifically for mounting plastics, the primer etches and adheres to the plastic and also allows the 2nd part, the caulking to adhere to it. But if you've got it sandwiched in al i believe you could use polysulfide. Lifecaulk has a mixture of silicone and polysulfide that I had good luck with mounting acrylic as well. Good luck George

[roverhi]

If the ports are all aluminum, LifeCaulk or 3M 101 (polysulfide) and 3M 4200/5200, or Sikkens (polyurethane) will work great. If they are plastic, they may not like any of the previous sealants.

3M and LifeCaulk make a silicone based sealant that will work with any plastic. I'd almost rather replace the ports if they are plastic rather than use sillycone. Marine sillycone sealants are a mixture and not supposed to be so bad as the typical GE sealants.

Aloha
Peter O.
Pearson 35

[Solitude]

Thanks !

The frames are aluminum while the pane it self is some sort of plastic Plexiglas. I think I'll head down on the weekend and see what it takes to get them out. I would hate to break em. The Cascade factory... under new ownership.. hasn't started producing replacement parts yet. With my luck the first 7 would come out easy and the last one would break.

The scratches are really less of an issue than the re-bedding or caulking in order to keep them from leaking. It rains alot here in Vancouver.

[cabo_sailor]

I plan on using butyl nitrate when I redo my ports later. Mine are stainless though and not plastic but I have a friend on the next boat redoing his windows on a Sabre 28 that is also going to use butyl. His are aluminum frames but I can't recall if the lenses are plastic or glass. He tends to use the two words interchangeably.

[AnchorageGuy]

I can't imagine anyone removing a port that does not need it. You said it does not leak. Clean up the old caulk and recaulk with silicon, whatever, cosmetically and polish them in place. I have seen too many that did not leak until they were removed and reinstalled. If it ain't broke don't fix it.

[Cheechako]

I wouldnt remove them if they are not leaking. If I did, I'd use 5200. Do it once with that and you will die before they need redone.

[Solitude]

Thanks

They are not leaky right now but will be soon as the silicon is pulling out. I think I will investigate what it would take to get them out. I probhably wont remove them and will just re-caulk them with one of the above blended products.