Portlight leak

[seajunkie]

The large port light on my CD25 is leaking. I looked back through the posts and I read Don Casey's account in his Sailboat Maintenance Manual. Has anyone done this on their CD25 with plastic portlights?

Any lessons learned? Is this a chore to be indertaken by a novice? Was it difficult to remove the plastic without breaking it? If the plastic does break am I out of luck?

[Sea Owl]

I had the same problem with both of my aft ports. I recall that there were some posts that described how that was done. I copied the text of one post; unfortunately I cannot tell you who wrote it to give them credit....

The text of the message is:

"We have resealed all the plastic ports on our CD25 with much success.
The sealant was old.
Remove the screws inside the cabin and remove inside plastic frame.
Using a razor knife on the outside cut the sealant between the outside plastic flange and the outside cabin, while someone from the inside gently pushes the frame out towards you as you are cutting. Start at the loosest point of port. DO NOT pry it with a screw driver or other object. You will surely break the plastic flange rendering the port light almost useless.
3M 101 sealant is used for this application. "

Now, having passed that to you, I fixed my problem much simpler. West Marine sells a small tube of crack sealant - I just looked it up - Captain Tolley's Crack Cure Sealant. I bought some of that, since it says it will fill cracks and leaks through capillary action. Did two treaments around each of the plastic frames, and shazaam! No more leaks!

Since then I have no longer had to pump rain water out of the bilge ever time I go to the boat. Just melted ice water after I use the ice box.

Can't guarantee it will work, but at $14.99 I thought it was a LOT cheaper and easier that risking breaking a plastic frame and having to go to a $$$$ metal port with the work that entailed.

Good luck!

[Joe CD MS 300]

f you ever had any thoughts of replacing the plastic ports with bronze now might be the time to do it. New Found Metals had an exact fit for my original plastic ports. Big time improvement in function and looks. Not cheap but well worth it. Very helpful people also.

Joe

[seajunkie]

replacing the plastic ports with bronze

Unfortunately the long aft port lights on the CD25 would need to be glassed over, and cut out. This is more then I can handle at this point.

West Marine sells a small tube of crack sealant - I just looked it up - Captain Tolley's Crack Cure Sealant. I bought some of that, since it says it will fill cracks and leaks through capillary action. Did two treaments around each of the plastic frames, and shazaam! No more leaks!

Russ, thanks for the tip, I think I'm going to give this a shot. The leak is not a big one, it's just leaves a few drops on the cushion which is annoying. Did you seal just the outside of the plastic frame, or did you also seal between the plexi-glass and the plastic frame?

[Sea Owl]

Rich:

Just did the outside edges of the plastic frame, as I suspected that was the culprit. Was prepared to try the plexiglass to frame joint, but turned out I did not need to.

[seajunkie]

I tried Captain Tolley's today. Time will tell. I have my fingers crossed.