Guys, I know that a hundred of you have done this. I would appreciate a little advice. One of my ports has been leaking and today, I removed the outer exterior ring from the Spartan portlight (CD36). It was bedded in silicone. With the outer ring removed I could see how the interior assembly was installed and I also removed it. Big job. It had been bedded in some type of adhesive and it took one and half hours to get it out without it tearing apart the interior teak plywood liner behind the port. Job accomplished. Now the advice. How should I bed the port on reinstallation (LifeCaulk? silicone? etc). Also, on the remaining ports, should I also remove the interior assembly, or just rebed the exterior ring? Thanks in advance.
Brewer
bemf249@murphyfarms.com
Rebedding portlights?
Moderator: Jim Walsh
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John
Re: Rebedding portlights?
I would only use polysulfide based sealant for longevity of the seal. It has a great reputation as a bedding compound. Don't use any polyurethane based sealants.Brewer Ezzell wrote: Guys, I know that a hundred of you have done this. I would appreciate a little advice. One of my ports has been leaking and today, I removed the outer exterior ring from the Spartan portlight (CD36). It was bedded in silicone. With the outer ring removed I could see how the interior assembly was installed and I also removed it. Big job. It had been bedded in some type of adhesive and it took one and half hours to get it out without it tearing apart the interior teak plywood liner behind the port. Job accomplished. Now the advice. How should I bed the port on reinstallation (LifeCaulk? silicone? etc). Also, on the remaining ports, should I also remove the interior assembly, or just rebed the exterior ring? Thanks in advance.
Brewer
Over time silicone tends to lift at the edge of the seal. Exception being that if the seal is in direct contact with glass, Lexan, Acrylite, Lucite etc., then the silicone would be the preferred choice. In my experience silicone always gives up the ghost before polysulfides do. The Acryl-silicone products are an improvment but I'd still only go with Polysulfide such as Boatlife or 4200.
As far as what to seal, it would depend on each ports condition after the trim ring is removed and the existing port seal is inspected. If they aren't leaking leave them alone.
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Matt Cawthorne
Re: Rebedding portlights?
Brewer,
When I bought my CD-36 about6 years ago two of the port lights were leaking. It was 12 years old at the time. I called the folks at Robinhood and was told only to rebed the trim rings. I did just that. Pull the trim rings and clean the corrosion completely off. I used a wire wheel on a drill motor. Be careful wire wheels are agressive if they touch fiberglass. I cleaned all of the old silicone and corrosion off of both the ring and the portlight (where they would be in contact with adhesive. I rebedded with polysulfide and have not had any problem with leaking since. I take a different approach to sealing than John. I resealed all of the portlights that year. It was much work.
Recommendation: Mask with at least two layers of tape. When you have everything screwed down then wipe up as much polysulfide as you can. Throw away the gloves you are wearing and the cleaning rags and bag of trash. Get the stuff all the way off of the boat and then go back with another trash bag and new gloves and pull the first layer of tape. Smooth down the bead and clean up again. Then pull the final layer of tape. Sounds like a lot of work but I have found it preferable to the alternative.
I have a theory about polysulfide. If you are bad and go to the wrong place when you die lucifer gives you a leaking tube of polysulfide and as many paper towels and as much acetone as you need and tells you that you can go to heaven when you get it cleaned up. One tube is enough. Nobody ever makes it.
Matt
mcawthor@bellatlantic.net
When I bought my CD-36 about6 years ago two of the port lights were leaking. It was 12 years old at the time. I called the folks at Robinhood and was told only to rebed the trim rings. I did just that. Pull the trim rings and clean the corrosion completely off. I used a wire wheel on a drill motor. Be careful wire wheels are agressive if they touch fiberglass. I cleaned all of the old silicone and corrosion off of both the ring and the portlight (where they would be in contact with adhesive. I rebedded with polysulfide and have not had any problem with leaking since. I take a different approach to sealing than John. I resealed all of the portlights that year. It was much work.
Recommendation: Mask with at least two layers of tape. When you have everything screwed down then wipe up as much polysulfide as you can. Throw away the gloves you are wearing and the cleaning rags and bag of trash. Get the stuff all the way off of the boat and then go back with another trash bag and new gloves and pull the first layer of tape. Smooth down the bead and clean up again. Then pull the final layer of tape. Sounds like a lot of work but I have found it preferable to the alternative.
I have a theory about polysulfide. If you are bad and go to the wrong place when you die lucifer gives you a leaking tube of polysulfide and as many paper towels and as much acetone as you need and tells you that you can go to heaven when you get it cleaned up. One tube is enough. Nobody ever makes it.
Matt
Brewer Ezzell wrote: Guys, I know that a hundred of you have done this. I would appreciate a little advice. One of my ports has been leaking and today, I removed the outer exterior ring from the Spartan portlight (CD36). It was bedded in silicone. With the outer ring removed I could see how the interior assembly was installed and I also removed it. Big job. It had been bedded in some type of adhesive and it took one and half hours to get it out without it tearing apart the interior teak plywood liner behind the port. Job accomplished. Now the advice. How should I bed the port on reinstallation (LifeCaulk? silicone? etc). Also, on the remaining ports, should I also remove the interior assembly, or just rebed the exterior ring? Thanks in advance.
Brewer
mcawthor@bellatlantic.net
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Brewer Ezzell
Re: Rebedding portlights?
Matt,
Thanks for the input. I especially like Robinhood's recommendation of not taking the interior assembly out. I believe that I am going to rebed the ONE that I did take out with polysulfide on the inside also. It actually has two caulking groves in it, so Spartan intended for it to be stucked to the interior, though I'm not sure why you want the bronze glued to wood. After all, the "leak" protection comes from the outside seal.
Brewer
Thanks for the input. I especially like Robinhood's recommendation of not taking the interior assembly out. I believe that I am going to rebed the ONE that I did take out with polysulfide on the inside also. It actually has two caulking groves in it, so Spartan intended for it to be stucked to the interior, though I'm not sure why you want the bronze glued to wood. After all, the "leak" protection comes from the outside seal.
Brewer
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Brewer Ezzell
Re: Rebedding portlights?
Two ports rebedded this weekend. Took 3 hours to reinstall the removed port and 2 hours to just remove the outer ring, clean off the old sealant and rebed.
Appreciate the advise from both John and Matt
Brewer
Appreciate the advise from both John and Matt
Brewer