Leaking Port Question

[Russell]

Well its raining torrential downpour here in Grenada and I am noticing some water drips that I had not before. I suspect its from the ports but wanted to see if anyone else had seen a similar leak. Its not actually driping down from under the ports, the area around the ports is dry. Where I am seeing water is underneith the little gutter/handhold thats at the bottom of the cabin house. Best I can tell the water is coming from behind the teak panel on the cabinsides and forming drips on this gutter. Inside on the top of the gutter it is perfectly dry, alls I see are drops on the bottom of it, its under the forward 3 ports on the starboard side. So my question, for those of you who have taken your spartan ports apart, is it possible for the ports to leak into the liner and behind the teak ply on the cabin sides but not on the interior part of the port at all?

Thanks.

[Kittiwake]

I have some similar leaks around the ports on Kittiwake, nothing obvious at the bottom of the port, but stains further down. Most noticeable on the 2 aft starboard ports.
If you see s/v Amanzi, S&S 37 out of Toronto, say hi to David and Kim for me. According to last email, they're anchored off Hog Island on the south side of Grenada.
Peace and Fair Winds, Bill

[Russell]

I have some similar leaks around the ports on Kittiwake, nothing obvious at the bottom of the port, but stains further down. Most noticeable on the 2 aft starboard ports.
If you see s/v Amanzi, S&S 37 out of Toronto, say hi to David and Kim for me. According to last email, they're anchored off Hog Island on the south side of Grenada.
Peace and Fair Winds, Bill

I hear them on the VHF all the time, they are indeed at Hog Island, about 1/2 mile away from me. I may have even met them in person at one of the socal gatherings, but I am horrible with names, better with faces.

[Ron Turner]

Russell,

I have just pulled the three aft portlights on my 30 ketch, mid 70's. The cabin topsides and inside liner come together at the side where the portlight hole is. If there is water between the liner and topside glass it can migrate to the portlight and run down and around. I suspected this and have enbarked on a fixit project. The portlight flange on the inside was not caulked at all. There seems to be a bondo substance around the cutout for the portlight to stop that from happening but again mine was not in tact.
To pull the portlight is straightforward but destructive to interior wood in contact with portlight ring. First remove the trim ring outside. Peel away all the sealant then work on the thru bolts. Mine had a bronze "speed nut" outside. None of the the 10-24 screws were reusable and most of the nuts were unusable. Spartan has a "PM or PEM" nut as OEM replacement. I am also going to try a barrel nut. The trim ring does not have much depth to it so the nuts have to be very flush. Pounding the portlight from outside to inside with wood blocking is what gets the interior messed up.
I had lived with my leak as long as I could stand it, but when the admiral got wet one night, I had to fixit.

[Bill Cochrane]

...although I've not experienced the leak you describe, it's certainly possible due to the space between the cabin house side and the inner liner/teak trim.

The portlight installation is pretty simple...outside trim ring, inside flange/spigot. All that is needed for a good seal is silcone around the outside...you don't want/need sealant on the inside cabin portion; water shouldn't get that far. The order is inner flange -- cabin trim and liner -- space -- cabin side --- trim ring.

I removed the trim ring, cleaned the cabin side exterior, cleaned the trim ring, and reinstalled with a good bead of silicone. Don't pull all the way home, leave a turn or so on all fasteners as you're making a gasket...wait for the silicone to set up, then hand tighten.

There is no need to remove or disturb the inside trim and spigot.

[Russell]

Ok, the rain has stopped so I went out and took a close look at the port and see what you describe, looks easy enough to rebed. But before I go through that process I am going to heavily tape over the seals for the exterior cap peice of the port before it rains next to make sure thats where this water is coming from. All the silicone looks to be in good shape, but of course looks can be deceiving. And of course if I have to do one it means its time to do all of them, just what I need, another project.

[Bill Cochrane]

There are two seals, between the trim ring and the cabin side, and between the trim ring and the spigot of the port. (one bead of silicone, but needs to seal both joining areas).

[Ron Turner]

Russell,

Yesterday while it was raining here, I looked at my leak with the portlight removed. The leak was at the top of the hole between the liner and the hull. I had put a good and tight cover over the opening out side. The bondo they used to seal the space between the liner and hull is broken in the area that the leak is showing itself. When I seal that space the leak will move to another area.

[Troy Scott]

Russell,

It's a good idea to remove the outer ring of the opening ports and reseal them as others have suggested. But it's also possible for something higher on the deck to leak into the space between the deck and the headliner. This water will then run down into the hollow space in the cabin side around the ports. In the area of the ports, the small space has been mostly filled with solid material to facilitate the port installation. But there are gaps where water from a higher leak could find it's way behind the teak plywood and into the drip rail. You may need to rebed other equipment higher on the deck.

I've recently removed all my opening ports. I found the plywood to be in sad shape. It's delaminated in several places. I'm in the process of removing everything to facilitate painting and rebedding. Nothing like starting over.....