By John Peterson
From Yahoo Groups/Watkins posts
I
went through the same dilemma in finding appropriate port lights and found the
exact same ports. First off I have an 82 Watkins 27. On the 79 I think
you have two opening ports on each side and a large fixed port that does not
open. First off your ports may say Gray manufacturing on the bottom
of the trim. Those ports are made by Bomar now and are referred to as the
Bomar Gray series….but they are plastic, not steel as you desired. The front
ports are 5X12. (Measure to make sure you have the same ports) The small ones should be G512
I
did a lot of research on installation only to discover the removal was the
hardest part of the job. The factory put the original ports in with 3M
5200…or something just as tough. I had gel coat breaking off the cabin
exterior when I was removing the trim rings! I purchased some expensive
de
I had to do some fiberglass repairs where gel coat had broke with the trim rings and I also filled voids between the outer and inner cabin liner with fiberglass filler. I was surprised the core was not solid. Then I painted epoxy on the core to form a seal between the outer and inner cabin.
To
install the new ports the Bomar instructions says to use 3M5200.
Don’t! After consultation with my West Marine dealer and a great article
about sealants in Good Ol’ Boat Magazine last fall I went with 3m 4000. I
probably over did it but I filled the cut
For the price difference between steel and plastic I think my new plastic ports will last as long as I own the boat. I really did not think they would solve my water problems and thought I had other leaks around toe rail, stanchions, and chain plate, but my boat is now DRY! I had wood wet and rotting in the stern corner of the galley and now it is dry after heavy rains.
Sorry
this is long but thought someone else might benefit from this and I will be
showing them off at the 2005 Watkins raft up in
John Peterson
82W27 s/v Dream Date
Rick,
I took all six ports out first. Then duct taped the old ports back in to keep the weather out. Actually I had to put them in backwards, they fit back in easier. The boat was pretty ugly for awhile. It took a good hour to two hours to get the window out and all of the old caulk removed. On my first port I took a screw driver and started prying off the trim ring without any debonder. That got pretty ugly. By the time I got to number six I was a little smarter so I hope I can share my knowledge with others.
Then I took West System filler and filled the voids and exterior screw holes and repaired the gel coat that had busted off.
Fortunately except for one spot, all the gel coat damage was underneath the trim rings. Then of course sanding to smooth out the epoxy.
Then I reinstalled. It took about an hour for me to put each port back in then clean up all the caulk that oozed out. The important part is getting a good fill of caulk between the window and the cabin. That is where the water can come in. The trim ring is just for decoration but I completely caulked it in as well.
I'm a slow worker and the entire project took almost three weeks, I'd stop by the boat after work and take a window out, put one in, etc.
Dealing with Sailnet was great. Only one port was in stock and the other five were backordered. They came in within two weeks.
The new ports sure look nice compared to the chipped and broken ones. Several of my buddies on the pier took my old ones for parts for their boats.
My next big job that has to done before sailing season is replacing my fuel tank. I had fuel filter failure three times last year. I am replacing the 19 gallon with a 12 and pulling the engine to get the tank replaced. I am also intending to replace the motor mounts which look like they run around $100 each while the engine is out.
John
s/v Dream Date
82W27