[C320-list] Leaking portholes fix?

[Bill Sloane]

After 13 wonderful dry years, my 1998 Catalina 320 is starting to leak at
the LEWMAR operable portholes. At first I thought the leak was from the
black rubber interior gasket, but then I looked at the exterior aluminum
frame of the windows and noticed the gasket between the aluminum and the
fiberglass of the cabin top is also cracked.

Has someone had this same problem and fixed it?

Bill Sloane
Endless Summer
Catalina 320, No. 554
Olympia WA

[JJ Morrison]

On number 574, 1999 boat I had the same problem ( and I'm sure you'll hear from others as well). One fix is to remove the gasket (you will need a dental pick) which will have deteriorated over the years. Clean up the area around the portlight frame with acohol and then mask off the area, to keep the new sealant off the cabin. I applied black 3M 5200(which was probably overkill and 5000 will suffice). You will need to mask off the inside of the portlights as well, the plastic frames just snap off. This was not a very difficult job and from 10feet away it looks just like factory. I've not had a leak since and I did all four portlights.
Good luck
JohnM
#574

> Date: Sat, 26 Feb 2011 09:23:08 -0800
> From: southso...@gmail.com
> To: c320...@catalina320.com
> Subject: [C320-list] Leaking portholes fix?

[Jon Vez]

Bill,

I had leaking portlights the season before last and addressed it this past
spring. Before you remove the portlight or go after the gasket, try this--

Pull out the grey caulking on each of the horizontal slits in each portlight
and then refill with black UV4000/4200.

I have hull #582 and I started by removing the frame as I saw the cracking
you mention--However I found the caulk was in really good shape and still
quite waterproof under the frames themselves. My experience is that removing
and rebedding the frames and replacing the gasket was unnecessary in my
case. If you can get away with just doing those grey slits you will save a
lot of time and aggravation. You do not have to remove the portlights to do
this job. If you like, I can give you more detail on how to do this job if
this is the approach you choose to take.....

Regards,

Jon Vez
Solstice #582

-----Original Message-----
From: c320-lis...@lists.catalina320.com
[mailto:c320-lis...@lists.catalina320.com] On Behalf Of Bill Sloane
Sent: Saturday, February 26, 2011 12:23 PM
To: c320...@catalina320.com
Subject: [C320-list] Leaking portholes fix?

[Rick Sulewski]

Bill,

A short term solution that worked on our hull # 277 was to simply tighten
the frame and compress the gasket. It was amazing how the leaks disappeared
one we tightened all of the frames that had plenty of space between the
shrinking gaskets and the hull. So far that solution has lasted over 4
years. The day will come when I will have to address the gaskets, but in the
meantime, buying some time is working for us.

Rick
My-Ria # 277

[Bill Sloane]

Jon and John,

It sounds like your solutions are very similar. I might try Rick's solution
right now because my boats has about 6" of snow on it at the moment. Jon, if
you are willing to supply more details, I would be grateful. Is the
UV4000/4200 something I can get at West Marine?

Bill
C/320 No. 554

[Jon Vez]

Bill,

One word of warning--when you tighten the screws on the frame, be *very*
careful not to strip the holes--the aluminum is quite soft. Mine were loose
and I started with this step, but alas was not my leaking problem.

Yes you can get the 3M caulk from WM, however I found that the 3 stores in
my area only carried the white, so I had to order. I ended up ordering from
Defender. If I don't need something yesterday, I tend to order from them.
Unfortunately it only comes in the 10 oz cartridge, which is way more than
you will need.

Here's what I did--

1. I used an exacto knife to cut out all of the grey caulk on both sides of
the frame. If you go to a home depot or crafts type store you can find an
angled exacto with handle that makes this job much easier than a standard
razor. This was very straightforward and not hard to do. You will find that
the grey caulk has hardened to almost a plastic consistency, so once you get
a start you can pull most of it out with your hands.

2. I cleaned up any remnants of the old caulk with a dental pick and then
swabbed the area with denatured alcohol to clean up the surfaces for good
adhesion

3. Using blue painters tape, carefully tape around the edges of the
horizontal gaps. I also taped the back of the open seam (the opening on the
inside of the boat) to prevent the caulk from oozing inside.

4. I bought several small syringes from West Marine--these are typically
used for working with resins and epoxies. I squirted the 3M 4200 from the
cartridge into the syringes. I then used the syringe to fill the gaps. I
overfilled them and then used a putty knife to press in and smooth the caulk
on the outside. Remove the tape before the caulk sets and you are done.

I 2 complete rebeds on the ports until I realized I could get away with this
much easier approach. The above took about an hour for the remaining ports
start to finish. The complete rebed took about a week due the difficulty I
had removing the old silicone completely from the ports. If you do rebed the
ports I highly recommend the Bomar hatch tape!

Hopefully this isn't too confusing, but if you have any questions, feel free
to contact me offline...Good luck

Jon

[Bill Sloane]

Your directions make sense to me Jon.

Thanks, Bill.

[Bochniak, Dan J.]

Has anybody changed the rubber gasket to prevent leaks?

[Chris Descher]

I've changed several of these, but it was unlikely that this needed to be
done. At least in my case I believe that it was a waste of time. Besides
that, it's kind of difficult and no fun. I think that most of us have found
that the leaks were usually at the frame seams or in the O rings.

[Jon Vez]

I agree with Chris. Start with the O-Rings for the dogs and if that doesn't
work, try recaulking the horizontal seams on the aluminum frames. The rubber
gaskets should be a last resort and highly unlikely they are the cause...

[John Ellis]

I've been fixing portlight leaks for some time. First I replaced the O-rings, which fixed the problem for about 18 months, then I followed Jon Vez' excellent advice to replace the caulk in the horizontal gaps between the upper and lower frame. I used white 3M 4000 from West Marine. That was a big improvement, but some of the gaskets were so old and cracked that they needed to be replaced. I bought new gaskets from Downwind Marine in San Diego. It's a slow, tedious job to replace them, but that finally fixed the last of the leaks. After that, I bought replacement portlight lenses from Select Plastics, the installation is simple, and now I can see out clearly again!

John
#271