Date: Thu Jul 6, 2000 4:08 pm
I have found someone who would consider an opening port. I have spoke with Richard with New Found Metals, Inc. concerning opening ports for Panache, 27X7 5/8. He stated approximately $1,500. for tolling up and approximately $440/50 per port. I mentioned several would probably call concerning opening ports for an Allied Seawind Mark II.
New Found Metals
240 Airport Road
Port Townsend, Wa. 98368
360 385-3315 or 1-888-437-5512
Fax: 360 385-6097
www.newfoundmetals.com
Date: Sun Sep 9, 2001 11:41 am
My Seawind was built in 1982 and also has 5 bronze portholes. It seems that some late models were built as such.
Date: Sun Sep 9, 2001 10:11 pm
Daybreak in Hull # 122 in CT has 5 Bronze ports. I believe it was an extra cost option. That makes three that I know of 130 (post break-up of Allied), 122 and 113.
Date: Mon Sep 10, 2001 11:46 am
I don't know the origin of the picture (website homepage), but can state that I've seen a number of SW's with 5 ports on the port side.
It may have been a change with a particular serial number.
Date: Mon Sep 10, 2001 11:51 am
My vessel is serial #129, a 1981 model, but the ports which are presently painted are from a Canadian firm and made of a metal similar to aluminum. Now the odd thing is the brokers sheet listed them as bronze but they look aluminum. Any thoughts anyone? I'd sure like to know for sure which they are.
Date: Tue Sep 11, 2001 12:16 am
If memory serves me correctly there were only 129 boats built by Wright/Allied. Some incomplete hulls were sold at auction as were the molds shortly after the Allied demise.
Ports that open from the inside and hinge out seem a very strange arrangement indeed. In my humble opinion this appears to be a boat that may have been finished by a buyer of one of those few auctioned off. Opening ports almost always open inboard as far as my memory is served.
Date: Wed Sep 19, 2001 12:35 pm
One of my opening ports on my SW II has a cracked frame. Can anyone give me recommendations for replacement? Also I am wondering how I can clean up my fixed aluminum ports and replace the gaskets in them. One another issue is the replacement of the gaskets for the opening ports on the inside where the lens frame clamps down. Can you use household weather stripping for this?
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Date: Wed Sep 19, 2001 4:28 pm
I had the same problem on my Seawind. The opening ports are all plastic and the sun baked them too much.
So, I replaced all of them. The same ports are still available through West Marine. The size was just a hair off; I had to file some of the openings in the boat after removing the old ones. The job wasn't too bad; about a full day for all 4 port replacements.
I think the old ones were glued in; I used silicone and #10 through bolts on the replacements to be safe.
Date: Thu Sep 20, 2001 12:39 am
First, plan on two dry days
Second, have a helper
Third, remove nuts, then using a quality screwdriver with a wrench to turn it with, back out the screws. If they don't come out, use a tool that you hammer which turns a hardened screwdriver bit to get it started. When removing screws ensure which hole you took them out off and thats
where they will have to go back in. They are different lengths. After removing all screws, washers and nuts, use several flat blade putty knives and a steel wedge to slowly pry (with breaking) the outer flange off, then do the same with the inside section. Scrape off all old
plumbers putty off boat and parts, clean with mineral spirits. Drill out the outer flange holes to proper size so bolts will slip in easy. If outside flange is broken, you can either have it welded or epoxy with fiberglass cloth. Then purchase new plumbers putty, roll it in your hand forming a long line about 1/4" diameter and place in corner of port all around and force port into place. Then have your helper hold it in place, go outside, and roll another piece of plumbers putty and place on the outside, slip the flange over and hold with clamp, tighten clamp gently until the port is in place properly. Note: several clamps may be needed to accomplish this, then force putty into screw holes and install screws and bolts, you may need to tighten the clamps to get bolts in far enough for the nuts to go on. If you need further help, advise.
Date: Thu Sep 20, 2001 8:58 am
Don has given you about the best procedure anyone can.
I may only add to this that the frames (aluminum) on my boat have been filled and faired with an aluminum epoxy compound, then powder coated with nearly the same color as original. I have replaced the lenses with 1/4 inch, tinted Lexan
The original seals, as far as I was able to discern in the past two years, are not available any longer. However, I was able to get something close from Ocean Dynamics in Florida. They are on the www net but I cannot seem to find the part number I have used for my modification. The seal is shaped to surround the edge of the Plexiglas lens rather than to jam between the outer land of the frame and the lens.
Date: Thu Sep 20, 2001 3:22 pm
Bomar makes a very nice but very expensive aluminum port ($400 each) that fit my boat (K-32) and was easy to install. I went to that after trying a less costly plastic port and hating its appearance. Bomar made the ports on demand which meant a slow delivery (perhaps four weeks). I seem to remember that I got a lower price by ordering through West Marine (rather than direct from Bomar). There may be other good, lower cost solutions also.
Date: Tue Oct 9, 2001 3:26 pm
This weekend proved to be another learning experience that I thought I would share.
Early on in the refit process we removed the fixed port from the main salon. The original plywood fascia panels on the cabin sides were consigned to the dumpster also in favor of displaying the original cabin liner as it seemed to add a bit more dimension and allowed the installation of the full-length grasp rails to accent the shear line so much better.
The idea proved to be attractive but filling the many and various screw holes with something akin to the original color proved to be impossible.
My answer was to create a full-sized veneer of white, Fiberglass Reinforced Plastic to mask the pocks for each side. The original aft cabin bulkhead had been originally hole-sawn to accept four large, analogue instruments and the same material is now masking these holes both inside and from the exterior. This lightly pebble-grained material is often used in restaurants for wall covering in kitchens and bathrooms. Its flexible, durable, inexpensive, sold in 3 X 6 panels and very washable.
In any case we went about trying to fit the aluminum frames back into the same openings and discovered that the length of the many attaching screws limited the amount of space between the actual lens mounting frame for the exterior and the interior trim frame. The original thought was to simply shorten the machine screws and remount the ports. Further investigation revealed that the inner liner and cabin top are not joined do not maintain a uniform distance from each other and thus forms a very wide drain for water to run through until it finds its way to the final lip of the liner, found just above the locker and outboard. The faint traces of salt still adhering to this lip led me to discover that dependent upon the attitude of the boat this drainage sought all sorts of inconvenient places to run along before finding its way to the cabin sole or the bilge.
To solve this problem we have inserted small wooden wedges into the gap, around the perimeter of each opening, to provide a uniform, combined, dimension of the outer cabin top surface to the inner, veneered surface of just more than 1/2". Into this gap we will paddle in a thickened layer of epoxy. The wedges, once removed will create the new spaces as the layers will be held apart by the first, cured epoxy mix and these too will then be filled. With a new and uniform thickness of the liner and the cabin top molds the ports will be re-installed with adequate bedding and new seals.
*** I have not been able to find seals that are exactly the same as the originals but managed to secure a roll of very adequate weather-strip from Ocean Dynamics http://www.oceandynamics.com/
I sent a small sample of the original to them and they sent me back about eight different style samples to try out.
Dec 28, 2001 I am not aware that any Seawinds had factory Bronze ports unless this was a special order. I replaced my original plastic ports, which leaked, with Bronze ones from Spartan 15 years ago or so. I don't know if Spartan is still in business, they were an offshoot of Cape Dory in Massachussetts. Dec 30, 2001 Bronze ports. Evidently the later SWII's (mine is #122) were offered with them. They are the same rectangular ports I saw on a Princess recently and I assume they were put in at the factory. Jan 8, 2002 The gasket for my port aft window hangs down form the top. Does it need adhesive or do the screws need to be tightened? What would a person replace them with? Jan 8, 2002 Before going offshore, I had to address a couple of leaky windows, and all gaskets showed light surface UV cracking. Unable to find replacement gaskets, I unseated all the windows (inside and outside, can take some elbow oil). I scraped old sealant and reset with the original gaskets outside and Life Caulk inside (which I prefer to Life Seal when possibly called to unseat in the future, much easier to unseat). I then smeared the gaskets outside surface with a clear silicon sealer, which improved the aspects and water shedding, and seems to arrest surface cracking. It still looks OK after 3 years in the sun, including one year in the Tropics. This would be a good test. If you find the bedding dried out, and any of the other windows has the smallest leak, I would extend the rebedding to these other windows and, if time, all fours. I have had no problem with the smaller portholes forward of the windows, except with torn bug screens. I also rebedded the two hatches. Finally, I removed the top aft crossbeam of the companion hatchway, varnished it to prevent rot, and rebedded it, thereby stopping for good a stbd side leak (oozing above the Loran and VHF and chart table in a seaway!) which had defied the preceding owner's efforts for years, these efforts limited to caulking around the forward beam/roof joints. Feb 23, 2002 This received from the L-33 group; I'm forwarding a reply that I received from New Found Metals in Port Townsend, WA to a query about the possibilty of producing opening portlights to replace our old and aging deadlights in our Luders cabins. Since everyone I've talked with about changing the crazed plexiglass in our cabins has nightmares to share, I thought that maybe it might be worth the money to put in real portlights that also help air the main cabin. In any event, here are both the reply and my original query. Frankly, I think there are enough of our boats and Seabreezes out there to create a small demand for 8 x 28 portlights. Dear Curt, We do have in mind to make the 8x28. I am not sure yet if we make it in stainless or Bronze. I am off to my New factory in March and maybe can get a start on them them, If we do them in bronze the price will be about $495.00 each. Thanks for the tip on the gasket. I will see what I can do I've got a couple of queries that maybe you can address from your China connections. First, I know that the cost is probably out of sight, but I'm trying to replace the large deadlights on the cabin of my old 1969 Luders 33. They are rectangular and measure 8" x 28" or 6" longer than your longest portlight. How hard would it be to extend the length of the existing molds and cast a longer one in ss? Then, the critical question would be how much? If I decide to do this, I will need four. There are also about 100 of these old classic boats still out there sailing as well as the other Allied boats like the Seabreeze that used the same size. All of the portlights on those boats were cast aluminum as were the rings for the cabin deadlights. All of the existing boats have 6 portlights. There are also active Luders 33 and Seabreeze associations so there is probably a small market for replacing the old with new. Most of these are due for replacement. Let me know a potential cost for the 8 x 28s and I will email the Luders association. I was looking at the Rutgerson portlights used on the Swedish Najads. They measure 7.5" x 28" and would probably do, but they are out of sight too. OK, the second querys is this: Curt Larsen Jun 11, 2002 Has anyone replaced their opening ports. The old plastic PhyHi ones on Galadriel are looking pretty ratty so I would like to get new ones, preferably stainless steel. Any recomendations? The ones from NFM look nice in the pictures, has anyone actually looked at them in person? How is the quality? Jun 11, 2002 While I haven't yet purchased the ports from NFM, I did have the opportunity to examine their product in great detail at the Miami Boat Show. I spoke with their President and Chief Design Engineer who pointed out quite a list of features his product has over the competition, such as alloy content, gasket technology, drain angle and depth, superior dogging mechanism, etc. All this at the best price when compared to ABI et al. Down the road, after some other upgrades, they will certainly be my manufacturer of choice.