Topic: Leaky fixed portlights in Aloha 8.2

[RichardW]

hi all,

more questions about the aloha 8.2 i'm considering purchasing.

the fixed portlights have what appears to be plastic frames.  not surprisingly, they leak.  i saw no obvious way to disassemble the ports like the aluminum framed fixed ports in my old pearson 28.  i read another thread about this topic on this forum and that owner said he paid $1800 to have custom replacements made.  that's a non-starter for me. 

is there any agreed upon way to fix the leaky plastic  framed port lights on aloha 8.2's?  these ports are a potential deal breaker for me.  please someone tell me the secret trick to rehab these fixed ports.

thanks in advance

richard

[jim on 126]

This is probably too old a thread for this reply to be helpful to the person asking the question, but maybe somebody else has had similar experiences. 

It wasn't too long after our boat came into the family (& we were not first owners) before I discovered that my port lights leaked too. I repeatedly tried caulking them from the outside.  Each time, the leaks got better for a while, but the repair never lasted too long. Re-caulking become pretty much annual maintenance.  Finally, it occurred to me that the port lights could be completely removed without too much trouble.  Just pull all the screws out of the inside trim, and theoretically the portlights can be pushed out.  I'm betting that the port lights were bedded with 5200 because they were really glued in.  I had to cut them out.  BUT, once removed, cleaned up, and rebedded, they were leak tight for a long time.  (& I avoided using 5200 there after that, aiming for products formulated to maximize the bedding and minimize the glueing characteristics.  With mechanical fasteners, adhesion wasn't actually necessary.). Happily, this effort resulted in a much longer cure.

..... However, eventually the leaks reappeared.  And this time it was a different story.  Leaks appeared at both the portlight, and at the forward end of the ceiling grab rail.  I re-bedded both the portlight and to cabin top grab rail and, this time, it didn't fix it.   While doing so, I didn't see any problem with the grab rail. That and the fact that re-bedding it didn't fix the leak only showed that the problem was elsewhere. When I finally figured it out, it turned out that the old girl had endured enough winter freeze ups that the freeze/thaw cycles had forced a delamination in the coach house roof and walls that began inside the dorado boxes.  It was very awkward working inside the dorades to seal up leaks and then to fair everything inside so that water managing to get in would drain naturally.  However, it is possible.  (Although I did end up investing in some tricky see-around-corner sort of tools. eg., Dremels with extensions and right angle adapters.). This was considerably less fun that simply re-bedding portlights, but the results were pleasing.

While the need to re-bed portlights is a pretty obvious consideration, the sneaky leaks through my dorades were quite unexpected puzzles.  Fortunately, the good news is that both problems are fixable with effort and a modicum of materials.  If you've got the time and energy, no bank loan is required.
:-)