Port hole replacements

[lbdavis]

syon,

Please do post some pics. I know many sailors up here that want new portlights, myself included, but don't have the cajones to cough up the jingle required.

I'd love to see an alternative out there!

[Valiente]

I have a mixture of glass and Lexan ports, with the Lexan fixed pilothouse windows being through-bolted 1/2" slabs you could probably shoot at.

I am talking to New Found Metals about a pair of 10" circular opening ports however (in thick tempered glass) to replace fixed Lexan portlights in the after part of the pilothouse. Having those able to be opened would cool down that greenhouse considerably.

Anyway, a lot of people have a mix, and would want alternatives.

[radly53]

I went to a local plastic shop and picked up enough 1/4" 3/8" smoked acrylic to repace 8 portlights for $25. The killer was the 3 tubes of sicoflex. If you can do the cutting yourself the project can be done in a weekend.

What a difference,thay look great. If your old ports looked like mine don't wait and thay don't leak also

Sea Fever
Bristol 29.9 #49
Falmoth Maine

[tdw]

Originally Posted by Valiente

I have a mixture of glass and Lexan ports, with the Lexan fixed pilothouse windows being through-bolted 1/2" slabs you could probably shoot at.

I am talking to New Found Metals about a pair of 10" circular opening ports however (in thick tempered glass) to replace fixed Lexan portlights in the after part of the pilothouse. Having those able to be opened would cool down that greenhouse considerably.

Anyway, a lot of people have a mix, and would want alternatives.

NFM's gear is really lovely stuff presuming the reality matches the images. sort of metal work that is almost a work of art. Those latches on their ports, Oh man that is pretty stuff.

[Valiente]

You know you've gone far down the slipway when you speak of well-cast bronze with the same enthusiasm you used to have for a girl's backside.

Of course, these days I'm far more discriminating on both counts...

[bwindrope]

I just replaced all the pilothouse windows on Aeolus and after a ton of research here and elsewhere, decided on tempered glass in aluminum frames. Important to note that tempered glass is the stuff that breaks into a million tiny pieces if hit hard, where laminated safety glass is what is on car windshields. The laminated stuff is much weaker than tempered, but does have the plastic in it.

My old acrylic windows in plastic frames were toast. I found Wynne Enterprises in Alabama (of all places, I'm in WA) did nice work, for a very reasonable price. I did 6 big windows, 4 of them sliders, with 1/4 to 3/8 smoked temepered glass, and paid about $1,000. Nice guys too, and treated me like my money mattered to them.

Can't begin to express how happy I am to be able to see clearly out of all the windows in my pilothouse and to know they'll look just as good in 10 years as they do today. Plus, the frames are WAY more sturdy than the stock plastic.

Just my .02 on the choice of materials and kudos to my supplier.