Found portlight broken and laying on the shelf....

[zigzag930]

I was in the front V-berth this morning an noticed that one of the Fuller Brush portlights was laying on the shelf along with a number of broken plastic latches/hinge pieces.

Not the way I was hoping to start the day...

We just returned from a 22hr run back north from the Dry Tortugas and wound up in 5-6' seas with 25kts gusting to 35.

No water seems to have come inside, but I'm wondering what caused this portlight to break, which others may be ready to fail and most importantly - what it's going to take to replace them.

I believe that Sams has the inner section I need and I'll call them on Monday. What is involved in getting the old one out and can I leave the outer trim piece undisturbed? I don't want to tear up the vinyl upholstery so I do hope they will just unscrew and pop out. Somehow that would see too easy.

Boat is '77 58LRC in case there are any "special" needs for this model.

 

[Pascal]

Are you sure nobody hit your boat while you were away?

After Irma I found two of my portholes laying on the floor after repeated hits against two pilings. But they were the original bronze portholes and were intact. Just had to put them back on!

 

[zigzag930]

No chance they were hit. We are tied up at our private dock and there is no signs of anything touching the outside of the hatch.

I'm thinking the rough seas may have caused the issue. Perhaps one of my guests didn't close the hatch. I asked if all were closed but didn't go look for myself to be sure they were closed. Lesson learned for sure.

 

[SEVEN]

I have not personally seen this happen but I have talked to numerous surveyors who say that the port lights especially in the bow can get blown out when the waves hit. The captain who took my boat from Southern California to Northern California brought replacements made of wood with long through bolts in case he ran into rough seas and had any port lights blow out.

 

[zigzag930]

Ok, a few hours with a long thin knife and the port light is out. I was able to disassemble the through pins on the wing nuts and drive the hinge pins out of my "obscured" glass, so in theory I can order the inner frame only (if still available). Will call Sams tomorrow AM. Hopefully I can get this back together on Thursday for the long weekend.

By the way, it was awesome to see the hull is about 2 1/2 inches thick where this port light came out. They don't build em like that anymore.....

 

[SEVEN]

I helped a friend replace a port light on a bayliner. You can see light coming through hull. So thin.

 

[zigzag930]

LOL, I thought Bayliners were designed thin enough you don't need portlghts...