Before you wonder if I really know what I’m talking about when it comes to sailboats, all I can say is the last three years has been dedicated to my first sailboat and the terminology is still a little sketchy in areas. I know they are actually called portholes, but I find most people refer to them still as windows in their sailboat … so I’ll use both terms in this post.
In 2009 the porthole I took out all the portholes in my thirty year old sailboat to inspect the boat structure around each one and to see what I was in for. It turned out the structure of every porthole was sounds and there was little damage so it all be easily addressed with strengthening the wall core with fiberglass resin. After cleaning the hole in the boat for each window and using butyl tape as the seal all of the leaking around the windows was cured! But I wasn’t done.
The lens on almost every porthole still leaks, after some searching I was able to find the exact replacement lens through Beckson Marine porthole lens replacements. They still manufacture the lens size and for about $54 per window I can replace each yellowed, cracked porthole lens with a new lens for a third of the cost to replace the entire porthole unit (starts at about $125).
You can also get replacement screens, exterior trim rings, cam knobs and interior gaskets as well, for this project I will replace the lens and gasket for each window and see how that helps with the leaks I’m still fighting. (pictures coming)