portlights

The biggest reason for replacing or repairing portlights is that they leak or get broken. I my case, they were leaking around the seal and the vinyl U-channel that the glass sets in. The exterior part of the U-channel had dried out and was falling apart. Attempts by previous owners to seal these areas with silicon caulking were also failing.

The San Juan 28 has two sets of portlights made of aluminum. The windows are made of slightly smoked safety glass, which is 3/16" thick. The larger portlights are set into the sides of the cabin area. The smaller are set forward over the locker and head. The fiberglass bulkhead that the portlights are mounted in is about 1/4" thick.

Removing the portlights is fairly straight forward. First, remove the screws from the interior trim. Then run a thin blade under the exterior as pressure is applied outward from the interior. The degree of difficulty in seperating the portlight from the boat depends on the material used to make the seal. My SJ28 had, what looked like, butyl caulking on it. The caulking was not difficult to remove using a putty knife, wire brush, and mineral spirits. The silicon used by a previous owner wasn't so easy. Removing silicon sealant requires sanding off the old material. Solvents just don't get that last bit off. The silicon took some time to remove.

This is the small portlight, all cleaned up and still in one piece.
The stock portlights in the 1978 SJ28 are non-opening and are flush with the exterior. They have their pros and cons. The flush desigh is nice because water has no place to get trapped. Not opening, however, offers no ventilation, so you have to make other arrangements for air.

A great deal of time was spent looking for a replacement for the U-channel and a trim piece. There is a piece of vinyl trim on the interior that had dried out, was moldy, and didn't fit well anymore on each portlight. This trim fits into an 1/2" interior channel, just inside the glass.
Note the riveted plate on the end of the portlight. I'll get to that in a moment.

There were two different types of trim used, a gray thin type and a black heavy one. None of the manufactures that I talked to would make or had small quantities of the trim. The cheapest quote I received to make a replacement was at least $350. Only 22 feet is needed for the trim, and another 22 feet for the U-channel.

I made a point not to take the portlight glass out of the frames until I found a suitable U-channel, which I did at a local Glass and Mirror place. The owners were very helpful and took the time to help find a channel that would fit. The company that carried what I needed is C.R.Laurence Co., Inc. Here's a cross section of it. CRL Corp. Headquarters
PO Box 21345
Los Angeles, CA 90021-9989

An order for 100 feet (minimum order) of D752C 3/16" Glazing Vinyl was placed costing about $20.00, including shipping. I also found a temporary replacement for the interior trim. A product called Caulk Saver, which is a foam product used to fill the gaps in large space so you don't end up using a ton of caulk. Using it is a real stretch, but if it doesn't work, I only paid $4.00 for it.

Now that I had all the parts I needed, I felt it safe to take the portlight glass out of the frames. My initial intention was to just clean the frames up and put everything back together. Well, after trying to polish the aluminum I decided to just paint them. I'm not including any pictures on the painting process, you've all seen paint dry. I will mention that I used Interlux products, following their instructions for applying paint to aluminum. I used Brightside one part for the color coats, matching the hull, which I painted last fall. The color also helped brighten up the interior.

To disassemble the portlight and remove the glass, you need to drill out two of the rivets on the end plates. Before you do this make sure to mark the two halfs of the portlight. If you don't, you run the risk of assembling the wrong two halves together later. There are two end plates on the small portlights, and one on the larger one. Pulling the two halfs apart will take some effort.
As for the larger portlight, you have to drill out all four of the rivets and remove the end plate. Only one end is riveted. To remove the glass you must spread the frame and pull the glass out the long way. Be careful doing that. If the frame is sprung too far it will make for a bad day.

Here the frames are apart and all painted. The glass has been polished with pumice to remove as much of what was on it as I could.

Putting the portlight back together is a job best done by two people. The U-channel was cut to a long length and sprayed with silicon to make it slide into the track easier. Stretching it around the corners helped eliminate bulges at the corners. The seam of the U-channel was positioned at the top. Slide the glass and U-channel into the frame until it just goes into the bottom of the frame. We found, after several tries, that not pushing the glass all the way into the bottom gave us the chance to push the U-channel in first. This also helped eliminate bulging at the corners. Watch for the U-channel folding under the frame.

Use a wooden dowel, or a carpenters pencil, to push the U-channel into the track. Then push the window in the rest of the way. (metal pushstick will scratch)

When your done the corners should look like this.

The second half of the portlight goes together the same way, only harder. Before pushing the window in all the way you will have to cut the U-channel to final length. Care here will leave you with a nice butt joint at the top of the portlight.

Once the frame halves were together we redrilled the rivet holes. The alignment changed slightly and the paint needed removing.

Use the proper length Aluminum rivet to attach the two halves.
The rivet heads were filled with caulking during installation to prevent water from entering.

Pre-assembling the portlight before installation is a good idea. Some of the hole alignment between the trim and frame may change. The screws used were #6 -1" SS round head phillips. Once everything checks out, disassemble.

The portlight was placed in the opening to check the fit. Tape was used on the outside to mark the boundaries of the frame. Now that everthing is ready, two beads of 4200 were applied to the inside of the frame. The portlight was inserted and held in place from the outside while the trim was attached inside.

After cleaning the excess 4200 off, the tape was removed.
There it is, in the light of late day.
The inside view to the right, showing the trim inplace.

This is 20' of 5/8" diameter foam "rod", Caulk Saver $4. We'll see if it works...

William R Sindt, Last updated: May. 7, 2002

	This is the small portlight, all cleaned up and still in one piece. The stock portlights in the 1978 SJ28 are non-opening and are flush with the exterior. They have their pros and cons. The flush desigh is nice because water has no place to get trapped. Not opening, however, offers no ventilation, so you have to make other arrangements for air.
	A great deal of time was spent looking for a replacement for the U-channel and a trim piece. There is a piece of vinyl trim on the interior that had dried out, was moldy, and didn't fit well anymore on each portlight. This trim fits into an 1/2" interior channel, just inside the glass. Note the riveted plate on the end of the portlight. I'll get to that in a moment.
	There were two different types of trim used, a gray thin type and a black heavy one. None of the manufactures that I talked to would make or had small quantities of the trim. The cheapest quote I received to make a replacement was at least $350. Only 22 feet is needed for the trim, and another 22 feet for the U-channel.

	To disassemble the portlight and remove the glass, you need to drill out two of the rivets on the end plates. Before you do this make sure to mark the two halfs of the portlight. If you don't, you run the risk of assembling the wrong two halves together later. There are two end plates on the small portlights, and one on the larger one. Pulling the two halfs apart will take some effort. As for the larger portlight, you have to drill out all four of the rivets and remove the end plate. Only one end is riveted. To remove the glass you must spread the frame and pull the glass out the long way. Be careful doing that. If the frame is sprung too far it will make for a bad day.
	Here the frames are apart and all painted. The glass has been polished with pumice to remove as much of what was on it as I could.
	Putting the portlight back together is a job best done by two people. The U-channel was cut to a long length and sprayed with silicon to make it slide into the track easier. Stretching it around the corners helped eliminate bulges at the corners. The seam of the U-channel was positioned at the top. Slide the glass and U-channel into the frame until it just goes into the bottom of the frame. We found, after several tries, that not pushing the glass all the way into the bottom gave us the chance to push the U-channel in first. This also helped eliminate bulging at the corners. Watch for the U-channel folding under the frame.
	Use a wooden dowel, or a carpenters pencil, to push the U-channel into the track. Then push the window in the rest of the way. (metal pushstick will scratch)
	When your done the corners should look like this.

	Pre-assembling the portlight before installation is a good idea. Some of the hole alignment between the trim and frame may change. The screws used were #6 -1" SS round head phillips. Once everything checks out, disassemble.
	The portlight was placed in the opening to check the fit. Tape was used on the outside to mark the boundaries of the frame. Now that everthing is ready, two beads of 4200 were applied to the inside of the frame. The portlight was inserted and held in place from the outside while the trim was attached inside.