Porthole leak? How to fix

I would hit the porthole with a hose first to determine where it is actually leaking. The gaskets are pretty easy to replace if that turns out to be the problem. Did you try to tighten the tabs? One of my hatches was leaking a couple of weeks ago and that fixed the problem. I hope it turns out to be one of these easy fixes!

Your windows and hatches are overdue to be re-bedded. The vinyl in the boat is foam backed and will mold if it isn't already. Not sure if your windows are in a cored part of the boat. Usually when you see a leak, it's already bad. It's easy to re-bed the windows. The window consists of two parts. The outer ring and the inner assembly. First you have to take off the outer ring, 4 screws and then take a couple of putty knifes and slowly work your way around the frame until it comes free. Once you have the outer ring off, you have to cut away the old silicone to get to the nuts holding the inner frame in. Keep track of which screw came from which hole on which window, they've all been cut to size. The inner assembly is a 2 man job, one to hold the nut and the other to unscrew inside. Once you have the window out, you can put new gaskets in and re-screen if you want. The gasket is held in by a little glue, just keep pulling and it'll come out. You can use the outer frame ring as a template to cut new screens. Then a little silicone, put the screen in, then push in the gasket to tighten up the screen.



Now is also a good time to polish up the window. Make sure you clean off all the old silicone from the windows and fiberglass. this is the hardest part of the job.

Next, tape off the windows. This is the messy part. You're going to need about 1 tube of silicone per window.

I taped off both the frame and the screen so as not to get them all gooped up.



Tape off the window opening (you can use the outer frame ring as a template to cut around)



Back to the 2 man part, install the inner assembly with the screws and nuts. (hopefully you kept track of what goes where)



squirt Silicone inbetween the window and fiberglass.

Then Flip the outer frame upside down and fill it with silicone. You're going to pretty much use a whole tube of silicone per window so use that as a gauge to make sure you're using enough. Once you have the frame ring filled, push it in place. Silicone should push out everywhere.



take the 4 outer ring screws and screw the frame in. Clean up the excess silicone and then peel off the tape. You want to work fastish because as the silicone cures, it gets hard to clean up. Have a rag and acetone near by to help with the cleanup.



Now you're done, hopefully. Make sure you also have a good bead of silicone between the outer ring and inner assembly. If you don't, go ahead and add some more and push it in with your finger or something. Then wipe up the excess with acetone and a rag. It's easy to clean up the silicone when it's wet with acetone.

Wow Turtle, Great pictorial and directions. I'm definitely saving this page for the time I have to tackle this job. Thanks for the post!

Thank You for taking the time to shoot/post the photos and step by step. I already printed it out and added it to my things to do this October list. Do you have a source for the oval gaskets?

No problem, Frank walked me through it and i'm just passing it forward.

I should also note that if you wait until it's "needed", cleaning off the old silicone takes about 10 times longer than if you do it before it's leaking. once that silicone gets dried out and starts leaking, it becomes like shoe leather.

Dicor,
I caled Pompanette/Bomar. They are the OEM. Here's the link:
http://www.pompanette.com/home
It cost me $23.00 a porthole for the gasket and snap-in retro-fit screen kit.

The snap in screen sounds interesting how does it work?

The new style gasket has a groove around the inner circumference. The screen is basically encompassed by a plastic oval ring that just sits in the groove. I have heard others here say that they even just trimmed the old screen out and pressed the new style right into the old gasket stating that there was enough tension to hold it in.

Is there any way one could push the screen too hard causing it to end up in the drink?

Sure, if you push it hard from the inside. I had no problem popping all of mine in and you have a significant ledge created by the outer bezel that would stop it. If you punched it I think it would cost you another 8 bucks, which is the cost of a new screen!!

I understand now, the lip of the frame is larger than the gasket right? I was thinking there was a groove in the gasket and the screen fram popped in it.

I had a similar leak with one window read in a post to check all the interior and exterior screws 3 of the interior screws were loose and 2 of the latch screws were loose after tightening them I sprayed some silicone spray lube on a rag and wiped it on the interior gasket it solved the problem ran a water hose on it for a couple minutes no leak at all. I have ordered all new gaskets and screens for this fall. Might get you through till fall.

Here's the post,
http://clubsearay.com/showthread.php/14285-Leaking-Port-windows?highlight=leaking+window

tightening screws from the inside is not going to stop leaking windows. the only thing that stops water from getting into your boat through the porthole windows is silicone. if your gasket is bad, that's one thing, but all the screws on the inner assemble just hold it to the hull, they will not stop water from coming into the porthole frame. tightening the screws on the inside will probably spin the nuts on the outside and chew up your silicone, causing more of a leak.

I need to replace one of the screens on my 94 300 DA. Where did you guys get the replacement screen?

Home depot.

Turtlesboat said:

Home depot.

Click to expand...

I'm "assuming" that you just cut the screen to fit?

Yes, If you take the outer ring of the porthole window and lay it down on top of the screen material, trace around the inside of the ring and that's the correct size for the screen.

Or you can contact Pompanette/Bomar and order the plastic framed screen that is on the newer models for 8 bucks and pop it in. I am told the old gaskets create enough surface tension to hold it in place but, I put the new style gaskets in myself.

Thanks Turtlesboat for the great post the pics were a real time saver for me almost done with mine.
http://clubsearay.com/showthread.ph...h-New-Gaskets-amp-Screens?p=655536#post655536