Beckson port leak - 28TE

[Nancy]

One of the ports above the galley is leaking from behind the inner flange. The exterior trim ring has no screws. Is it just fastened with silicone? How is the port itself held in place? Do the 6 interior bolts go through to the exterior?

My best guess is these are model 512. The Beckson web site is a little light on diagrams and good photos.

Beckson recommends 100% silicone sealant. Never my favorite, but . . . ??

[Norseman]

I had leaks from those ports as well.
Pulled the rubber gaskets and cleaned them and cleaned the seating area, found dirt and salt. After cleaning leaks reduced by 95%.
(Still a drop after heavy rain in thunderstorms)
Normal rain and spray from running in chop, no leaks..

[Nancy]

I wish it had been the gasket. The drips were clearly coming from behind the interior flange.

We must be one of the first to work on these portholes. The assembly was a surprise.

First step was to remove the exterior flange. It was not fastened with screws, but rather was completely filled with white sealant. Ran a flexible putty knife all around and it popped off with no problem. That left the port itself, which had sealant around the entire insert. We began cutting that loose.

Inside, I removed the 10 screws. Pretty surprised to find they were only 1" long. I'd been expecting bolts to go through to the exterior. The screws along the bottom didn't seem to be biting into much of anything. Hmm, that didn't seem good. A few minutes later, the entire unit easily released. I'd been expecting bolts to go through to the exterior.

The construction we found struck us as sub-par. The wall of the cabin top, at least in this area, is only about 1/4" thick (guessing - I haven't put a tape measure on it). The strangest thing is that the vinyl headliner was installed before the port, and the vinyl wraps into the opening and is stapled into the coring. The port was installed after that. Maybe this is standard construction - I don't know.

The bottom line is that there isn't much holding the port in place - just a shitload of sealant and eight little wood screws.

The coring was pretty well disintegrated along the bottom and going down about 1/2" at the deepest. point. I very carefully poured unthickened West System into the void until it filled. I tried very hard not to pour that sticky mixture all over the interior vinyl - I used Saran wrap to protect it. I was glad that the resin didn't all disappear into a bottomless pit or the bilge.

Hopefully, it will somewhat set up by tomorrow afternoon. Temps are on the cool side - 60's this afternoon and mid-50's tonight. Next step will be to get all that schmutz off the boat and reseal. Not sure what we'll use. Beckson urges silicone. I think the original is more likely Life-Calk or similar.

I'm concerned about old sealant in those 10 screw holes. I don't see how it's possible to clean those out, and I'm concerned about new sealant properly adhering to whatever is left behind.

I dunno . . . I feel like we've only done the easy part and the reassembly/sealing is a crap shoot and probably a godawful mess.

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[Norseman]

. The construction we found struck us as sub-par. The wall of the cabin top, at least in this area, is only about 1/4" thick (guessing - I haven't put a tape measure on it). The strangest thing is that the vinyl headliner was installed before the port, and the vinyl wraps into the opening and is stapled into the coring. The port was installed after that. Maybe this is standard construction - I don't know.

Wow Nancy, bad news.
Keep us posted, all of the above is news to me.
Following..

[RobS]

Nancy I had a couple posts on this, not sure if you came across them:

http://www.albinowners.net/aog/viewtopi ... it=BECKSON

http://www.albinowners.net/aog/viewtopi ... it=BECKSON

[Bluewater]

Nancy - thank you for the update and photos. This will be my first summer in Florida with this particular boat and I shall be regularly and anxiously examining the ports after what you’ve said and shown. Good luck with it.

[Nancy]

Hi Rob -

I hadn't seen your posts - my search skills failed me. Thanks for pointing those out.

I spoke to Beckson this morning. What a helpful company. Mark said it's not unusual to see the vinyl wrapped into the opening and stapled. He also said that using screws instead of thru-bolts is fine because the key to a successful installation is the sealant. It's all about the sealant both where the port comes through the opening and, very importantly, underneath the trim ring.

This afternoon, I removed the sealant from the exterior of the boat and from the perimeter of the opening. I ended up cutting off a sliver of vinyl with sealant attached. My tools of choice were a rigid putty knife and a single edge razor blade. WD40 helped soften the sealant.

We splash tomorrow afternoon. Weather is good this week - finally! - so we hope to reinstall the port before our luck runs out. In the meantime, the opening is covered with a piece of shrink wrap and plenty of tape.

[RobS]

The most important thing IMO is to have that ~1/8" gap for the sealant, no gap = no sealant.
Good luck on the splash, post some pics. Make sure you have good cooling water flow to that new lipseal. Easy enough to fire up the boat on the hard with a garden hose in the strainer so you can see the water run out the cutlass bearing.

[Nancy]

Splash happened without me. The phone rang one too many times. I got to the marina, stepped aboard, and fired her up. All systems go. Life is good.

Pretty sure we have good clearance all the way around the port. Top and sides for sure. Will double-check bottom.

[Norseman]

Nice Nancy..
Pictures next, or it did not happen.

[Nancy]

Nice Nancy..
Pictures next, or it did not happen.

She's a hot mess. Not presentable except in closely cropped photos. Check out the shiny new windlass.

[Norseman]

Nice Nancy..
Pictures next, or it did not happen.

She's a hot mess. Not presentable except in closely cropped photos. Check out the shiny new windlass.

Roger, Wilco,

[Norseman]

Discovered a new leak on my tub today: It may be related to the topic of this thread: Porthole frames failed caulking.

Right now we have heavy rain, as in extreme conditions: Flood and tornado warnings all over SE Florida, been going on for days and will continue a few more days.
Been checking my 28TE twice a day, no leaks, batteries and bilge pumps ok, etc.
Until this evening: Noticed a puddle behind the galley faucet and drops in the area. Been suspicious as the cabinet had minor rot damage right there, but chalked it up to the old faucet leaking a tiny bit over the years.
This evening the truth was evident, brown water from soaking the plywood, then draining down in the galley sink and puddling behind the faucet. (Drawers are dry) have to dig deep to find the leak, where the water flows and how to stop it.
Picture from inside the faucet compartment showing a damaged and delaminated surface: (camera looking out towards head door)

163DDD48-13C7-4D79-9184-89645F3C204C.jpeg

[Nancy]

That does not sound like much fun, Dag. After the monsoons stop and things dry out, you can start experimenting with a hose.

We caulked the port a few days ago. We're not entirely satisfied with the result - there are a few tiny gaps here and there, so we may decide to apply more. Then again, we might leave well enough alone as there's already tons of silicone in the opening, and the tiny gaps are only at the surface. Cleanup isn't much fun. It rubs off the SS railings a lot easier than the fiberglass around the port.

[Norseman]

No much fun and never dull owning a boat.
As an emergency measure I caulked around the 3 Port trim rings yesterday, had 2 hours between heavy showers and thunderstorms:
Quick drying of the trim rings with a heat gun, wipe with alcohol
and super fast application of masking tape and caulk.
Covered the beads with 2” blue tape so the rain would not wash the white silicone away before it cured.
Heavy rain all afternoon and night. (The Gods are angry)
Will check this morning to see if it worked, or became a mess.

For a permanent repair I need to pull the portholes, but if yesterday’s emergency surgery was successful, perhaps I got 6-12 months with no leaks.