Westsail port window / portlights repair

It was time to tackle the port windows or portlights as they are called. They have been leaking and since the weather was holding out I decided to take them out for servicing. My wife ordered gaskets from bud but I also needed a gasket that he did not sell so I had to get creative. I used butyl tape! Apparently this stuff works wonders on a sailboat and I fully understand why now.

Our port windows before this writing were a silicone mess and if I were a politician I'd make it law that silicone on a sailboat was punishable by lethal injection! Silicone has no use on a boat except in the engine room but even then a good sailor would frown on this.

Installed, and we kept the patina look-as per wife's orders.

The port windows are mounted in a frame that is attached to the bulkheads - I did not remove the frames just the port windows from these frames. Below you can see my toe, sorry I meant a port window that was removed simply by pushing out a pin with a hammer and punch. I will note that the pin holding up these port windows is machined in such a manor that it favors a direction for which it's removed, so I taped them lightly until I found what direction to hit them out towards. 

Port window has been removed

Once I had the port window on the cockpit floor I unscrewed the 6 tiny brass slotted screws and began the laborious task of scraping and sanding off silicone. I had silicone all over the glass, trim rings and port window frames. Some of the 1970s gasket still remained intact but fell out without even a hint of a fight. 

Cleaning all the parts.

After the port windows were cleaned up I reassembled them using the butyl tape and let them sit in 

the sun for an hour or so. Then I came in with a razor and quickly trimmed out the excess tape, very professional in my opinion and without silicone! 

Butyl tape installed and ready for trimming.

After mounting the windows back into the frames that I left attached to the boat. I began inserting the gasket below that we got from Bud. The gasket was a different color and seems stiffer than the stuff that was used previously but works great. I made sure to place the seams up on top of the port window frame. 

Gasket material

Our boat has ten port windows total, took about half a day to complete and three plates of pasts during sunset. Tools needed were a small slotted screwdriver, razor blade, abrasive dish pads - the green ones, hammer, small punch or substitute with an cheap screwdriver, scissors to cut gaskets.