Any suggestions on a bedding product for the portals. Possibly 3M 4200 or a silicone sealant. I just removed them all and cleaned the old sealant up on every component. Just part of my restoration task on the 1980 16. Looks to be better weather ahead for the land based work at this time. Hope to splash the craft latter next month for the first time.
Safe Sailing , Don
Life Caulk polysulfide sealant.
It works and, if it ever becomes necessary to remove them in the future, it will be an easy job.
On the 16 using LifeCaulk would be best I think as well.
you definitely want to be able to possibly easily recaulk them later because they always seem to leak at some point. This would make the job doable.
A different product I have had good luck with is DOW 795
Mac
After researching this topic quite a bit, it seems most of the big boats use Dow 795 (or at least it gets recommended a lot).
You might want to avoid the Life Caulk (polysulfide) though.
"... the solvents in polysulfide sealant attack some plastics, causing them to harden and split. Specifically, you must not use polysulfide to bed plastic windshields or plastic portlights--either acrylic (Plexiglas) or polycarbonate (Lexan)."
Source: http://www.boatus.com/boattech/casey/sealant.asp