porthole gaskets

[johnny b]

Has anyone had any problems with leakage through portholes?  My boat, and the porthole gaskets are 25 years old and the gaskets leak, as they are no longer pliable.  Does anyone know how or where to find gaskets (or O-rings) that size?

I tried using an O-ring for a pool pump, but they're pricey at pool stores and even still it doesn't provide a watertight seal.  The ring was slightly larger in diameter, but cutting out about an inch made it fit nicely.  I put the joint at the 12 o'clock position, since leakage tends to be at 6 o'clock.  Maybe I need something spongier?

[spaul]

I had the same problem and called Com Pac. You won't like the price but the ones they sold me fixed the problem. Appears to me the right size pully belt, with no fabric or all rubber would work as well. These are just cut to a tight fit and super glued at the cut end to itself. Replacing them wasn't hard at all past paying for them.
Just dig them out with a screwdriver, clean the channel some and use black RTV to secure them. Hint, wear latex or vinyl gloves and be prepared to clamp them for several hours or re-install the port on the frame. I took mine off to accomplish this and not spread RTV all over the cabin.
Steve

[johnny b]

Thanks for the tip.  RTV was probably the missing ingredient.  The pool pump O-ring is working well once I made sure I had cleaned out *all* the old gasket material and installed it with RTV.  I didn't need much, because the o-ring fit snugly into the groove.  

I e-mailed Hutchins and asked for the price of gaskets from the factory, in case that might be a better alternative.

[spaul]

Johnny, Glad to help out. Actually one of Hutchins people told me to use black RTV to seal the gaskets in the channel. I'll check out the pool "O" ring thing someday.
Steve

[johnny b]

The thing about an O-ring from a pool pump is that the cross-section is round, as opposed to the side facing inward being flattened.  It's a tighter squeeze on the latch wingnut to get the porthole closed, since the O-ring is 'fatter' in the groove than the original gasket.  

But it works, and it's quite a bit less than the factory price.

Another way might be to fill the entire groove with RTV, and smooth it out to form a gasket.  From the directions, it sounds like it could be done this way.   :?