Perko port holes: Leaking !

[Capi]

Hi Fellow cpers..
Have an older mod 1 cp19.. it has lovely bronze 4 inch ports.. alas.. they leak.. me thinks the gasket material has seen better days..
Have called Perko and West Marine for solutions.. no help.. What's a poor sailor to do?. Capi

[Billy]

Have you tried the factory?

There was a thread about this a while ago, do a search. Someone had a homemade fix, but I don't remember who.

[newt]

There is some gasket material out there, the bottom line is do not use silicon IMHO. Kinda look around and see what looks good on your boat (if you have to make your own) I think factory replacements would be the best- along with what Billy said.

[Capi]

Hi fellow sailors... yes, called the Perko factory..no help.. I'll do some additional researching..Thanks for your help ! Capi

[Bob23]

Capi:
   What exactly is leaking? There are a few possibilities: The gasket between the frame and the sash, The seal between the cabinside and the frame or the seal between the glass in the sash. (For clarity, I'm calling the opening part the sash.) All 6 of my Perkos were leaking between the glass in the sash. I ended up having the gaskets made locally and was able to remove the bronze circle clip in order to remove the glass. It was not a particularly hard job.
   For the gasket material between the frame and sash, used to be able to get gasket material from Fawcett in Annapolis but I hear they are history. I don't know if Defender or WM has it.
   I don't think Perko makes these wonderful round bronze portlights anymore. Too bad.
bob23

[Cruzin]

Capi,
I had similar issues and bought some weather stripping from West Marine that seems to work well. It is part #268344 and it cost $16.49 for a 10 foot piece. I have the Compac 23 and I did all 6 of my 5"(?) Perkos with one 10' piece with about 8" left over. It is not perfect as it it is quite high on the hinge side. When I replace this again I will shave off the bottom portion slightly near the hinge area if possible. If you have a 2011 West Marine catalog the item is on page 541 on the very bottom right corner of the page. I put a very small amount of adhesive in the groove to hold the gaskets in place until they got set. It is important to clean the track very well before putting in the new gaskets. I would encourage you to lay the gasket material in the sun to warm up so it is very flexible. I am not sure if your gaskets are exactly the same as mine, but I bet they are mine is 1980 model. Good luck and I hope this works for you!
Merry Christmas!
Dale

[skip1930]

Well heck. What's the problem? Unbolt the old port holes, scrape off the old leaky goop, re-goop with your favorite sealer and bolt them back in. Forget the gaskets. If you really want to use gaskets go to AutoZone and buy some sheets of gasket material. Either fiber or cork and cut your own. When I needed new gaskets for my 1957 JC-3A Jeep front steering knuckles, I went to a sewing store and bought a bunch of felt squares and cut them to size, stacked up several layers and used these for gaskets. Worked without leaking, retained the hypoid 80/90 just fine. My Ford Model 'A' used felt for all gaskets to hold in the 600 steam engine lube used in its day.

The older CP-19's had the nice wood surround inside the 'dog house' and this barely allows the length of the port hole to stick outside the cabin.

My favorite sealer is 3-M 5200 slow set. Most CP'ers here don't agree. This might be what the factory uses. Use what you like. To get the old ports off after it was gooped on I needed to heat to about 160 deg F. [ You almost can't touch 160 deg F. ] the goop with a hair dryer or paint stripping gun and then whack with a rubber hammer. Don't pry with a screw driver. Just work her out.

Now that the flange of the ports are sealed to the fiberglass of the 'dog house' the ports themself may leak. If the rubber that the ports close on is NOT broken, rub on some Vaseline to soften up the rubber and allow the rubber to better seal up to the closing portion of the port. This worked great on my 21 window VW Cambi Van back in high school. To brighten up the brass Hagerty 2000 metal polish from most jewelry stores can be used. Rub on, let dry, wipe off.

The 4" ports are listed for sale and pictured in my West Marine catalog. But I can't fathom any reason to but new ones.

skip.

[Stephen]

Hi, I live down the street from the factory and (they are the nicest people you would ever want to meet)they told me when I went for new seals in my port holes that they no longer had them ,I was told to go to the auto parts store and get 1/4 in vacuum hose and starting at the top work it into the grove until you get to the top ,then cut it with a razor blade.

[shamblin]

dont know if this would apply here, but i had a similar situation where the plastic/gasket  junction leaked until i put some vaseline or chapstick along the line of opposition?