Replacing Original Starwind
19 Ports with Plexiglass:
The OEM Beckson ports on my 1983 Starwind 19 were trashed
– they leaked excessively and the frames inside and out were cracked from
a previous owner who simply tried to over tighten the fasteners to stop the
leaks, rather than rebed the ports properly. After pricing new ports (and hearing a
rumor that they would need to be modified in order to fit the hul of the
Starwind 19, I decided to fabricate my own ports out of ¼” dark
smoke plexiglass.
Step 1: Remove Old Ports – this was
fairly easy as the ports were install in 1983 and I seriously doubt they had
been removed/rebedded since their original installation. I simply loosened the nuts from inside
and remove the inside frame. Then I
used a putty knife to gently pry the external port and frame away from the hull
of the boat. After removing the
port, I used a razor blade scraper to carefully remove the sealant that was
used to bed the port in place, and cleaned the area inside and out with a
little MEK on a rag.
Step 2: Clean Up the Original Port
Cutout: It’s kind of hard
to see in the photos here, but whoever cut the openings for the ports at the
factory did a somewhat shoddy job.
It really didn’t matter, since the original ports have an interior
frame that covers the rough opening.
The ports I built wouldn’t have this frame (it was too cracked to
salvage), and I knew I would see the rough opening from the inside, so I used a
sidegrinder and Dremel tool to straighten out the rough opening a bit so that
it wouldn’t look so ragged from the inside.
Step 3: Fabricate Ports: I used ¼” smoke plexiglass
from a local plastics dealer – the two rectangle blanks cost me roughly
$27 (MUCH less than the $80/port I would have paid for replacement Beckson
ports.) I made the plexiglass ports
an exact copy of the original port frame – including the mounting hole
locations. The steps are shown in
the photos below – I first cut the plexiglass blank to the correct width
and length using my table saw and rip fence for a perfectly straight cut. I then traced the curve of the port
corner (from a cardboard template that I made from the original port frame)
onto the blank, clamped the blanks together (I wanted a perfect mirror image)
and drilled the mounting holes. The
holes are oversized by one bit measurement to prevent the port from cracking as
it expands and contracts in the sun.
I used small clamps and two temporary screws through a couple the
mounting holes to keep the blanks from sliding apart while I cut the rounded
edges. I used a Skill saw with a
fine tooth blade to rough out the rounded corners.
As you can see in the last photo above (although a little
out of focus), the corners are pretty rough after cutting them out. To smooth the rounded corners, I mounted
my belt sander in my bench vise and carefully sanded the corners smooth. Use a light touch, pay attention to the
pattern line you’ve traced onto the blank, and you’ll be fine. If you push too hard against the sander,
the plexiglass will melt and drag, so take your time – it’s not
that hard. Once you’ve got
the shape the way you want it, take one more “very light” pass over
the sander to ensure the smoothest edge possible. I was really worried about this step,
but it worked very well and I was very satisfied with the results. The corners turned out symmetrical and
very smooth
Finally, I used a hand sanding block to lightly relieve the
outside edge of each port. I had
originally planned on rounding over the outside edge with a router, but after
experiment on a couple of pieces of scrap, I couldn’t keep the plexiglass
from melting under the friction of the router blade, so I decided to just hand
sand the outside edges a bit to take off the sharp edge.
Step 4: Install the Ports: I use a method for bedding all hardware
suggested by Don Casey (see http://www.boatus.com/boattech/casey/39.htm). After masking off the port location on
each side of the hull and tearing the protective paper from the inside of the
port and just around the mounting holes on the outside, I dry fit the port to
the hull, inserted the bolts (without nuts), and ran a knife around the port to
score the masking tape. I then
removed the port and removed the making that was underneath the port, leaving a
perfectly masked hull surrounding each port. I then bedded each port in 100% black
silicone. 100% silicone
(don’t skimp) to provide the seal and flexibility as the port expands and
contracts in the sun, black to hide the white hull where the port overlaps the
hull. Silicone also has less
bonding ability than polysulfide sealant, which will make the ports easier to
remove and rebed in the future (although hopefully not for another 5 years or
so).
The ports are held in place with stainless #8 pan-head bolts
with finish washers on the outside and washers and nuts on the inside
(actually, I just reused the hardware from the original ports and added finish
washers under the heads of each bolt).
I tightened each bolt until the port had just drawn up to the hull, then
let the silicone set up for a day or two before I snugged up each nut. Allowing the silicone to dry and then
tightening the bolts ensured a good gasket around the entire port.
I am very pleased with how the finished products look. Although the lack of an interior trim
ring bothered me at first, I barely notice the hull cutout from inside the boat
anymore – the new ports look far better than the old cracked ports and
more importantly, they DON’T LEAK anymore!!
This was a far more simple project than I had imagined, so
if you’re at all handy, don’t hesitate to try it! Twenty seven bucks, a few hand-tools (have
your plexiglass supplier cut the blanks to the exact length and width you need
if you don’t have a table saw), and an literally 3-4 hours of work was
all it took to fabricate these replacement ports. Replacement ports from Beckson were over
$80 a port, and would still need modification to fit the thin walls of the
Starwind 19 cabin. This is money
well “banked” for other toys, in my opinion ….. Good Luck!!
