[Rhodes22-list] Beckson opening portlights

Thu May 4 13:32:14 EDT 2023

Hi Peter,

The attached article was written by me for the Rhodes 22 Owner’s Group way back in October, 1988.  I just checked the Beckson Marine Products website ( www.Beckson.com<http://www.beckson.com/> ) and they will still sell you replacement parts or even whole replacement ports.  Good Luck!

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium

Roger Pihlaja

A boat can never have too much ventilation. It's possible to upgrade two of the fixed ports on the Rhodes 22 to opening type ports. Because of the shape and curvature of the sides of the cabin, only the sternmost ports are suitable for this upgrade. Without a set of custom made shims, opening ports in the other four positions would have to bend so much to conform to the curvature of the cabin walls that they would inevitably leak. After two hard sailing seasons, the two opening ports I installed still don't leak a drop. Opening side ports are not a ventilation cure-all. Obviously, they must be secured when the boat is rail down, beating to weather. In addition, wind driven rain or spray will blow in through an open port. However, at anchor or at a dock, the extra ventilation above the port settee and galley makes a significant difference in cabin comfort.

With a boat as beautiful as the Rhodes 22, the appearance of the side ports is very important. It turns out that a black Beckson 5" X 12" camlock port is a very close match to the existing fixed ports in terms of color, size, and shape. Figure 1 shows how the boat looks with the new port installed.

Table 1 gives the parts required for this project:

Table 1
# Required
Part Number
Description
2
P0512DBS-10
5" X 1211 Camlock, Drain, 1" Spigot, Black Smoked Glass, With Insect Screen
1 Pack of 25
BB187-02/25
-24UNC X 1/21' Barrel Nuts, Phillips Head, Nickel Plated Steel
20

10-24UNC X 1-1/4" Round Head Machine Screws, 18/8 Stainless Steel
4

5-1/2" X 1" X 3/4" Pressure Treated Wood
4

15" X 1" X 3/4" Pressure Treated Wood
1 10.3 oz Tube

Dow Corning RTV Silicone Caulk, White

Remove the old ports and clean away any old caulk from the inside and outside of the cabin. Use the outer trim ring from one of the new ports as a template to determine where the opening in the cabin wall will have to be enlarged. Position the trim ring so that it is aligned with the other ports and mark the outer cabin where material must be removed. You may find it convenient to use masking tape to establish a line from the other fixed ports. The safest way to enlarge the hole is with hand wood rasps, round and flat. However, before you start, tape a garbage bag over the port inside the cabin to catch the shavings. Take your time and insert the port in the hole from time to time to check the fit.

When the port fits properly, try to fit the pieces of wood around the hole in between the outer cabin wall and liner. If your boat is like mine, you will find blobs of resin on the backside of the outer wall and liner. These must be removed before the pieces of wood will uniformly fill up the space between the outer wall and liner. A Dremel mototool [tm] is handy here, although the job can also be accomplished with your hand wood rasps. When the pieces of wood will slide in and out with no tight spots, glue them in place with silicone RTV and clamp the whole sandwich together with blocks of wood and C-clamps.

After-the silicone RTV cures use your round wood rasp to clear away the wood in the spigot drain slots. Then, insert the port into the hole. Mark the locations for the through bolts onto the cabin liner. Remove the port and drill 1/4" diameter holes through the liner, wood, and outer cabin wall on these marks. Enlarge the holes through the cabin liner to 5/1611 diameters to permit the barrel nuts to fit. Assemble the port dry to check fit and alignment. You are trying to achieve a solid sandwich of outer trim ring, outer cabin wall, wood, inner liner, and port all held together by the thru bolts. You may have to slightly enlarge the holes or trim the machine screw lengths to get everything to fit properly. When you are satisfied, clean the inner liner and outer cabin wall with isopropyl alcohol or acetone, apply silicone RTV, and assemble the port for real.

Even in the sternmost port position, there is still a slight amount of curvature to the cabin walls. It is important not to torque the thru bolts up to the point where you warp the frame of the port as this may cause the port to leak. The best procedure is to lay a straight edge on the frame of the port inside the cabin as you are tightening the thru bolts. Tighten the thru bolts, a little at a time, in a criss-cross pattern. When the ends of the port frame are touching the liner and the remainders of the thru bolts are snug but not so tight as to cause the frame to warp, the port is fully seated. At this point, the middle of the port frame will be not quite touching the liner and the gap will be filled with RTV. If your straight edge shows you have torqued the center thru bolts too much; then, slightly back them off until the frame of the port is straight again. On the outside, the much more flexible trim ring will have bent to uniformly conform itself to the curvature on the side of the cabin. Wipe off the excess RTV, which has squeezed around the inside and outside of the port and you're done!

In October 1988 this project cost me about $150.00 and was accomplished over a weekend.

Beckson Marine sold me the ports and barrel nuts direct. Their address is:
Beckson Marine Inc.
165 Holland Ave.
PO Box 3336
Bridgeport, CT 0660
203/333-1412
I'd be happy to give advice to anyone who tries this project.

Roger K. Pihlaja
5326 Sanford Lake Road
Sanford, MI 48657-9327
989/689-3757 (Home)

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From: Peter via Rhodes22-list<mailto:rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 4, 2023 6:43 AM
To: rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org<mailto:rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Beckson opening portlights

  I have a new to me 86 rhodes which I purchased with a broken dog assembly on one of the opening portlights.  The previous owner told me that he bumped it while stowing the table and it broke.  Prior to that it did not leak.  I devised a fix which has not been entirely successful, but which I think will ultimately work.
  Recently we've had a bit of rain, and I've been seeing some leaking from the other opening port.  Thinking that there might be some dirt in the seals, I started opening the port to wipe down the seal and the dog assembly crumbled into my hand.
  I'm wondering if anyone else has had an issue with the Beckson portlight plastic becoming brittle and failing unexpectedly. I'm guessing these are original to the boat and that nearly 40 years of uv has taken its toll.  Attached are some photos of the 1st portlight failure and version 2.0 of the fix

Thanks,
    Peter
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