Plastic Classic Forum

I'm in the process of trying to rehabilitate the opening ports on EC 421 and can't find a supplier for the 1/4" gasket. I tried some solid rubber and some gland packing material (teflon impregnated) and am not happy with either. Does anyone have a source for either the neoprene or the square tubing? Or any other suggestions.

Thanks,
Barry

One trick I've heard of is to scrape out the chanel clean and then fill it with 5200. I've never tried this my self, but its worth a try.

Barry,

Try McMaster Carr. I'll bet they have what you need. http://www.mcmaster.com/

David

"One trick I've heard of is to scrape out the chanel clean and then fill it with 5200."

Thats an interesting idea but I think it would be as hard as the solid rubber, certainly worth a try as a last resort.

"Try McMaster Carr"

That is where I got the solid rubber, that is all they had.

Thanks,
Barry

Try these folks. They are in Canada, but they can rebuild practically any hatch or port to new condition.

http://www.hatchrepair.com/

Also, the Canadian dollar is at .80 USD right now.

They also provide DIY rebuilding services. Quoting from their website:


At Hammerhead Nautical Systems we offer 2 unique ways to have your hatches or portlights repaired: Send In Service and D.I.Y. The first step in choosing a service is contacting us.

In order to repair your hatch, we only need the top portion. The deck base can stay in the vessel. After we receive and assess your individual hatch/portlights repair needs, we will contact you with a final price, and an itemized list of what needs to be repaired. Customers, whose hatches and portlights are sent to us for acrylic lens replacement, also have the gasket replaced (which is included in the repair price).

After receiving the 'go-ahead' from the customer, our service professionals complete the repair, and ship the hatch or portlight back to the customer. This entire process only takes 2-3 weeks, and all of our repair work is fully guaranteed not to leak for one (1) full year.

D.I.Y repairs are for the customers who wish to complete repairs on their own. For a DIY repair, contact Hammerhead Nautical Systems with your hatch or portlight dimensions, and manufacturer details. We will send you a D.I.Y Kit to help you get the job done. D.I.Y Kits include (Note: DIY kits may not be available to all customers):

Acrylic cut to your hatch or portlight
Gasket
Adhesive
Detailed instructions on how to complete the repair
In addition to the two main types of repair services offered, Hammerhead Nautical Systems also has many aftermarket hatch and portlight parts for sale at a fraction of the cost, while meeting or exceeding the specifications and tolerances of the original hatch or portlight manufacturer. Now there is no need to bother with expensive dealers - just come to us.


Good luck,

David

"Try these folks. They are in Canada, but they can rebuild practically any hatch or port to new condition."

http://www.hatchrepair.com/

Thanks for the suggestion but they don't carry it either.

Barry

Did you read their FAQ that mentions replacing square gaskets with round ones?

David;
Thanks for the follow-up, I went back and read that on their web site.
When I had them on the phone they didn't mention it, I'll call back.
Barry

Barry,

There's a page devoted to this subject on the national Triton site (tritonclass.org). If you've not poked around there before, there's a wealth of information in the Maintenance, Improvement and Renovation (MIR) portion of the site. Here's the page with info about portlight gaskets:
http://tritonclass.org/mir/PORTLTWXSTRIP.html

I think I bought some of the stuff from Defender, which another owner swears by. I didn't realize that his ports were different from mine. I recently acquired some more "modern" Triton ports (which are probably more like his) so now I just have to remember where I put that gasket material.

Mark

FWIW, Defender doesn't carry the square, hollow-center material any longer.

And another supplier of the same product indicated to me yesterday that the product was discontinued by the manufacturer.

Mark;

Thanks for the link. (http://tritonclass.org/mir/PORTLTWXSTRIP.html )

Their suggestion of Bristol Bronze came up dry for gasket material, but they suggested, as someone else did, to use 1/4" o-ring material.

Also of interest is that they are now manufacturing new bronze opening ports for the Triton (this size fits many of the old Pearson designs).

Barry

Bristol Bronze has had the Pearson ports available for quite some time.

Its the cost that keeps most people looking on Ebay though.

"Its the cost that keeps most people looking on Ebay though."

I didn't ask the price because I don't need any, I am however getting the catalog. It is very hard to find someone to cast custom products since Harrington went out of business, competition is limited due to limited demand and the EPA restrictions and this also raises the price.

Barry

FWIW- I bought some silicone rubber (A50) from Mcmaster Carr it came in a piece 1/4" thick and 2" x 36". It cut easily into 1/4" strips and it appears to be soft enough to form a good seal.

Barry

An approach I'm considering is to use 2 part polysiloxane mold making material. It's essentially the same type of silicone rubber that barrybrown used, but you can cast it into the ports to make a one piece gasket. If mold release is used to coat the inside of the port, the result should be a removable gasket. I already have some of the polysiloxane material, so I'll get around to making a test gasket pretty soon and report back.

I tested out that idea and the material seems to work nicely. Problem I ran into is that the bronze sealing surface does not close evenly. The hinge side doesn't close as far as the opposite side, so my evenly cast gasket seals on the bottom and sides, but not at the top. It holds water and would work to keep rain out, but would let air in through the small gap at the top. So I'm going to cast another test gasket with the port at an angle to match the out of level bronze sealing surface.

Tallystick,

You might try getting some sheet wax to build a channel up around the existing groove so your seal is taller.

Zach

That's a good idea. For the two port gaskets I already cast, wax sheet under the top part of the gasket would compensate for the variation in seal height. I already have some modeling clay that might achieve the same result. A nice thing about the polysiloxane material is that nothing sticks to it, and it's very tough, so I can pull it out of the port without any risk of damage to the gasket.

Shimming the gasket worked. Nice watertight seal. The polysiloxane material is strong and flexible enough that when the port is screwed tightly shut, the gasket squeezes around both sides of the bronze sealing surface.

So far so good. I'm going to cast gaskets for the other four ports, and take pics once they are done.