We've been doing a great deal of long-board sanding on the hull and deck joint and thought it would be a good time to mix it up a bit and do something other that rocking fore and aft with the long-board. So we tackled the task of fitting the port-lights we got from New Found Metals.
It was apparent that it would require a fair amount of altering of the existing port-light opening to fit the new ones, so we ordered the installation template from New Found Metals. When it arrived we checked it against the port-lights and it was a good thing that we did,......the mounting holes were WAY off on the template! I sent it back and emailed NFM only to find they did not have the correct template on hand.
We ordered the trim ring spacers for the inside of the ports as we had too much of the ports protruding out the cabin side the way they were. The teak trim rings were delivered in a timely manner but the quality was not of the same standard as the ports.
Each one is made from four pieces of teak and no effort was made to ensure the pieces were even close to the same color. The end pieces on some were much lighter than the rest of the pieces, giving it a chunky look. The frames were rough and one had a notch caused by careless routering at the factory. Fortunately the port-light covers much of the trim ring and after some careful sanding and finishing to blend the colors they would do.
We used the trim rings as guides and drew the cut-outs on the cabin sides and cut them out.
The port was fitted several times and adjustments made until we were happy with the fit.
Inside the cabin the area under the trim ring was sanded to bare glass and the trim ring was bedded with 3M 5200 and installed. After the 5200 cured the port was removed and the outside of the cabin was glassed and faired as required. The ports were then installed and bedded with 5200. Now I know there are those that feel that 5200 is overkill and would prefer something not quite as tenacious in case the port needs to be removed in the future. Those folks have never had to climb into a wet bunk under a leaking fitting on a three thousand mile passage........been dere........done dat ........my boat fittings get bedded with 5200 and I have never had one leak. Boats on long passages are subject to endless flexing and twisting cycles and I have yet to find a better adhesive bedding compound, and though the fittings can be difficult to remove its not impossible.
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I heard a rumor that NFM had moved their production facilities to China. Based on what you received the rumors sound likely. Too bad, they used to be a pretty good supplier.
Long boarding the hull... That's dedication ;-) It will look good though.
They are indeed in China, they made reference to the owner being in China at the foundry during one of my phone calls to them and I had to wait three months to get the ports (they disclosed at time of ordering that it could take up to ninety days depending on the foundry production schedule. )
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