The original port lights on the
deck of my 343 developed
leaks and needed resealing. But thanks to the crazy amount of super strength
adhesive used by
Beneteau, my attempt to remove the one piece element turned into a medieval exercise that destroyed the port light material and damaged the opening. I repaired the opening and used 1/4" Starboard, butyl tape, and ss fasteners to seal up the opening and continued sailing. But I am not comfortable when crew venture out on
deck as the Starboard isn't structurally terrific; I don't want a 250# buddy breaking through via a hard misstep on the Starboard
panels. I made replacement
panels out of 5/8"
marine grade
plywood and they are solid as a rock.
My problem is that they don't look great as they don't flex to adapt to the minor curvature of the openings. The butyl creates the seal but the edges of the
wood panels are raised in an unappealing fashion. The white Starboard flexed and looked good but wasn't structurally adequate. When I checked on a replacement port light it was $1500 and who knows what kind of availability which I was hoping to avoid; I like keeping the sun/heat out of the
boat so I don't miss looking up and out from the inside.
Does anyone have recommendations for a replacement material that has just a bit of flex and is strong enough to support the weight of a big guy's foot? The opening is about 18" x 28". Perhaps G10?
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