So I have eight
bronze portlights, each an oval of roughly 6 x 12 inches. They are chromed with varying amounts of wear, superficial
corrosion, etc. Typical in appearance for being 40 years old.
I've thought through the standard options of doing nothing, stripping, painting, polish, re-chrome, etc. Asumming that I do any
work on a portlight, I'm looking at $200 to $400 per hole.
I've Googled what I propose here but could not find it.
Doing some brainstorming I came up with idea that I'm sure is not new, but basically involves a simple captive (horizontal) slide mechanism backed up by force-applying
compression ~dogs. All of this held against the inside of the hull/deck, potentially with no visible external fasteners,
compression ring. Furthermore, a drip pan would cover the mechanism and catch-direct and leak out of the hull/cabin.
All together, I reckon you could build one sliding portlight for about $25. Materials include a piece of acrylic/glass, some angle
aluminum to act as tracks above and below the opening, rubber seal, VHB tape, a sliding latch machism lateral to the window, two "bridges" (hard to describe) but sit proud to the sliding
aluminum extrusions allowing a means to fit compressive dogs) with a "drip pan" covering the entire mechanism stuck to the inside of the hull/deck vertical surface.
The sliding mechanism would obviously allow for partial opening as well as the
installation of a
cheap actuator for the sailor who must have
power windows (kidding aside, such actuators could be used to shut all
ports, but that's a story for a million dollar boat).
Hard to describe, but I can upload some scratch drawings. Importantly, this design also allows one to modify the hole opening such that the external appearance about thr portlight has no (needed) visible
hardware, bright
work, etc. Low
maintenance, looks good, costs next to nothing to build or replace. If it works, to me it's a no-brainer.
This by nature takes up
cabin wall space lateral to the window, but in many designs there is space.
Before going further, has anyone seen anything like this?