Bomar Portlight Issue

Morning all,
I have an issue with a few of my bomar portlights. It seems that the tack or spot weld that holds the knob which tightens down the hatch has come undone. I attached a a picture of the portlight. Has anyone had this issue? If so how did you go about fixing it? Did you take the portlight out and have it re-welded or did you replace the portlight altogether? Also has anyone replaced the portlight gasket?
Thanks,
Kevin

My thought would be to contact the manufacturer and ask them how best to fix it.

Could you explain the condition a little better ?
Typically the knob threads onto a swinging threaded rod. On the other end of the rod (against the frame) there is a spring pin that acts as the swinging hinge mechanism.
Did the pin or hinge come apart ?
The knob should be able to be unscrewed from this threaded rod for assembly purposes.

Most repairs can be done in place, except welding of course.

The knob works just fine. The problem is with the weld that holds the knob assembly to the frame. In the picture the flat part at the end of the knob goes into the half circle part of the frame and is tack welded to the frame in some way as near as I can tell.

Before getting too complicated you might just try JB Weld or similar adhesive.

Think I have some of that in the garage somewhere. Never used it before so I guess there is a first time for everything.

WesK said:

My thought would be to contact the manufacturer and ask them how best to fix it.

Click to expand...

Contacted Bomar and they said that they cannot recommend any type of fix. The only way to correct the problem is to replace the portlight. Quite honestly they did not seem to interested in helping fix the issue. Just about every time I started to ask a question the rep would begin answering before I was even finished so the answer I was given was not what I was asking about. Does that make sense, lol. Customer Service said it must have been an installation error to cause several portlights to have the same issue which would have been caused by water leaking onto the weld and making it deteriorate. However, the installation has no bearing on water hitting this weld since the area is on the inside behind the seal/gasket which is attached when the portlight is made. I realize that overtime seals/gaskets can break down and would have to be replaced. Basically all Bomar customer service wanted to do was sell me new portlights. No surprise there.

Another "fix-in-place" option, if the JB does not do the job, might be to drill through the entire unit, thread a smallish flat head stainless bolt from outside, seal it in place, and re-attach using a washer/nut. I figure anything beats having to remove and replace!!

I did just exactly that on one Chris. It worked out ok and maybe the fix I will continue with. I just figured I would toss the problem up on the board and see if anyone ran into the same issue and came up with a better way.

Wow those are really weak looking spot welds. No wonder they didn't hold. Considering the material and the direction of pull I highly doubt any type of glue even JB Weld will hold. On the other hand it would be an easy job for a good welder to fix that permanently. The only possible problem is you would have to take it off.

Ken

Yep, that's one of the things I am contimplating. Perhaps over the winter, or (and I hate this thought based on the attitude I got on the phone at bomar) I may purchase 1 portlight and replace 1 have it welded and repeat till I have all of them taken care of and in the end I will have an emergency replacement.

Greetings,
Mr. 13. Yup, crappy spot weld and poor attitude on Bomar's end. Have you considered replacing this and subsequent ports with a New Found Metal product? New Found Metals, Inc. They may have a replacement that will fit right in. Granted, it would be different than the others but from what I have seen at boat shows, they are a high quality manufacturer AND your wallet will be sending a message to Bomar (not that it will make any difference).

I was at Newfound Metals website earlier and if I can get one that fits I would rather go that route. My brother got several portlights from them and was very happy with them. I met the owner of Newfound Metals at the NY Boat Show a few years ago and had a great talk with him about several different topics. He was very knowledgeable and extremely friendly. So that is another option, thanks for bringing it up.
Cheers,
Kevin

SS?
That bracket should be weldable. A neat way would be to drill a hole in the bracket base and then weld the hole ID to the port frame. The weld would be hidden fairly well and any discolouration also. The colour could then be polished out.

It would need a TIG .

Greetings,
Mr. Cl. Yup, refastening that tab with TIG might be the way to go IF one could somehow isolate the rubber gasket and/or the glass from the heat. The other option which would also require removal of at least the glass carrier frame would be to re-spot weld the tab back on although you may run into the same problem with the heat transfer...

I also like the NFM ports. I am going to replace my 30 year old plastic ones this winter. Only problem is that I have 11 ports to replace and it will cost a bunch.

When you are replacing ports are the through holes for the fasteners a standard spacing and position, or do you drill new holes? It seems like in such a limited perimeter area, that drilling new holes could easily lead to a positioning conflict between the new and old holes.

I guess I'll scratch Bomar products off my shopping list, I don't need that kind of customer support.

I would drill and then tap the port frame to hold a SS machine screw .

No cost except a proper sized drill and tap, and should be strong enough .

With all spot welded closures , if you are going offshore a covering board of some type would be wise.