President 41 Port Lights

Looking to replace my old tired leaking ports. Need to know if anyone knows where to go for replacements. I see PYHI was bought out or closed etc. there is Beckson Marine. Just curious if
anyone has replaced theirs or at a minimum resealed them. Thanks in advance.

I am in the process of replacing mine. I have put one in and decided to wait to put the other 10 in after we paint the hull. Beckson bought out PYHI back in the 90s I believe and then closed the line down. I bought New Found Metals ports in 316 stainless steel. They are absolutely beautiful however the company owner is somewhat of a pain to deal with. There is no hardware visible on the outside. I needed 2 of the 2” spigot ones for the forward cabin and 1.5”spigots for the rest. I went with basically the same size that was there at 5X12”. I had to rout the original holes out a bit to get the new ones in. I don’t have any photos of the outside of the porthole.

Spigot

those look amazing. I will probably start with the ones in the master stateroom as those are my problem ones. How long was the turn around from placing your order?

They are indeed beautiful. The 5X12s are apparently the most popular size. The first order was about 3 weeks waiting on a shipment to arrive stateside. I had to order 2 more with the 2” spigots and they were instock and got here in less than a week. There is a really good article about installing them on pbase.com.

It might require fitting , rather than drop in replacement , but ports of that size can be had with the spigot that extends thru the hill with a 15 deg or so down angle.

Open the port after a rain and no water comes thru the opening.

For blue water boaters the ports that can accept a lexan storm port in place of the screen ring is nice to use.

The spigots do not lineup with the old PYHI spigots. I filled the old spigot cuts with thickened epoxy and used the template they sell to mark the new cut in the hull. Pretty simple.

I have the New Found Metals ports as well. They are indeed beautiful, though not cheap. After buying my boat with these installed, I contacted the Company for screens and hatch hangers. They were pleasant to deal with IMO...

Newfound Metals also have that portlight in a reinforced plastic. Considering I never plan to go off-shore and am somewhat frugal (read cheap) I would go with those if (when) I need to replace my portlights. I have seen them close up when installed on a friends boat and they are very well made and look and operate great.

Marty........................

P.S. Hey CapnJack and/or Comodave, either one of you have any surviving screens from the original portlights? I could sure use a few.

I will have to look on the boat and see if I have any screens. I am going to the boat tomorrow to install the new battery charger. I will try to remember to look... but I do have a case of CRS disease.

I have replaced the seals in the PYHI ports on my President with new seals from Sailboat Owners.com It is basically just a 1/4” round rubber that replaces the old stiff rubber. You buy it by the foot and it was $1 a foot. Really easy to replace just put the seam at the top and might get you by until you can get new ones. That was why I went this route... An easy quick fix to keep the water out!

Good Luck!

MartySchwartz said:

Newfound Metals also have that portlight in a reinforced plastic. Considering I never plan to go off-shore and am somewhat frugal (read cheap) I would go with those if (when) I need to replace my portlights. I have seen them close up when installed on a friends boat and they are very well made and look and operate great.

Marty........................

P.S. Hey CapnJack and/or Comodave, either one of you have any surviving screens from the original portlights? I could sure use a few.

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I guess this is your lucky day. I found 8 screens. A couple are a bit rough but most of them are serviceable. If you want them PM me with your info and I will send them to you.

Comodave said:

I guess this is your lucky day. I found 8 screens. A couple are a bit rough but most of them are serviceable. If you want them PM me with your info and I will send them to you.

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Hey Dave! PM sent.

Marty.......................

Good timing, if I had launched the boat and started cleaning the boat I probably would have tossed them...

Comodave, thanks for sharing. I’m wanting to replace mine as well. Are all of them 5X12 on the 41’ President? Why did you need two of the 2” spigots and the rest 1.5”?

Thanks, John

Yes all of the ports are 5X12”. The forward cabin paneling is not parallel to the hull and is thicker at the bottom. The 1.5” spigots do not stick through enough to protrude through the trim ring. The 2” ones work just fine, I test fitted one just the other day. I had to cut the openings out about 1/3” all around so the new ports fit with enough room to pack the butyl tape in between the port and the hull. I really like the NFM portholes. I did install one last fall, but decided to wait to install the other 10 until after I paint the hull. Love the S/S look with no screws showing on the outside. Almost like metal artwork.

You should actually measure your own porthole openings. Pbase.com has a good article on how to install the NFM ports.

I just ordered some today from Go 2 Marine. They had what I needed in stock.

Here is the link to the article Comodave mentioned

Installing New Found Metals Stainless Portlights Photo Gallery by Compass Marine How To at pbase.com

Luckily all my portlights are still water-tight so I have no need to replace them (hope I didn't just jinx that.) My issue was the lack of screens and Dave was able to help me out there (Thanks again Dave.) On my previous boat I had to replace the portlights and did so with aluminum Lewmars. The job was straight-forward but I did sit and think about it for quite a while before actually cutting anything.

I have already decided that New Found Metals will be the source if I ever do have to replace any of mine but I am not even looking forward to that task since I have 11 of them on my President 41. I have been able to actually hold in my hands the different versions they have (he has been at the Seattle Boat Show a few times in the past years) AND I have seen them installed on friends boats, so I am familiar with the quality of them. Add to that the availability of installation tools and very good instructions and the choice was clear to me.

Marty.......................