Daysailer II cuddy viewports, lightports or portholes?

[GreenLake]

Back to portholes.

Underneath the gel coat, the laminate is transparent. Removing a circular patch of gelcoat would make for a 'frosted glass' style porthole. Light can get in, but the view isn't great. (Don't forget to remove whatever paint was applied on the inside).

For optics, glue a ring around it.

[hectoretc]

Back on the porthole/viewport topic, I did end up buying two four inch clear inspection ports with the intention on installing them in the cuddy roof per several other's suggestions, but when I hold them up to the cuddy side panel, it does look like they would fit perfectly on the vertical facing.

I'll have to give some thought back to this again if it would be better to have them in the ceiling or sides. (or maybe buy some more and do both)

More to come I'm sure...

[GreenLake]

Put them in the sides, it will look sharp!

One less thing to worry if you need to walk on the cuddy for any reason.

A./

[talbot]

I agree, for both reasons. You have to stand on the forward cuddy top during rigging, untangling halyards, etc. Whatever your current rig, if you add barber leads, lazy jacks, topping lift, spinnaker, jub furler, etc, those lines, leads, and cleats will needs space on top of the cabin. Finally, I think leaks are less likely with a vertical port.

Send pictures. I was considering the same thing, but it looked to me like a 4" plate was too big for the cabin side. I would be happy to be proven wrong.

[Alan]

I placed the ring from an old 4-inch inspection port against the side of the cuddy on my 1980 DSII. The outer diameter of the ring is 5-1/2 inches.

It looks like it will fit, with about 1/2 inch of clearance above and below. With the ring turned around so its wide (upper) side was against the hull, there were small gaps at approximately the 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock positions. I measured these at about 0.025 inch with a feeler gauge.

Photos in gallery; I'll try to post thumbnails later.

[talbot]

For the good of the order.... I saw a smaller diameter inspection plate in the Defender catalog (defender.com). Just in case cabin dimensions vary slightly.

[hectoretc]

Greetings all,
I jumped in with both feet today (and my trusty roto-zip)





A porthole on each side. I almost made the mistake of not accounting for the rib in the cuddy roof, but fortunately checked twice and cut once. Even at that it was close, but I wanted them as far back as possible so they would fit/conform to the side wall curve. It came out pretty well I think.
I was initially a little disappointed when I received them that these are insert/twist/lock ports rather than screw in, but I guess that doesn't really matter in use as long as I don't forget to twist it in, only to have it pop out into the water (opps). I don't really see an aesthetic way to attach a safety cable, but I'll stare at it a while. Have not yet permanently mounted the rings but for the most part it looks like it's going to work well. Also will need to play with some inside trim. It's early, but I think I'd like to come up with a screen and fan assembly to "hang on" the port as an option. Help circulate the air.
More to come...

[hectoretc]

I placed the ring from an old 4-inch inspection port against the side of the cuddy on my 1980 DSII. The outer diameter of the ring is 5-1/2 inches.

It looks like it will fit, with about 1/2 inch of clearance above and below. With the ring turned around so its wide (upper) side was against the hull, there were small gaps at approximately the 10 o'clock and 2 o'clock positions. I measured these at about 0.025 inch with a feeler gauge.

Photos in gallery; I'll try to post thumbnails later.

Hi Alan,
I went to your gallery and noted that my DSII must be a slightly different model in that I have the plastic O'day logos on the cuddy side, so I couldn't mount my ports as far back as your example.

Also, of course while I was looking at those pix, I had to be nosey and look at all of your pictures not just the ones you commented on.
I'm curious about the foam lip on your cuddy hatchway. Is that pipe insulation slit down the side, or is that a more specific product for boating?
I also saw the picture of your cuddy door and am curious how the foam is holding up (assuming they work together), if you get a good (water-resistant, water-proof, water-tight?) seal? I need to do a cuddy door and after crawling in and out a few times this week doing repairs and refits, a padded edge to the fiberglass would a definite plus.
Thanks,

[redtailseven]

I would think that using a fan or blower (exhause from a cleaned out shopvac) woudl be a good idea to keep the air in the cuddy clear of fumes.