Portlights:
Botany Bay's original portlights were manufactured by xxxxxxx and the original components are in fact available. These plastic framed portlights with acrylic lenses were ubiquitous on vessels produced in southern California during the 70's. For coastal cruising and modest sized lenses replacement with new frames and lenses makes reasonable sense.

However, Botany Bay's raised solon design has lenses which I would not be comfortable replacing with the original components for anything other than fair weather sailing. 

After significant discussions with an engineer from GE plastics I understood the requirements of getting the most strength out of the Lexan material. For maximum strength there should be no holes at all in the material. Even if there is not a bolt through the material and significant fraction of the the materials strength is lost due to concentration of stress around the hole. The recommended method of mounting the material involves bedding the lens with Lexcel in a channel a little wider than the material and twice as deep as the material. From these recommendations I developed a set of replacement lenses and frames which look good and are quite strong.

Botany Bay's Raised Solon with large portlights presents a significant safety issue at sea if one were to be broken by a wave. The original 3/16" plexiglass lenses with plastic frames were removed, 2 inch wide by 3/16 inch thick Aluminum inside and outside frames were cut from aluminum plate stock (Two pieces 4x12 feet) with a plasma torch, sanded, primed and painted. These frames are through bolted every 3 inches taking care to drill through the deck not the lens material. 

The lenses were cut from a single 4x8 foot piece of half inch thick MR5 Lexan. The edges are sanded smooth and care was taken to ensure that there is clearance all around the piece. The Lexan lenses are then bedded in Silpruf, an architectural adhesive used to install Lexan in buildings without the need for retaining hardware. These lenses are strong and as an added benefit don't sweat during the winter as Lexan is a better insulator than the original plexiglass.

 


Sunflower Photo Caption

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