Access Port installation tips?

I believe access port covers are kind of flimsy, and tend to break easily when sat on, or stepped on. This may affect choice of location, also.

Can't give specific answer as to proper/improper location for H20.

Another general tip - when attaching the access port body to the hull, be sure to wait until glue/epoxy/marinetex/whatever is dry, before you screw/poprivet it into place. This way you have a flat, stress-free port into which you can easily thread the acess port cover. I think H20 hull top may be flat enough to use flat access ports, some other cats need slightly curved ports.

I do not know about the H20 but make sure the cover is in the housing when you pop rivet it. I poped one in place on a curved deck and had to remove it when I found that the cover would not screw in. Letting the glue dry is a good idea If I was going to do it again I would get some gelcoat and mix it with milled fibers then mold release the housing and make a seat for it with the thickened gelcoat and let it dry then pop it back out and apply a thin coat of silicone and pop rivet it in place.

I think you would find it just as easy to cut a neat hole do what ever you have to do and then repair the holeusing the piece you cut out and a bit of glass and resin.

It's much better for the appearance of your boat.

If you do put a hatch is make sure the lid is screwed is when setting it into a glue/resin mix. Use something like freezer wrap so the lid and body are not actually glued in but a flat surface is formed to glue the hatch body in with silicone.

Any other way and it becomes a bugger to do up or undo.

If you try to form the flat surface without the cover screwed in the body it can distort ever so slightly. I've made all the mistakes, now I do it right and only once.

Regards,

Phill

I have mounted access ports with ss machine screws. Also have set with Polyseamseal. This allows the flat ports to be set even on a curved surface. This was done on two

H-17's. We also attach small sponges on a line to the bottom of the port. The sponge has a line long enough to allow bailing the boat. This also prevents loss of the port by providing floation. Use a screw to attach, and do not make a hole in the port. Caleb Tarleton

Eric,

If I could wave my magic wand on my boat, the first thing I would do is get rid of the access ports that the previous owner added. They are a pain in the a**, to put it bluntly. I have gelcoat cracks for and aft of the port, I've broken the ring far more times than I care to recall, and I just can't say enough bad things about them.

Tom Haberman, who builds the Supercat, once told me the best way to do any repairs, such as yours, is to cut a "pumpkin lid" in your hull to get at it, then reglass it in, as another poster suggested.

To recap, DON'T DO IT!

Sail fast,

Tim J.