Making a Portlight Rain Shield

In the previous Blog I exlained how the Fixed Portlights were replaced with Beckson 5"x12" Opening Ports. I soon found out that when it rained the back rake of the cabin collected water in the Portlight coaming. The port could not be left open. The main purpose of the opening Port was to provide ventilation while keeping the nasty Chesapeake flying critters out.

There are several commercial rain shields available. The things that I did not like about them are the cost and that they block some of the ventilation by wrapping down around the Portlight. I had plenty of scrap Plexiglas around the garage. If you understand how to work with this material you can make some nice components for your boat. The hardest part is to cut the material. Straight lines can be cut with a plastic scoring tool available at your local Home Depot. Unlike cutting glass you scratch through the material multiple times until you are about half way through. To snap the piece I use two pieces of wood to support the edge. This is the hardest part of the operation. Practice on scrap material. Curves and inside corners can be cut with a fine toothed jig-saw blade. Again you run the risk of cracking the material. I usually cut outside the line and finish off with a sander or grinder. The edges can also be rounder with the same tools.

Above drawing is a rough template for a 5"x12" Portlight. First you cut out the main rectangle. It is easier to bend the plastic at this point. I found a piece of PVC pipe with the same radius as the Beckson Portlight corners. I marked the rectangle with the location where the radiuses bend start. (dashed lines on diagram) Using a Hot Air Gun I pre-heated between the dashed areas constantly moving back and forth. Be careful not to overheat and burn the plastic. The Plexiglas starts getting shiny and starts to bend. At this point form your curve over the PVC pipe. You do not have too much time. If too stiff continue to heat. Make sure that you have a nice 90 degree bend. Once I have my shape I dip the sheet and pipe in a bucket of cold water to freeze the shape. Test your creation to make sure that it fits snugly over the Portlight coaming.

You will notice that the rain shield points up. To give it a downward pitch you have to cut out two triangle sections across the back. Part of this triangle runs into the curve. First I rough cut the triangle off with a jig-saw. Using a belt sander I removed the final amount and tested the shade until I had a nice tight fit.

The jib sheets tend to get caught on the bottom corners of the shade. To keep this from happening I sanded a nice radius curve. You now should have a basic shade as shown in the pictures.

I wanted the rain shade to be easily removable without any special tools. This was done using four small cotter pins. I placed the shield on the coaming and drilled the holes using the smallest drill bit possible. Make sure that you have enough edge on the coaming. The pins do not snag sheets because they are protected by the shield.

DESIGN PROBLEM: Water tends to leak behind the top joint, puddle and run over the top coaming. The solution was to lay a bead of clear Silicone Caulk across the top. This made the shield less removable. I have towed the boat at highway speeds with the shields installed. No problem if everything is nice and tight.

Another problem: Water sitting inside the lower corner of the Beckson Portlight puddles and can flow over the window gasket with the Portlight open. I carefully drilled three small holes in the coaming to drain this water. (See above picture)

This might not be the best rain shade in the world. But, I do have the satisfaction of building and solving the design.  

Replacing the Leaky Portlights

The original windows on the Newport 16 were fixed port lights. The 1/8” Plexiglass is held in place by a plastic frame pop-riveted into the cabin side. The seal is a silicone bead under the frame. Unfortunately over the years the frame has cracked. The strength of these windows is questionable. The seal eventually leaks. I am not a fan of a wet sleeping bag. Later Newports made by Gloucester replaced the fixed windows with Beckson opening port lights.

I was able to purchase a set of used Beckson portlights on E-Bay. The gaskets were in a very good condition. I started the repair by removing the old portlight and sanding off the gel coat to expose the raw fiberglass. The fiberglass is fairly thin in this area. The removed portlight was used as a template to cut out a 3mm plywood insert. Small wood blocks were used to hold the plywood aligned in the hole. Fiberglass tape was applied, blocks removed, holes filled and the entire house side was covered with a new layer of cloth inside and out. The Beckson trim piece was used to lay out the postion of the new hole. To further strengthen the opening another plywood ring was cemented inside. Both inside and outside was sanded and faired to the existing gel coat. I had some graphite tape left from my Kayak Building days. Strips of that were put over insde stay blot holes to strenghten that area. Epoxy primer and Polyurethane top coat was applied.

I tried to keep my clearances tight to reduce any openings. The portlight was set in place with 3M Sealer and bolted. The exterior trim coverpiece holds only with sealer.

To hold the portlight in the open position I installed a single D-Ring that slips over the locking tab. Insect screen fits under the gasket.

Installing a Depth Sounder

The waters in the lower Chesapeake, Eastern Shore or Coastal Carolina are shallow and in the summer can be very murky due to high algae levels. The charts of the tidal flats are uncharted or out of date. Entering shallow waters I often slightly lower the Newport’s keel to feel my way through. The bottom is sand or mud. I would not try this in New England with granite outcrops.

This summer I decided to upgrade to a depth sounder. At first I debated between a fish finder and depth sounder. I would love to have one of the new GPS/Fish-finder combo units. But I will have to wait until the price comes down some more. My main criteria were cost and power consumption. The electrical system on my Newport 16 consists of one lawnmower battery. I bought my used sounder on E-Bay for $50.

Many of the depth sounders come with a transom mount transducers. This created a problem for me. I need to know where I am going, not where I have been. Mounting the transducer in the hull you loose a little of the signal. This is not a issue since I am interested in the shallow water not the very deep. To reduce the cable runs I decided to mount the transducer under the companionway next to the keel trunk. I mounted the display as far outboard as possible so not to interfere in the cabin.

The working part of a transducer is a round coil in the center. The rest is plastic case and resin to mount the transducer on the stern. To get the unit to sit under the floor pan and as flat as possible I had to reduce the footprint. Using a bench grinder I carefully removed material. The plastic case across the face was popped off.

Using a 3” hole saw I cut through the liner. Make sure the center dill does not extend too far or you may drill into the hull. Previously I have filled this void with foam. Foam was removed. A tube conduit was led to the place where the wire would come out of the liner. The sides of this round compartment were glassed to seal it from the rest of the void.

To mount the transducer I mixed just enough epoxy to fill the circle bottom. When mixing it is important that you do not introduce air bubbles into the epoxy. The unit was paced into the epoxy and gently moved and tapped to remove any trapped air. The wire was led through flexible conduit (Radio Shack) up to the display unit. Power wires were picked up into the same conduit. I twisted the power wires to reduce any interference with the transducer signal.

I test ran the unit in open water. It worked like a champ. Keel down, less than 4’ and it will hit bottom. The unit can not detect less than 2’. The display goes blank. With the keel up I know that I have landed.


At first I wanted to install a cover plate over the transducer hole. After while this did not make sense. If it would leak water would sit in there. The transducer can not be repaired and it is permanently fixed. I filled the space with foam and epoxied a 3mm disk over the top. If I ever have to replace it I will grind off the cover.

Main Locker Bulkheads

The two main watertight bulkheads that divide the aft lockers from the main cabin were placed a few inches aft of the keel winch board bolts. I did this for two reasons. The lockers hatches are prone to damage. In case one flooded I wanted a small volume. Working on the locker from the top is also difficult. On the cabin side the extra area behind the berth makes for a large, dry storage. A small 4” clear screw in deck plate directly under the winch board allows in light and ventilation. The board bolts and hardware on the cockpit coaming are all accessible from the cabin.

To reduce gear noise I use Wal-Mart Camping Pad Foam in the storage area and bulkhead. This is a great product that can be put on with contact cement. And it looks good too.

When I filled the aft cockpit coaming with foam I inserted a light plastic pipe through the center. With a clip on the other end I have a great 7’ fishing pole storage on each side. The pipe is large enough to fit the pole tip with lures attached. No fishing hooks to snag on.

The bulkheads were built using my polystyrene sheets with glass cloth sandwich. The shape was cut from a cardboard template. The bulkheads were set in place and small gaps filled with foam spray. Then a large lightweight epoxy fillet was applied around the edges and covered by 3” glass tape to spread the load on the hull. This bulkhead reinforces the hull, seat and keel winch support.

Under Cockpit Foatation

On a Newport 16 the area under the cockpit can be a black hole. Equipment stored in the stbd locker drifts to port when sailing. Any water that leaks into the boat stays in this area. The Newport has a drain plug in the stern to drain this water. I consider this area unusable. My solution was to fill this space with flotation foam and encapsulate the area with fiberglass.

The first step was to remove the drain plug and seal the hole. Then I cut the original Styrofoam blocks to fit tightly into the space. Due to the V – shape in the hull this was done in two layers. The gaps around the block were filled with household expanding foam. This foam also acts like glue. I spread a layer on the hull before setting the Styrofoam blocks. Once the foam expanded the fit was very tight.

To seal the foam in fiberglass I had two choices. Either lay fiberglass cloth directly on the foam or use rigid panels as bulkheads. Polystyrene insulation that comes in 4x8’ sheets from Home Depot can be laminated. Working under the seats of this small boat can be very tight. Any fabrication outside the boat is preferred. Using a cardboard template I cut the styrene and laminated a glass cloth on one side. These were glued in using the spray insulation to the side of the Styrofoam blocks so that the vertical line is flush with the cockpit side. Using glass tape it was bonded to the hull and cockpit. Added benefit is the additional hull strength. The original half pipe stiffeners can be removed.

You have to work from the stern forward. This is why the rear is painted and finished off. Note: The hull deck joint is faired with epoxy filler and glass tape. Cockpit coaming is also filled with foam and glassed. Once the space was finished I installed a transverse bulkhead creating two watertight storage spaces.

The unsinkable Lucky Dog

The original Newport 16 floatation consisted of 3 Styrofoam blocks under the cockpit and a sealed air chamber under the v-berth. Unfortunately I highly doubt the boat’s survivability in an actual boat sinking situation. To make things worse when I bought my boat the berth liner had split from the hull. I could hear the water that was leaking from the keel trunk sloshing under the berth.

I have a zero tolerance for any water in the boat. Constant bilge water causes several problems. The water eventually penetrates the fiberglass, dissolves some of the compounds and weakens the material. Constant water increases the humidity promoting mold growth. The acceptance of water in the bilge reduces the investigation time in an actual emergency. What is sad is that the Newport 16 was designed to leak water into the hull. Why does it have a hull drain plug? With today’s materials and some design forethought there is no excuse to have any water in the boat. On a boat this size you have no room for a liferaft. Your boat is the lifeboat and it has to stay afloat no matter what happens. You have a better chance of rescue sitting in a boat filled to the gunnels than treading water in a lifejacket.



Basic Design Requirements:

1) Any unusable areas should be filled with floatation foam. The boat needs to be a cork on the ocean. There are a lot of arguments about what type of foam to use. My foam will be dry 99.99% of the time. Household spray foam that has some absorption over long periods will displace the water long enough for a rescue. The original Styrofoam blocks were cut to fit in tight and gaps were filled with spray foam.

2) Improve storage. The original V-Berth air tanks are a lot of lost space. Any hull damage cannot be inspected from the inside.

3) Compartmentalize to reduce flooding volume. All modern ships are divided into compartments to control flooding. Several of these compartments can flood and the ship stays afloat.

In my future blogs I will explain how I achieved a dry boat and at the same time improved storage.

Home made Hiking Stick

The Newport 16 tends to sail better with the weight shifted forward. I usually like to sit at or forward of the keel winch.  To do this the tiller requires a hiking stick. A hiking stick has many other advantages. I can sit further outboard to see around the foresail or balance the boat. Motoring through a crowded anchorage or going up a narrow creek I can stand up for better visibility.

The Stick is made from things that I already had around my garage. Last year Dick’s Sporting Goods had a 2 piece 10 foot, Graphite Fishing Pole for under $10. This is not a Fishing Rod with Guides. It is a pole you tie a line to the end of to go bank fishing. I have used this pole for several projects because it is flexible and strong. The Hiking Stick is made out of a piece of the top part. The ball at the tip is a wooden drawer knob. To make the pivot joint I took epoxy soaked glass cloth fibers and started to wrap them around the end of the pole. The inside of the end is filled with some epoxy filler. After the fiberglass lump cured I used a grinder to shape the end into a square and slit the middle for the Pivot Pin. The Pivot Pin is an old 316 stainless pin I had that had a lanyard eye. The whole thing is coated with epoxy resin, wet sanded and topped with a coat of black spray paint. To mount the Hiking Stick on the Tiller I drilled an oversized hole and epoxied a short piece of metal tubing into the tiller stock. This was done to provide a smooth bearing for the pin and keep the tiller wood from splitting. There is a washer on each side of the tiller. The pin was cut to length, threaded and installed using a lock nut on the bottom. Nut was tightened just enough to allow free movement.

To stow the Hiking Stick on the tiller I had two sollutions. At first I just used a rubber band, quick, cheap and effective. For the finished look I mounted a metal bungee hook half way up the stick. The hook was adjusted with a pair of needle nose pliers to allow the stick to tuck under without scratching the finish.

The tiller was splitting where it attaches to the rudder head. To repair it I filled the crack and old holes with epoxy. Then I wrapped glass gibers around the bottom section. The fiberglass was sanded and coated with some black spray paint. The whole tiller was epoxy coated and varnished. Currently it is the nicest piece of wood on “Lucky Dog”…