My portlights were splintered and cracked from years of wear and sun. Also there were leaks coming in through them from old sealant. So, I decided to replace them with a new boat portlights. The key was using black paint on the inside and DOW CORNING® 795 Silicone to seal it. I purchased my custom O’Day Main Cabin port lights from D&R Marine.

First I had to take the window out. I unscrewed all of the screws on the inside and outside. Then I used a putty knife to dig in a scrape along the sealant. This took a while and was a messy process. I laid down a towel on inside of the boat to collect the residue. There were some areas where the rain was leaking in and after removing the acrylic piece and the frame I saw the area affected.

I let it dry out for a couple days over the weekend while I was on the boat, luckily it didn’t rain but I had a tarp and tape on standby.

I then sanded down both the frame and the windows opening, in and around the outside so the sealant would stick. I painted the frame and screwed it back in.

I purchased the acrylic window from D & R Marine which came with protective tape on both sides.

I aligned my old window with the new one and stuck a thin pencil through all of the holes, marking the new one. I then slowly drilled the new holes in the window. The next step was to drill the new window on with the tape still stuck to both sides. I only drilled it in a few of the spots. From the inside I marked with pencil where the opening was (make sure to put the frame back on to get a proper measurement).

I unscrewed the window and gently cut out the markings I made with a utility knife. I removed the outside of the sticker and spray painted it black. I did this so that from the outside you wouldn’t see the sealant.

After the paint dried I applied DOW CORNING® 795 Silicone on the painted portion and stuck it on the boat. I screwed in the outside screws and it was set. I cleaned up everything and took off the outside sticker on the acrylic and then took it off on the inside.

It came out great, spraying the portion with black spray paint really helped hide the sealant.