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Reply to: curved inspection ports on a Prindle hull

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[quote=Quarath]So for some reason last night I could not sleep and this problem popped into my head and I had some ideas about it. it may be hard to explain without a diagram or something but I'll try.

First I would trade out your curved ports for flat ones. Find something like a 5" PVC pipe that you can slide into your cut hole. Make it long enough that when the bottom of it touches the inside of the hull the top can be even with the highest point of the hole you have cut out. You would make cap or wooden plug to fill in the top of the pipe so you have a flat surface. you would have to remove gelcoat down to the glass all around the hole and rough sand it good. Wrap some plastic wrap or something around the pipe so the pipe can be removed from the new fiberglass your going to put on it. I am not a glass expert but if you might can use something like a form release agent on the plastic. Anyway layup fiberglass around the pipe joining it to the hull. Lay it flat over the top and sides build it up kind of like the ports up front look like. it will be a bit more extreme than that but same idea. The goal is that you can then cut a slightly smaller hole and put in the smallest port you can. When you cut you should hopefully have at least a good half inch of flat glass on top on the outside of your new hole to attach a flat port to.

I have also put some thought into getting the pip out. If you cut it in two pieces but reconnect them using something that can break away like masking tape you can pull them out the front port when you are done. Just drill small holes and attach a line that runs out the front port before you start. make it strong enough you yank the bottom half out from under it so the top has no support. Then you can pull the top half. If you think the top might get too stuck you could sink a big bolt or screw into the wood plug in the middle and glass around that since it will be cut out anyway and you can tap on it with a hammer to knock the pipe out of the form.

You will need to spend a fair bit of time filling. fairing sanding and gel coating but potentially could be as solid as the original.[/quote]

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