Replace Port Dogs on 2004 Mainship 430

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Surboum

Veteran Member
Joined
Sep 21, 2020
Messages
32
Location
Annapolis
Vessel Make
Mainship 430
The dogs on the galley and forward head ports on my 2004 Mainship 430 are broken and need to be replaced. Anyone know where I can get new dogs for the ports or who the port manufacturer was? The are stainless steel ports but I don't see an manufacturer's name on therm
 
Surboum - what are 'dogs" in this context?

Jim
 
How about a photo of the port and dogs?
 
I've got the exact same issue on my Pilot 34. I will be taking that hatch off as soon as my shrink wrap goes on.
 
What happened to the dogs? Did the tack weld give out? Do you still have the dogs or did somebody let them out?(sorry could not resist) I had a few that broke and was able to reattach with a bolt and nut. I am not home right now so I can’t take any pictures. Sorboum and Brian if you can post pictures it will help with describing possible repair suggestions.

*edit* Sorboum just saw your pictures. From a quick glance your port lights look exactly like mine and from the water stain you have an additional problem. The baskets on the ports are shot, you can get replacement gasket from bomar. I believe your ports are bomars like mine what I did was remove the old gasket and drill through the frame and the the dog, place a nut that fit underneath the pivot point of the knob and the insert bolt from the outside of the frame and tighten down the dog. Then I replaced the gasket which covered the bolt head. Since I did that might ports have been leak free. I won’t be back to the boat for about 2 weeks so I can’t tell you what size bolt or nut nor can I post a picture. If my repair did not work I was going to replace my ports with ones from New Found Metals which is based on the West Coast.
 
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The spot weld that holds the dog or knob onto the window failed.

I believe I still have the dogs/knobs . . .somewhere.

This boat was purchased by my father in 2004 (new). And we have owned and maintained it together. He passed last year . .and his boat part organization, well lets just say its a language on its own!

I should have them somewhere!
 
The spot weld that holds the dog or knob onto the window failed.

I should have them somewhere!

That is exactly what happened with mine. If you can find then and the spot on the frame is not corroded then the same fix I used should work for you as well.
 
Pics of my window that needs repair.
 

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I have a bunch of those same Bomar Hood Passage port lights on Frolic. Have you tried Bomar for replacement parts? It is possible that these failures are related to overtightening due to old and tired gaskets. Bomar has the gasket material, and I have replaced a couple where there was for weeping going on into the people tank. Here is the information: Bomar Hood Passage H6552-02 is the p/n for my smaller port lights, and H6553-02 for the wider one over the galley, but the weatherstrip (gasket) material is the same for both. The last information I had five years back was that the material was Seaworthy 15R, but I cannot find it online. I have a call into the Pompanette parent company's Bomar section at (603) 826-5791 awaiting a return call on the gaskets. You might try there for spare parts.
 
Brian it looks like there is a fair amount of rust on the knob foot/plate that gets spot welded to the frame. Is the frame in that location solid? Meaning that could you drill a hole in it and it’s strong enough to hold a small screw. If the answer is yes then the fix I used may work for you. Like Rgano said the failure of the weld might be from over tightening to seal on a compressed or worn gasket. He hit the nail right on the head with that observation because that’s how mine popped off. When I called Bomar about parts I was told they did not have parts for the ports other than gasket material, perhaps that has changed so it would be worth a shot to call and ask.
 
Pic looks much worse then it is. Just a little surface rust.

Plenty of good metal left.

The seals loom good to me. But I’ll look into replacing anyway.

Any more details/pics on the nut and bolt method?
 
Please let us know if/where you find the gasket material. I wouldn't mind replacing mine as well.
 
If you still have the part, pop the frame out and tig weld it. It will take no time at all (longer to set up than to weld) and will be permanent.
 
If you still have the part, pop the frame out and tig weld it. It will take no time at all (longer to set up than to weld) and will be permanent.


This was my original thinking.

How difficult are these port lights to get out?

I have access to an excellent tig welder.
 
Pic looks much worse then it is. Just a little surface rust.

Plenty of good metal left.

The seals loom good to me. But I’ll look into replacing anyway.

Any more details/pics on the nut and bolt method?

Brian I am currently away from the boat. I will be back next week.
The gasket needs to be removed and replaced when doing this because the gasket will cover the bolt head
The first thing I did was to find a stainless steel locking nut which fit between the ears of the plate which holds the pivot pin of the knob. Then after aligning the plate in its proper location I determined the spot where to drill the hole. What I found to be most important was to make sure the nut was not going to be in the way of the knob pivoting.
I went with this method because I did not want to remove the port.
Sorry I can’t be more specific at this time.
 

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