One of the issues that the Islander presented was that the opening ports were well past their sell by date. All six ports either needed parts or required replacement and, as the cost of Beckson parts were astronomic, new ports were a given.
My first impulse was to build Wiley ports as they are dead simple to build, don’t leak when they’re open during a light rain, and pretty affordable when all is said and done. There’s a short article in the 2010 July/August WoodenBoat that tells you all you need to know, but here’s basic drawing about what we’re talking about.
That was what I planned to use but came across what seemed like a “too good to be real” deal on Amazon for what appeared to be pretty nifty opening ports for like $39 bucks. Not having recently fallen off a turnip truck, I knew better than to take Amazon at its word and bought a pair to see if they were a workable solution knowing that if they weren’t, I could sorta/kinda repurpose them for some sort of interior stowage or ventilation solution.
Once the ports arrived we found them to be excellent with tempered glass and robust. So we ordered another four right away.
In point of fact, we were so impressed with the ports in general we did miss a small specific issue in that the trim ring and the portlight had different hole patterns which accounted for the super low pricing. The good news is that I’ve got a drill and can easily re-drill the portlights to the trim ring pattern with the only downside being that in the interior there will be an extra set of holes. While I’m sure that some yachty types would cringe at the superfluous holes, the simple fact that it saved something like $750 or more has me doing the happy dance.
And, in case you need to dip into the “Why are boats so expensive these days?” department…