Should I use one 8" or two 6" inch inspection ports aft of cockpit

I have read a lot of the threads here about reattaching the deck and hull in the cockpit areas. All good advice. I noticed that some have used two 6" ports to access the cockpit/hull joint by the drain. I am wondering if one 8" would allow enough room to work. I will be fixing a leak around the cockpit drain and reattaching the cockpit deck to the hull. This boat is raced on Block Island, Rhode Island in a not legal class setting so I am not worried about port size. This boat, 1982 #105,218, had some deck hull delamination which I have taken care of with West System. Should I also put in an inspection port by the mast step and see what is going on there? Thanks

You want to avoid putting the port on centerline in the aft deck. Off centerline, you can reach the cockpit drain and transom from one side, so you can do what you want with a single port. I can't see a need for two. At that point it's matter of what size, and we all seem to get the work done in the 5-6" hole, but 8" will give you a little more room to work. (You can also do the work w/o putting in a port, just by cutting the opening in the deck and bonding the piece back in when done. With the right cutting tool, you are left with a small (1/8") "scar" around the cutout)

As far as the mast step, if it were me, I would want to see the condition of the mast step of any '82 vintage that I owned.

49208 said:

You can also do the work w/o putting in a port, just by cutting the opening in the deck and bonding the piece back in when done. With the right cutting tool, you are left with a small (1/8") "scar" around the cutout

Click to expand...

I second 49208's suggestion of bonding the deck piece back in. That is what I plan to do when I'm done reinforcing my mast step. Voodoo shared some photos of how he does it... including finishing up with matching the original non skid deck pattern with gel coat in the 1/8th inch wide groove from where the cut was made. Scroll down on this post to see photos from his "No hatch, just fun..." post.

And... if I were to do my mast step reinforcement again, I'd cut an 8 inch wide hole instead of my 5.5 inch one. Having that extra space would have really helped.

49208 said:

As far as the mast step, if it were me, I would want to see the condition of the mast step of any '82 vintage that I owned.

Click to expand...

Ditto on that. My Laser is a 1988 and I still did it. And I'm glad I did. The donut material was already cracked with pieces rolling around inside the hull!

Cheers,

- Andy

+ 1 on seeing the mast step on an old hull- that would be a gotta have in my book.

Offering another point of view- I like having inspection ports- I like being able to get inside the hull. I've owned mine for 20+ years now and I've had reason to get in there more than once ...
- thru-bolting high-stress attach points, like rudder gudgeons, hiking strap, etc. Of course you can do this when it's open then close it up again. But things like replacing hiking strap, or a gudgeon that gets bent, etc etc - maybe you can get it done from outside, but easier + stronger if you have access inside.
- inspect/replace flotation periodically
- I have a GPS/sonar in it (I sail in a reservoir where the water levels go way up + down)- good to have the ability to get in there in case it ever needs something.
- open the ports when the boat's in the garage for the winter, to air it out + dry it out

Especially on an older hull, I prefer having access just in general. But YMMV etc - just another viewpoint.

Thanks guys for your advice. I will go with a 6 inch port aft of the cockpit on the starboard side. I did not know about not cutting the centerline though it makes sense. I will put a 6 inch port by the mast step and take a look. I have seen andyatos's mast step repair thread which explains a lot. I guess I get to do this on my son's 1987 boat as well!