got anxious and drilled the rivets out of my pop out port hole flanges and removed them. I picked up a pair of Viking Marine 6" screw in port hole covers from my local Hobie dealer. I first noticed that the holes on new flanges do not match up with existing holes in deck, not a big deal.
but...
the new flanges are about 1/4" larger in diameter than the original pop out flanges, so the new flange has some overhang. is this normal? just apply more RTV?
the port and starboard side of the deck opening are raised, Im afraid that when I drill new holes they will be too close to the edge of the raised area. did rotate the new flange around but could not find a happy position to drill yet.
perhaps I am being to picky and looking for tolerances the do not exist, but the barrel of the new flange is smaller than the barrel of the pop out flange so centering and positioning is sloppy. I did find a position where it sits pretty flat (no high spots or rocking) but I still get the overhang on port/starboard raised sides.
can I silicon the old rivet holes or do they need to be epoxied? will JB weld be okay for epoxy. I just want to put this boat in the water already.