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[Boston109]

I am trying to fit new rubber vent seals to my bulkhead but it’s not going as smoothly as I would have thought.  To give you some context; the bulkhead and vent flaps were painted about a year ago as part of my rebuild.  Everything looks great.  The surfaces are smooth and the seals sit nicely into position.  The vent tabs are welded and not bolt-through.  I have vent levers and not vent knobs

To fit the flaps and get the pins through, I feel nervous that I’m going to pop the welds as I force the flap down into their closed positions.  I’ve seen various threads on other websites that suggest it takes “months” to slowly crank the vents fully shut and other threads that suggest ditching the correct rubber seals and instead, use the foam Defender seals that attach to the vent itself.  I personally like the way the rubber seals look and now that I’ve fitted them with a smear of silicone sealant to hold them in position, I am reticent about removing them and now having to spend days picking silicone away from the bulkhead recesses.

I’d really appreciate some ideas here.  Alternatively, if you happen to live in Massachusetts and are free this weekend, please drop by and help me.  I’ll cook lobsters and serve beer as a thank you!

[oilstain]

I put the seals on the flaps, it works for me and stops water being held on the bulkhead and start the rust

and it was easy to do