Curtain rail - ideal material?

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PaulMcC

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Hi All,

I need to sort out some curtains for the saloon. My guests keep waking up at 5am and then waking me up! The saloon has long windows on the port and starboard sides and a lightwell in the center. The windows are about 1.5m long and 4-5 inches tall so I was thinking of traditional curtains but not sure what the best material would be for the curtain rail. It has to be a wooden rod of some kind, and needs to be able to accept a small curve (a couple of inches bend away from straight over that distance).

Any thoughts about what's best and where to get it from?

Thanks
 
Nearly everyone has curtains in some form, perhaps it's a sop to SWMBO? A curtain that can cover a 1.5m window with practically no drop will need something around 0.5m of parking space when drawn and look like a discarded G-string! That's only if you use material thin enough to drape with such a small drop - and that won't keep much light out.

I guess what I'm leading up to is that to meet your purpose (keeping the guests asleep) it would be better to make fitted covers, the shape of the frame, and attach them at night with press studs or velcro.

Rob.
 
rob2 said:
Nearly everyone has curtains in some form, perhaps it's a sop to SWMBO? A curtain that can cover a 1.5m window with practically no drop will need something around 0.5m of parking space when drawn and look like a discarded G-string!
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My windows are similar height to the OP but run nearly the whole length of the saloon with a small break in the middle. The factory-supplied curtains look fine either open or closed; they're in three sections which "park" forward of the windows, aft of the windows, and over the short non-window section in the middle. They run on plastic sliders in small ally tracks above and below the windows - curtains hanging under gravity on a boat rarely work well.

My only real complaint is that they use very pale-coloured fabric that doesn't block much light - but I never sleep in the saloon so I don't really care :)

Pete
 
Have a look around a decent caravan shop. There are many designs of track and sliders in a variety of materials. For your dimensions I would think you need rails top and bottom like these. Otherwise the curtains dangle across the boat when beating.
Pilotberth.jpg
 
+1 for the Silent Gliss light weight track and sliders.

IIRC I bought mine from Hawke House ltd but a caravan shop as Vyv suggests might be the least expensive source.

The track does need pads or something to screw it to though. Edge of headlining boards might be a possibility.
My track was supplied pre-drilled but the spacing varied a bit!

Sloping sides like Vyv shows will need track top and bottom but curtains only a few inches high wont dangle across the boat very far when beating.
 
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Spirit of Glenans said:
I'm In search of those press studs such as are used to hold curtains etc on Dufour and Jeanneau yachts. Can anyone point me in the right direction?
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I don't know about these specific yachts - are the press studs special in some way, or just ordinary poppers? I bought a pack of the latter, complete with special punch and setting dolly, on eBay from a fabric supplier who I was also buying cover material from.

Pete
 
I knew one day I'd need a photo of this! When we added an additional curtain and rails we wanted to match as close as we could the original ones. After a sort head scratching session and a trip into B&Q I bought a couple of lengths of aluminium tube, about 7.5mm in dia. I cut some short lengths (10mm) of the same and with a half round file created a curve for the rod to rest in. A hole is drilled in the rod at each end, with a small countersink and the rods can be screwed to the cabin wall using the short standoffs to do as the name suggests. Rings are fitted to the top and bottom of the curtain and there you have curtains with no sag that run easily and cost buttons to make.
 
prv said:
I don't know about these specific yachts - are the press studs special in some way, or just ordinary poppers? I bought a pack of the latter, complete with special punch and setting dolly, on eBay from a fabric supplier who I was also buying cover material from.
Pete
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It's just that I have only seen them on French-built boats so have nothing else to compare them with. My boat already has the "female" parts of these studs, around the windows, etc, but the curtains, with their parts of the studs, are long gone. I was hoping to get direct replacements, for convenience, but it's not a problem to use a substitute type. Do, you have a link to that fabric supplier?
 
VicS said:
Sloping sides like Vyv shows will need track top and bottom but curtains only a few inches high wont dangle across the boat very far when beating.
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Alternatively, stretch a line of very thin elastic cord below the window and parallel to the curtain rail above, and fixed either end, to hold the lower part of the curtain in place.
 
My daughter uses a sleeping mask. Far less work ...

Anyway you could get them to swab down the decks at that time, then get the breakfast ready and the coffee pot on.
 
Camelia said:
My daughter uses a sleeping mask. Far less work ...

Anyway you could get them to swab down the decks at that time, then get the breakfast ready and the coffee pot on.
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Our curtains are works of art, made by Jill. They are lined with silver lame (with an acute accent) to reflect some of the sun's heat, with an insulating layer below that, then decorative stuff on the inside. They do make a difference in Greece but I would want them reversed in UK.
 
Snowbird has tracks and sliders top and bottom. Indigo just had curtain wire top and bottom. It followed the curve by running through screw-in eyes at 'junctions' between individual curtains. Not terribly 'Homes and Gardens' but perfectly adequate.

As for light blocking use a dark colour fabric, or if you're clever with needle and thread line them with a light-proof fabric - any curtain material supplier will have it.
 
On mine the SWMBO's Mum made the curtains (from a thin'ish cotton material) and I hung them on bungee, strung between wooden blocks glued (not epoxied) to the cabin liner.... not as posh as your solution.. :D
 
If you go down the silentgliss or similar route don't use the screws that come with the kit, unless you want rust stains as part of your interior decor.
 
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