Curtains or no curtains

[Snowgoose-1]

I have often seen curtains on small boats. I think that they can make a boat look nice but are they only really used when leaving the boat ?

 

[footsoldier]

You are Wansworth and I claim my £5

 

[capnsensible]

I would think that anyone who stays onboard overnight will know why boats have curtains and hatch shades.

 

[johnalison]

I can't imagine sleeping on a boat without curtains, but they also have the advantage of protecting the interior from UV if closed when leaving the boat.

 

[Poignard]

Personally, I think they look naff but you do need something to cover the windows when required.

 

[johnalison]

I'm not sure that I would want to use the heads/shower in a marina without being able to protect my neighbours from the shock, or in smaller boats just get dressed in the morning. Protection from prying eyes when the boat is unoccupied can matter too.

 

[C08]

We also use velcro on blackout blinds to enable better sleeping on the boat.

 

[Gustywinds]

When Leboat first launched their Horizon boats they didn’t have curtains. Never seen so many complaints.

 

[Wansworth]

You are Wansworth and I claim my £5

Oy…enough of that

 

[Wansworth]

I can imagine say in the roaring forties you may wish to close out the awful maelstrom or off the cape you can draw the curtains and exclaim “ look dear,Cape Horn!

 

[MontyMariner]

With a pilothouse saloon you need a window cover of some sort, both for privacy at night and to reduce sun bleach when you leave the boat.
I had curtains for several years but they were never satisfactory, then I hit on the idea of making some fanfold blackouts using some old Venetian blind slats to keep them rigid, they work well.

 

[Irish Rover]

We have these on the outside of the salon windows. We can see out but not in and they don't really block the light.

 

[Poignard]

I can imagine say in the roaring forties you may wish to close out the awful maelstrom or off the cape you can draw the curtains and exclaim “ look dear,Cape Horn!

I can imagine my wife responding with "Why have you woken me up to tell me that?"

 

[Snowgoose-1]

I would think that anyone who stays onboard overnight will know why boats have curtains and hatch shades.

I think I know what you mean. The boat rolling and rocking was always a give away though.

 

[Wansworth]

What puts me off curtains is when your thrashing to windward and the curtains on the windward side are hanging out from the cabin side making heeling over worse…..Probably best are black out panels that snap on……unless you spy on your neighbours then lace will do

 

[capnsensible]

What puts me off curtains is when your thrashing to windward and the curtains on the windward side are hanging out from the cabin side making heeling over worse…..Probably best are black out panels that snap on……unless you spy on your neighbours then lace will do

Have rails at the top and bottom of the curtains. Fixed.

 

[Channel Sailor]

Black out type panels that fit closely onto the windows works for me. Made from exercise mat foam (foil backed). Seems to act as insulation as well.For the fore hatch I reckon a proper cover made by sail maker. Curtains go mouldy and fade in the sun. The rail runners suffer with the UV as well.

 

[LittleSister]

. . . Curtains go mouldy and fade in the sun. . . .

Lining the curtains makes all the difference. Drastically reduces the light in the cabin early on those summer mornings, especially if you use 'blackout' lining (available in white!), but also means that the decorative curtain material lasts much longer. On my previous boat the lining material eventually started disintegrating due to UV damage, but the very nice curtains themselves were undamaged and we were able to replace the lining while retaining those.

With enough ventilation and annual washing your curtains shouldn't be going mouldy. I've had curtains that are 20 years old and have no signs of mould, and that's on small boat with no heating. A friend's boat was parked in a mud berth at the end of a long voyage and unexpectedly ended up sitting there for years untouched, and when we went aboard again there was no sign of mould on the curtains or tea towel, nor any musty odour at all. Both boats benefitted from plenty of passive ventilators.

What puts me off curtains is when your thrashing to windward and the curtains on the windward side are hanging out from the cabin side making heeling over worse…..Probably best are black out panels that snap on……unless you spy on your neighbours then lace will do

Have rails at the top and bottom of the curtains. Fixed.

On my previous boat old-fashioned stretchy curtain wire (tight metal coil inside a plastic sleeve), suspended between small screw in eyes an inch or so above the level of the bottom of the curtains, worked brilliantly at stopping the curtains swaying about when heeled, kept the light out (or in) by keeping the bottom of the curtains tight against the slightly outward sloping downwards cabin sides, and stopped the opened curtains gradually unfolding and partially covering parts of the windows by day.

That worked extremely well with cabin sides that were straight fore and aft. Unfortunately my current boat's cabin sides are not only sloping but gently convex (on the inside) fore and aft, so the curtain wire would be some distance from the cabin sides in the centre of the 6ft-ish span. I have spent many a happy hour inventing all sorts of cunning arrangements to control the bottom of the curtains, but all have either aesthetic or practical downsides, or are too much work for me to ever get round to actually making.

 

[Bouba]

You need curtains when leaving a boat…same as a house…or an estate car…you don’t want to encourage any scum to break in

 

[Poignard]

So it's curtains for you.