12 Year Plan B-)
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The Beaufort scale tops out at 64 knots?
74 would be...mmm...a Force 14 ?
Storm Boards for Windows?
- Thread starter Tim Good
- Start date
74 would be...mmm...a Force 14 ?
lustyd
Well-known member
Not if it’s a gust, then it’s just a very strong gust, but the weather would still be a F10 or whatever
Supertramp
Well-known member
Carry a proper heavy piece of canvas with eyelets at the corners about a foot longer on every side than the largest window.
Unless you plan ocean passage making in areas with a risk of sustained 10+ winds which is when the seas can build. Then I would fortify the boat, and much more than just windows.
Unless you plan ocean passage making in areas with a risk of sustained 10+ winds which is when the seas can build. Then I would fortify the boat, and much more than just windows.
geem
Well-known member
I met a guy with a 60ft pilothouse yacht. He had large pilothouse windows. He was sailing into a river in France in wind over tide conditions. He said it was fairly bumpy conditions but nothing he and the boat hadn't done before. He got hit by a freak breaking wave side on. Smashed the pilothouse windows, took out all electrics and both engines. The insurance claim was well over £100,000. No ocean passage involved.
A bit of canvass wouldn't not have been much help.
Supertramp
Well-known member
No, but would he have rigged storm boards for that journey? I sail with the companion way open normally and take the risk of an exceptional wave causing flooding.
geem
Well-known member
He was already in pretty bumpy conditions. Maybe if the design of storm shutters was such that they were easy to fit they would be fitted. I suspect now he may fit shutters more frequently.
The point is, he wasn't crossing an ocean. Crossing a bar can create conditions as bad as you are ever likely to see in an ocean.
Neeves
Well-known member
A couple of years ago a cruise ship was refused entry to Sydney Harbour as a result of 11m seas. Many of the balcony cabin doors/windows were lost as it motored about waiting for the sea to abate (the passengers were unhappy)
Not an ocean, just the Tasman Sea.
We had big seas, just last week (recall the Portland Bay adrift) - its not unusual - but made worse as the seas are usually driven from the south and we have a current of, upto, 4 knots going south. The seas are thus short and steep. Again - not an ocean - just the Tasman Sea. Bass Strait has a fearsome reputation - not because its weather is particularly bad but because it is shallow and narrow (relatively speaking) and the waves stand up. We were returning to Sydney and crossing Bass Strait - the seas broke clean over our cabin roof - which is 9' above sea level. Our windows are 12mm acrylic. No damage.
Jonathan
Jonathan
Jonathan
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zoidberg
Well-known member
Was that when you reverted to Christianity...?
Tim Good
Well-known member
Since I was the OP and this thread got re-ignited recently I might as well post photos of the solution I ended up settling with. See photos attached.
This was completed in 2017. In 2020 when singlehanding from the Canary Islands to the Azores I got caught up in 50kts but with unusually steep waves from an acceleration zone off Madeira. After ripping my main I tied to heave to for a while and did received some nasty beam on waves. I then ended up using my jorden series drogue as it wasn't feasible for me to remain on the helm in the darkness nor could I heave to. Once under the JSD there were most certainly waves of sufficient size to have cause a knock down and therefore could have the positential of breaking a window on the sides. I did a vid of that trip here: Youtube Link
Details of the install here:
1. Firstly I took a photo of the boat from the side and used that photo to draw a template of the window shape in Photoshop.
2. I sent these shape files to the polycarbonate manufacture www.par-group.co.uk. The cost was approx £40 per window for an 8mm thick pre cut piece of polycarbonate. The make pullet proof glass from this stuff so no wave is going to smash them.
3. My window frames did not have screws on the outside so I had to find some way of fixing them. Some Seastreams have windows with external bolts or screws which will make the job so much easier. I used aluminium closed ended Riv Nuts (threaded inserts) shown in the photos below which I drilled and riveted into the frames. It is important to bolts and inserts that are the same material as the window frame.
4. I then drilled holes in the boards where I’d installed the new Riv Nuts. There holes were larger than the M4 bolts I would use to allow the windows to flex in place taking some of the impact of a wave. M4 may not sound like a lot but the bolts are just to hold the windows in place really.
5. I then put 3mm compressed neoprene on the inside each storm board which would then sit on the top of the window frame. This made it easy to tighten down whilst it compressed, but also act like double glazing for the window, eliminating condensation!
The result killed three birds with one stone. Firstly and foremost they act as storm boards for off shore passages. Secondly they act as security windows as they cannot be kicked in. Lastly, they very effectively eliminate condensation from both the frame and window in cold weather and I do not doubt help retain the heat!
This was completed in 2017. In 2020 when singlehanding from the Canary Islands to the Azores I got caught up in 50kts but with unusually steep waves from an acceleration zone off Madeira. After ripping my main I tied to heave to for a while and did received some nasty beam on waves. I then ended up using my jorden series drogue as it wasn't feasible for me to remain on the helm in the darkness nor could I heave to. Once under the JSD there were most certainly waves of sufficient size to have cause a knock down and therefore could have the positential of breaking a window on the sides. I did a vid of that trip here: Youtube Link
Details of the install here:
1. Firstly I took a photo of the boat from the side and used that photo to draw a template of the window shape in Photoshop.
2. I sent these shape files to the polycarbonate manufacture www.par-group.co.uk. The cost was approx £40 per window for an 8mm thick pre cut piece of polycarbonate. The make pullet proof glass from this stuff so no wave is going to smash them.
3. My window frames did not have screws on the outside so I had to find some way of fixing them. Some Seastreams have windows with external bolts or screws which will make the job so much easier. I used aluminium closed ended Riv Nuts (threaded inserts) shown in the photos below which I drilled and riveted into the frames. It is important to bolts and inserts that are the same material as the window frame.
4. I then drilled holes in the boards where I’d installed the new Riv Nuts. There holes were larger than the M4 bolts I would use to allow the windows to flex in place taking some of the impact of a wave. M4 may not sound like a lot but the bolts are just to hold the windows in place really.
5. I then put 3mm compressed neoprene on the inside each storm board which would then sit on the top of the window frame. This made it easy to tighten down whilst it compressed, but also act like double glazing for the window, eliminating condensation!
The result killed three birds with one stone. Firstly and foremost they act as storm boards for off shore passages. Secondly they act as security windows as they cannot be kicked in. Lastly, they very effectively eliminate condensation from both the frame and window in cold weather and I do not doubt help retain the heat!
Attachments
Mister E
Well-known member
That looks brilliant. Do you leave them on permanently?
Tim Good
Well-known member
When doing anything more than a 2 day passage or going off shore I leave them in for sure. The are perfectly clear so it makes sense to install beforehand.
I wasn't going to leave them on last year but I did as we got on board in early March and they acted as double glazing. I then only removed them in July. Just didn't get round to it.
Mister E
Well-known member
The winter double glazing is interesting, do they reduce window condensation?
Tim Good
Well-known member
Yes entirely. Better than my forward windows which are double glazed.