Windows in hull

I was musing the other day over how ugly stuck on plastic, frameless windows were. At least that problem has been solved with the use of frames or (perhaps even better) purpose designed recesses in the moulding.
I don't suppose many of us worry about glued Perspex on deck hatches

It has to be very clever to look attractive though, this boat challenged Snook's photographic skills in Augusts YM:

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John the kiwi said:
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Don't think of them as windows so much as potential Gunports.
Royal Navy.- putting the Great into Britain since 1660!
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Every boat should have a canon and I intend to have one, however my plan was for it to fix to a winch to aid aiming. I think I might get into trouble if I fired one through a porthole!
 
nauticalnomad said:
I was at HISWA last week (The Dutch attempt at a boat show) Where they jack the prices up due to the inconvenience of having to leave their place of business to come and show their wares..
I saw this boat and they were advertising for potential clients for new builds....View attachment 53421
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That pretty much sums it up as to why I don't like them aesthetically, what a brute! I am under some pressure to have them in for purposes of light down below but, in my opinion when the sun shines I will be up above and down below is best lit by candles. I think I will leave them out despite their likely engineering prowess with modern materials and construction. I will put plenty of windows in the coachroof and some hatches also. That will do, if people want to see out I will have a cockpit!
 
pmagowan said:
This is not about a northern version of Microsoft!

I was wondering what people's opinions were on windows set into the hull of a yacht. Obviously they let light in down below and often at a height that is convenient when seated. However they look a bit odd to me from the outside and surely they pose a risk to the watertightness and integrity. Would you cut a big hole in a fair hull to put them in?
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Had them in my Bene 351 and have them in my 381. The girls get excited when they go below when we get a mive in!
S
 
I saw this Dufour 380 recently, and wondered whether it was a window in the topsides, or was she ashore for repairs after a port / stbd incident with a really enormous Laser dinghy?

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Initially didn't like the idea, but have them on my current boat, and would be hard pressed to consider any boat for my coastal cruising without them, especially in the cabins. Love 'em!
But don't like the odd black slits that seem currently de rigeur........ seem no good to anyone, and aesthetically yeugh........
 
bitbaltic said:
Yes, 'should'. Bet DeHaviland said something similar about the comet ;)

It reminds me a bit of a conversation between a newbie mobo chap and the RNLI. The RNLI were saying something about water coming through a hole in the hull at a thousand gpm; the chap opined that he had a 2000 gpm bilge pump. Impeccable logic which prompted a friend of mine to remark that the chap hardly needed a hull at all.
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It is sad that de Havilland and a number of BOAC passengers and crew had to learn about stress concentrations in duralumin the hard way, presumably not having heard about various welded ships (notably the tanker Schenectady) which had come to grief in WW2. I wonder how much work has been done on similar phenomena in GRP?

And those rectangular windows certainly are fugly! The six hull windows in our boat all have metal frames and nicely rounded corners, but she is almost 17 years old.
 
BlowingOldBoots said:
The structural reinforcement around a window in a hull opening should make the opening stronger than the non reinforced hull itself and if the window material and fastening is designed correctly then there should be no loss of strength. These days you get thin clear plastic that one can fire a shotgun at, for example, which will not break. Most of the big windows in modern superyachts are also glued in. Sikaflex have written an article on this and examples of good design practise for glueing windows to hulls. Aesthetically I think they look nice if aft of the beam, not forward of it, but that is a personal opinion of course.
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Michel Joubert's own boat a 53 expedition type yacht with large windows has used only glue to fix them. He says that nothing further is required.

http://www.joubertnivelt-design.com/fiche-bateau/items/37.html
 
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Sybarite said:
Michel Joubert's own boat a 53 expedition type yacht with large windows has used only glue to fix them. He says that nothing further is required.
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We're all quite happy to drive around in cars with glued-on windows which, if you've watched it being done, are quite firmly fixed.
 
Interesting this should come up again, as I've actually considered fitting little round (non opening) port lights in the fore cabin of our little Evasion32. Nothing quite like seeing the ocean when waking. Wouldn't want to 'feel' it though;-)
 
Dougal said:
Interesting this should come up again, as I've actually considered fitting little round (non opening) port lights in the fore cabin of our little Evasion32. Nothing quite like seeing the ocean when waking. Wouldn't want to 'feel' it though;-)
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You're right, looking out at the watery world outside through hull ports in the forecabin is great.
 
pvb said:
You're right, looking out at the watery world outside through hull ports ... is great.
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But at least Mrs H can go below and relax when the toe rail's under - I don't think she'd fancy herself as Mme Nemo (and we haven't room for the organ).
 
While on the subject, I seem to remember seeing somewhere, maybe in the museum in Charleston, that non-opening windows should be called Scuttles rather that portholes. Is this right?
 
They may have solved the issue now but Hanse had a problem ( or at least the owners did) with windows in hulls poping out.
One boat reported taking on over a ton of water before they realised the problem
I would feel concerned about buying them in a new model as I would like to know they worked first
 
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