How Safe Are These?

I would agree with Whitepointer.

Glass can be made bullet proof.

It would all depend on what type of glass it is and how it's fitted.

Poida

 

I,m going for the half my age trophy wife, but know I may end up with the last place trophy, so I,ll build covers. FYI PAR cousin JimBob died last year and my sisters not fat,at least we dont think so. Rick

 

It's my grey haired thinking that promotes my vision of such things. The OP's question "How Safe Are These" should have triggered follow up queries, For what geographical sailing area and time of year, which would in turn give an idea of average sea conditions. Here in the northern open atlantic, coastal crusing (up to 20 miles off) is basically the same as mid atlantic. Other than the Bradore Lakes or deep into the St. Lawrence River Basin there's no inland waterways, less islands to hide behind or harbours to run into. Prime example is what we call the "Gulf", that female (changing conitions)piece of water between Nova Scotia and Newfoundland another the "Bay" Bay of Fundy,(Gulf of Maine) biggest tidel runs in the world. Both are excellent training grounds for the Fastnet Race. The only trade winds we have here are, none to 50knts west changing to all points of the compass on regular 10 min. intervals accompanied by associated sea conditions. I kid you knot Harbour Queens have a life expectancy of 15min. not enough time for the champange bottle to strike the bow. So "How Safe Are They"? In this neck of the woods, not in your life Laddy- You'd probably be laughed off the water before launching anyway, " You're going where in that," ??? so no lives lost. However I can see where you guys are coming from, to us it's an entirely different geographical and weather wise world of sailing.(heaven) Yes you do get more hurricanes and tropical storms but you also get 2 good days warning, our forcast changes by the hour with peasoup fog to boot. ( You bump into sand we bump into moutains)
P.S. To all planning a sailing trip this way, of course i'm embellishing my post to make a point, conditions are basically the same from New England to Labrador so your sailing craft and prepariations should reflect such.

A yacht is not defined by the vessel but by the care and love of her owner---

 

I dont think a designer like Par, R Woods, or in my case Ed Horstman, would design in portlights or hatches that were not deemed safe for the intended use of the design. It makes you wonder how much safty factor is designed into a production boat. Rick

 

we used to apply that 3M film to all skylights, right up until some jerk inspector couldn't find it in the UL listings for our area. That was years ago though, now we're using the IBC so its all good once again. Oh it was listed everywhere else but not central US. Put an end to an excellent product, at least for a while. For a while we had to go back to laminated which was like going back to the dark ages. Tempered with film is lighter, stronger, and you can stand on it, stops hail great or at least up to about plumb sized it does. Not sure about sea gulls and oister shells. Try temp 1/4 lami with film, thats stuffs bomb proof.

I once rigged a golf course with special netting over all the adjacent houses windows. Used this clear nylon mesh, can't remember what it was called, but they were to cheap to put in descent windows so we ended up out there dodging golf balls and hanging these kinda stupid looking nets over everything. Didn't work, I just about made a career out of that job. I spent many a pleasant summers lunch looking out over that golf course, sun shining, birds chirping, glass shattering.

Eventually I quit doing window repairs and just stuck with restoration work. Paid better anyway although I did kinda miss that golf course.

 

Years ago I read about an old New England family who hired an interior decorator for their heirloom catboat. He stepped down into the cabin, pointed at the centerboard trunk and said, "oh, dear... this will simply have to go!"

 

When talking about production craft, you must remember they are designing toward a market, that has little to do with boating activities. Most design teams recognize the boat will be a party barge and occasionally sailed, so they have multiple cup holders built into the toilet paper dispenser in the head. We all know how practical this is, as we've all had multiple crew members in the head with a drink, taking a dump, right? No, well that's not the point, the sales angle is, nothing else. The same applies to berthing 6 in a 22' boat. It's not practical and no one would ever try it, but it's a selling point and the goal is total annual sales, not a well founded yacht.

A simple and classic example of this rational can be found by comparing two yachts, both of the same model, one intended for a private owner, yet the other with an interior setup for charter work. The charter boat accommodations are cut up into small cabins and lots of sinks, with heads at each end of the boat, because you can't ask a guest to walk more then 15' to another head, when charging $1,500 per person, per day, now can you. The privately owned accommodations version of the same yacht will have a wide open interior and LCD TV's mounted on each bulkhead. It'll have cute little bolt ons that make life aboard (so the advertisements say) easier, such as the double cup holder, built into the toilet paper dispenser in the head.

 

Blame the whole thing on John Bannenberg......the idea is to bring daylight and a view into what were formerly dark dank caverns.....highly desirable in my view. Today it's become a marketing ploy, "this one's new because we put big funny shaped windows in the topsides". A new feature is what sells boats......

When John introduced the idea Lloyd's was horrified and this was reflected in the rules of the day. Deep web frames either side and a longitudinal girder (essentially a second clamp) below the port were required. Also ports of a certain (large) size were limited to the midships area and as high above DWL as possible. Slowly this has changed to allow them to creep out to the ends and lower, but there are definite penalties in weight and structural complexity.

To say ports can't be as strong as the hull is silly, submarines dive thousands of feet with ports, they are plenty strong though there is a cost.......

I use large portlights in some boats, princeably my Passagemaker Lite designs. They are always aft of midships and as high as possible. In this case the fixed ports are set well back from the topside surface to limit the possibility of damage. The jambs on these ports are stronger than the surrounding planking, as is the port itself. I also add a deep longitudinal stiffener inside below the ports.

 

I want polycarbonate bow so I can press my face up against it and

eyeball whatever the boat is traveling over, with aid of well placed powerful search lights, and a scrub-sponge with port/starboard pull-pull straps to keep the window clear.

I anticipate hours of quality entertainment, and a shift from "next to tiller" to 'down in the bow' as boat's social center.

I seem to remember a bow mounted camera on a boat. Even in deep water all sorts of random fish come up to briefly introduce themselves for a quick look.


Might be prudent to have a watertight bulkhead between viewing compartment and rest of the boat, more for concern over where the poly-C joins the rest of the boat than the poly-C itself.

How much would a custom curved piece of 1/2" poly-C in the 4'x4'x3' range cost?

Not sure exactly what shape would allow good viewing and still be a decent bow. I don't think lying on your belly would work for more than a few minutes.

 

Re Windows along the side of your recreational boat... The killer, - if it is diffferent between "window" material & hill material - co=efficient of thermal expansion - you are asking for trouble...
If it is tempered glass it WILL shatter when unexpected - you are asking for trouble...
If you keep the boat in a marina berth, - you are asking for trouble...
If the expansive window is near where you may hang your fenders - you are asking for trouble...

I have NO openings on the sides of my hulls... I get perfectly adequate light from above by deck hatches in protected areas... I expect green water over the bows... That has not happened YET, but it certainly will... Do you really need to cut big holes in your boat? - - Do you realise that that will weaken the integrity of the hull... Have you considered the extensive design-engineering for the small fixed windows on an aircraft? and they do not have to contend with the bashing a boat gets, just steady pressure variation applied to the whole hull......

 

Are you talking to me? The OP?

If so, then no... I don't need to put these in at all. I was toying around with the idea because the wife would like to be able to look out a "window" while in our galley down, slaving away preparing gourmet meals for our guests.

That way, she can watch other people having fun outside while she's stuck cooking.

I would like to help her out, but am having some problems finding a way to give her a view from a galley down.

She is only 5' (1.5 meters) tall, so it is difficult to do without one of these new fangled windows in the hull.

Our idea was to not put one in, then, only if absolutely necessary, look at the issues and possible cut and fit one later on.

These thoughts lead to me posting on the idea.

 

It cheaper and easy to put a small video unit on boat with outside cams.

 

I am renovating my boat and the inspiration I get from Par is amazing.

Double cup holders in the toilet. Getting on to it, a cup of port with a coffee chaser, why didn't I think of that?

Poida

 

Ha ha ha ha! Good one.

 

I might put at least one cup holder next to the toilet, maybe two. Here in the south we have a beer in one hand and spit cup in the other. Par,s a smart man. Rick