skipperdude
Guru
The forward slanting windshield on the fly bridge.
SD
SD
Those overhanging pilot windows help shade the interior, reduce night-time reflections, and increase interior volume, let alone help deflect heavy water showers when heading into the in the choppy SF estuary. Don't consider such windows merely decorative.
Are u (OP) asking about forward cabin windows or the little freestanding plexi on the forward edge of the flybridge?
Somehow I think the spray your boat kicks up on the bay there is not posing any sort of danger to your windows even if they were vertical or sloped back. I suppose if you walked around on the cabin overhead the forward sloped windows would give you more space. Since you don't, they don't.
Sorry, strictly my opinion of course, but I think that on recreational boats like ours, particularly coastal cruisers, they just look stupid as well as ruining the lines of the boat. Vertical windows can look great on the right design, and of course slanted back windows always contribute to nice lines. But while I understand the reasoning behind the so-called venturi windows on boats that encounter heavy weather, be it an RNLI rescue boat or a freigher, they are still ugly in my view. But in those applications they at least have a purpose that over-rides their appearance.
Not so on little toy boats that muck around in nice weather on inland and coastal waters.
Since the the forward-leaning pilot house windows provide a number of benefits this soulds like a clear case of "window envy".... On 8-knot coastal cruisers like many of our boats are, I think they simply look ugly and stupid. Hence, "wannabe windows."
Since the the forward-leaning pilot house windows provide a number of benefits this soulds like a clear case of "window envy".
Dave
Since the the forward-leaning pilot house windows provide a number of benefits this soulds like a clear case of "window envy".
Dave
Not a chance. To me they totally destroy the look and lines of every boat I've seen them on. I absolutely agree with psneeld as to their value on boats whose operation requires this kind of window, but that doesn't change the fact they are one of the most butt-ugly things (in my opinon) in the boating design world.
We have a deep enough flying bridge overhang on our boat to make glare a non-issue, we don't boat at night because of all the crap in the water around here, and we don't boat on the open ocean where big slugs of water over the bow into the pilothouse windows are a potential problem. So wannabe windows have zero value to us or our boating.
An American Tug would be a decent looking boat if it wasn't for those ridiculous pilothouse windows. That feature alone would keep us from buying one if we were in the market for that kind of boat. Aesthetics are important to both me and my wife, and that single feature totally wipes out any aesthetic value the rest of the American Tug might have as far as we're concerned.
For the kind of boating we do and the waters we do it in, I wouldn't be caught dead driving a recreational boat with wannabe windows. Their ugliness would simply be too embarrassing to tolerate. Be sort of like driving around in a Yugo or a Trabant.
....at night...I'd be willing to kill for it...
I can totally agree with that position. If we boated at night we might be persuaded to accept wannabe windows if glare would be a significant problem if our boat's helm station had vertical or slanted-back windows.
But we very rarely are out after the sun goes down so we don't have to compromise our sense of aesthetics and drive a butt-ugly boat because reducing glare has become more important than driving a nice looking boat.
I guess what with beauty being in the eye of the beholder it's a good thing they make different boats for different folks!
Dave
I guess what with beauty being in the eye of the beholder it's a good thing they make different boats for different folks!
Dave
I'll drop a note to the designer for his next model!
Dave
I suspect the forward-slanting venturi panels build up air pressure in front of them and this forces the air to spill over the top in a much higher "wave" than if the panels were raked backwards.
My Venturi looks like hell from the years of San Diego Sun (Burnt Orange now)...... If they weren't so damn expensive, I would replace it.
While our opinon of the GBs aesthetics, or lack of them, didn't change we found that the GB36 was indeed well built, had a layout we liked, had a one-level, wide-ish walk-around main deck--- something we would never be without now in any boat---- was easy to handle, and had wonderful visibility out of those big windows I disliked the look of so much.
drive a butt-ugly boat because reducing glare has become more important than driving a nice looking boat.