Window on the water

psneeld · Jul 29, 2012

I worked as a delivery captain and maintenance tech for a Sea Ray dealership..... and I got news for some of you...a 41 Dancer can take more than most of our 40 something trawlers can and then some more...it doesn't have the range but it can outrun the easy weather and is just as strongly built, has all the proper thruhull stuff, has no windows to the interior of the boat to knock out, etc, etc.

If I was in 20 foot breaking seas, I would feel better in my friends 41 dancer than any but a handful of trawlers I see our avatars.

honeybadger · Jul 29, 2012

Ok How many times have wheel house windows been broken ? i have been in to boats off shore and ended up with either broken windows or a hatch being damaged to the point of leaking. i would call that boat a ICW cruiser as i sure would not want to bet the life of everyone on board that they can withstand those oh Sh** moments when it goes bad real fast! My biggest memory at 14 is being in a storm and loosing a window in the wheel house of my dads boat taking a seat from the galley and cutting the cushion off taking the plywood base and nailing it over the window to keep sea water and rain out of the helm area.

psneeld · Jul 29, 2012

honeybadger said:
Ok How many times have wheel house windows been broken ? i have been in to boats off shore and ended up with either broken windows or a hatch being damaged to the point of leaking. i would call that boat a ICW cruiser as i sure would not want to bet the life of everyone on board that they can withstand those oh Sh** moments when it goes bad real fast! My biggest memory at 14 is being in a storm and loosing a window in the wheel house of my dads boat taking a seat from the galley and cutting the cushion off taking the plywood base and nailing it over the window to keep sea water and rain out of the helm area.

And the point you are trying to make is????

HopCar · Jul 29, 2012

I know of at least two companies who produced completely clear small boats. One of them was over fifty years ago. The idea was that you could see what was under you. The problem was that they got scratched up pretty quick.

A friend of mine operates a large boat with big glass windows in the bottom. He takes people on tours of the reefs from Biscayne National Park south of Miami.

Marin · Jul 29, 2012

I think psneeld has the right perspective here. There's no telling how strong that window is from the outside or my photo. For all I know it has an internal cover, too, to seal off the opening. You can do anything if you throw enough money at it.

As yachts go it's not all that big. So perhaps it's used more as a coastal cruiser than an open-ocean boat. I didn't walk round the back to check the home port. The name of the boat or the brand was Freya as I recall.

honeybadger · Jul 29, 2012

In Short i dont see any boat with low or large windows being class rated for anything other than ICW or Lakes. After reading how the Sail boats and Trawlers qualify for Open ocean / Blue water rating. Not only is it the window but its the frame and ablilty to stay water proof and intact during hard sea rolls. Same with the hatches.

markpierce · Jul 29, 2012

RickB said:
I suspect that 99.7 percent of the boats here (including your own) don't operate anyplace or in conditions that "seaworthiness" in the traditional sense is a factor.

If fashion is so evil, what was the reason you chose your boat other than appearance or some other Walter Mitty fantasy? It certainly doesn't need angled windshields, a steel hull, a mast and sails, or anything else besides a galley table and an icebox to cruise around the inland waters of Suisun Bay or Carquinez.

Bought my boat for gunkholing and coastal cruising for which it was designed. If I intended to do open-ocean sailing in other than benign conditions, I would have preferred to get one with much smaller saloon windows and a deck designed to shed water quicker. Have often stated here the primary factors for selecting the boat and won't repeat them here. Anyway, Walter Mitty factors were low on the list.

markpierce · Jul 29, 2012

RickB said:
If fashion is so evil, what was the reason you chose your boat other than appearance or some other Walter Mitty fantasy?

Maybe I'm a wannabe salvage tug captain.

232323232%7Ffp7346%3A%3Enu%3D3363%3E33%3A%3E57%3B%3EWSNRCG%3D373957%3C348336nu0mrj

eagle419 · Jul 29, 2012

RickB said:
If fashion is so evil, what was the reason you chose your boat other than appearance or some other Walter Mitty fantasy?

I agree that there's nothing particularly wrong with fashion, but what's the fantasy of those who buy boats that look like a cross between a nike trainer and a steam iron? Also know around these parts as p*n*s boats.

psneeld · Jul 29, 2012

honeybadger said:
In Short i dont see any boat with low or large windows being class rated for anything other than ICW or Lakes. After reading how the Sail boats and Trawlers qualify for Open ocean / Blue water rating. Not only is it the window but its the frame and ablilty to stay water proof and intact during hard sea rolls. Same with the hatches.

What class ratings are you refering to?

And big deal....you think building a seaworthy window is that big of an engineering feat or would cost as much as a moon shot?

Especially on the side of a vessel? If a wave strong enough to punch a well built window out slams into the broiadside of the vessel...stability may well be an issue LONG before the window becomes a concern.

Northern Spy · Jul 29, 2012

Being that the "fashionable" yacht that Marin posted in question is a Ferretti with a 94/25/EC designation A (Ocean), I'm sure those ports will be just fine.

I'd sell it and buy a Nordhavn, a Selene, KK, or similar. Mind you, I'd have to pay extra to get the 94/25/EC A stamp, but I wouldn't have to change my whole wardrobe, like I would for the Ferretti. I might even have some change left over to fund the circumnavigation.

Edelweiss · Jul 30, 2012

Not crazy about the color of the boat, but how about these windows. She looks like she could handle some heavy seas.
Larry B

RickB · Jul 30, 2012

The windows shown in post #7 are on a boat that has made 2 trans Atlantic trips each year for the past 7 years.

There are well developed standards for construction of the type of windows under discussion, they do not pose any great risk. The ones on the little Clorox bottle boats can be hideous but that doesn't make them dangerous.

honeybadger · Jul 30, 2012

Those windows on the green hull boat look small enough and shape has alot to do with the ability to handle impact. I am sure they would be fine as in days of old when anything near the water was a small round heavy duty port hole. And like it was said earlier some never leave the sight of land they would be fine. Myself i use my boat for more than ICW cruiser last year we were about 45 miles off shore fishing and waves went from 4/6 to 6/8 before i could make the inlet they were 8/10 had to divert to another inlet to even get back inside. Marine forcast had been for 4/6 dimishing to 2/3- when the alert came over the weather fax i was WOT headed for shore but didnt have time to make it. In Short Your boat your windows know the limits of your boat.

rwidman · Jul 30, 2012

If a wave strong enough to punch a well built window out slams into the broiadside of the vessel...stability may well be an issue LONG before the window becomes a concern.

It doesn't have to be a wave. It could be a log, a shipping container, or just the corner of a dock. Or another boat.

honeybadger · Jul 30, 2012

So true i have seen some pretty rough dockings in my day!

psneeld · Jul 30, 2012

rwidman said:
It doesn't have to be a wave. It could be a log, a shipping container, or just the corner of a dock. Or another boat.

When was the last time you heard of ANY of those punching out something that far above the waterline and sinking the boat???

After 33 years of boating rescue/assistance... I never seen, read or heard of any...

A dock? well I would get it fixed before my next transatlantic...can't believe I would even address that one... :facepalm:

A broken window might not be seaworthy...but intact I'm sure it's just fine at sea... :whistling:

If you hit a boat that takes out that window...good chance it might take out a well found hull too...again...has nothing to do with initial seaworthyness...need I go on or have I CLEARLY addressed the simple concept yet???

psneeld · Jul 30, 2012

honeybadger said:
Those windows on the green hull boat look small enough and shape has alot to do with the ability to handle impact. I am sure they would be fine as in days of old when anything near the water was a small round heavy duty port hole. And like it was said earlier some never leave the sight of land they would be fine. Myself i use my boat for more than ICW cruiser last year we were about 45 miles off shore fishing and waves went from 4/6 to 6/8 before i could make the inlet they were 8/10 had to divert to another inlet to even get back inside. Marine forcast had been for 4/6 dimishing to 2/3- when the alert came over the weather fax i was WOT headed for shore but didnt have time to make it. In Short Your boat your windows know the limits of your boat.

I see you too are having a hard time believing some boat designers/naval architects/engineers might actually know what they are doing or have thought about things like breaking waves and such....and sure ANY vessel including a Norhaven can be sunk by a skipper not up to the task.

These issues STIL HAVE NOTHING TO DO with the actual seaworthyness of those windows unless one of us has seen the warning sticker or note in the operators manual that SAYS "do not ooperate in XX conditions"...

rwidman · Jul 30, 2012

psneeld said:
When was the last time you heard of ANY of those punching out something that far above the waterline and sinking the boat??? After 33 years of boating rescue/assistance... I never seen, read or heard of any...

A dock? well I would get it fixed before my next transatlantic...can't believe I would even address that one... A broken window might not be seaworthy...but intact I'm sure it's just fine at sea...

If you hit a boat that takes out that window...good chance it might take out a well found hull too...again...has nothing to do with initial seaworthyness...need I go on or have I CLEARLY addressed the simple concept yet???

In the words of bart Simpson, "Don't have a cow, man!"

ARoss · Jul 30, 2012

These portholes remind me of a Buick I owned once.... :socool:

sbu22 · Aug 4, 2012

DBF Rick! I hear what you're saying (and you are quite right), but for my non-pro operated/maintained boat, minimizing hull penetrations seems like a prudent rule.

Window on the water

Guru

Senior Member

Guru

Guru

Guru

Senior Member

Master and Commander

Master and Commander

Senior Member

Guru

Guru

Guru

Attachments

Guru

Senior Member

Guru

Senior Member

Guru

Guru

Guru

Guru

Attachments

Guru

Similar threads