Viewing-Port in Hull

[witzgall]

Anyone ever see one of these before in a cruising boat? I only thought that this kind of thing was put into tourist boats. I saw this in an 1970s vintage ketch last week.

Chris

[rebel heart]

I just read in this book (Amazon.com: The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and…) how a crew on a race boat watched the suckers of a giant squid through a portlight like that as it stopped their boat mid ocean, eventually letting go.

I'd be stoked if we had one built in and it didn't slow the boat down much. Too much storage between the floorboards and hull for it to work on our boat.

[witzgall]

Arggggg, giant sea suckers from the deep! Run away, run away. Wait, that won't work....

[speciald@ocens.]

The America's Cup boats in San Diego had ports so that they could see kelp on thier rudders and also had some mechanism for removing it.

Catamarans built in france are required to have escape ports somewhere on the bottom should they flip over.

[witzgall]

Yeah, this one was in the aft-cabin, and placed so you could see the rudder and prop, but I did not get my head down there to actually see them.

Chris

[skipmac]

Since painting one of these with antifouling paint would sort of defeat the purpose I would think it would require diving and cleaning about once a week.

[Hydra]

I have seen underwater viewing ports on warships. They are often used for observing the rudders and propellers during sea trials, mainly for checking cavitation phenomena.

Of course, a diver has to go down and clean them from time to time.

Alain

[osirissail]

I wanted to install one in my boat when I was doing a total re-fit but engineering something that would stand up to use and abuse equal to 1.5 inches of FRG and not leak had me baffled. Finding glass that thick to withstand the pressure and pounding and flexing of the normal hull was simply not worth the effort. Then's there is cleaning . . .

[rebel heart]

I'm shocked no one's starting arguing about the bonding line.

[Sailmonkey]

Originally Posted by rebel heart

I'm shocked no one's starting arguing about the bonding line.

No, but if you start a thread titled "bonding the underwater viewing port" you'll get all sorts

[anjou]

EU Recreational Craft Directive states that cats must have an escape hatch fitted.

[jackdale]

I raced on an X-119 that had a viewing port near the keel so that we could look for kelp. While it leans way toward the racing side, the owner and his wife did cruise on it.

[shadow]

I think it would be cool in pristine anchorages (bahamas, etc..) But in deep endless abyss black, it would creep me out a bit... Especially if something was looking back at me!! But, I would be worried about when it was going to start leaking as it would most likely happen at the worst possible moment....

[Blue Stocking]

I did a lot of design work, and was part of the building crew for this boat.
launched 1975, still working full season.
Bermuda Reef Explorer

[witzgall]

So would one of these things concern you on a blue water boat? Assuming it was not leaking, and the fittings and bolts looked ok, would preemptive remove, reseal and replace be needed? How often?

Chris