Clear or Frosted Portlights

[JPA Cate]

Privacy is an issue for me, too. If we go into a marina, I cover our clear port lights with white paper, cut to fit the enclosures. It defeats the looky-loos, and still allows light in.

An architect we know made translucent panels to cover them when he wanted privacy, or to block the heat. His were in a sliding frame, and just slid over the port light.

Finally, even smoke tinted acrylic will let uv through, which will fade your cloth upholstery and book bindings. I have made a cover for our deck hatch that has "Breezeway" shade cloth, to limit the uv that comes below. The forward hatch is usually covered by an opaque Stamoid hatch dodger we fabricated, and in there, the "master cabin", the timber overhead varnish has not darkened as much as it has where the mid-hatch let in so much bright light.

Ann

[toddster8]

I thought I had a brilliant idea, a couple of years ago... Scrounge up a set of matching flip-down sunshades from the auto junk yard!
But on my boat, they would interfere with the inside grab rails.

This might still be a "go" for the head, because there is no handle in there, and some of these things have built in shaving mirrors and lights!

[toddster8]

Also, UV will not actually get through any common portlight material. I doubt that anybody is using optically clear quartz!
But plain old visible-spectrum light will do a pretty good job of bleaching materials and oxidizing plastic. Just ask anybody who owns a greenhouse!

[a64pilot]

Glass blocks UV very well, but I had so much light coming in through sliding glass doors at the old house it actually bleached out the oak floor a little and that has to be tough.