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06-05-2010, 08:39
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#1
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: East Coast
Boat: 382 Diesel Duck
Posts: 1,176
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Terminology: Portlight vs Porthole
Technical terms in a second language can be a real pain !
I've tried to look up the difference between "porthole" and "portlight". I haven't found an authoritative definition or even a consistent accepted use. To find the real truth I'll ask the Internets !
Thanks for any enlightenment,
-Sven
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Shiplet
2007 Diesel Duck 382
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06-05-2010, 08:44
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#2
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Building a Bateau TW28

Join Date: Nov 2005
Location: Iroquois, Ontario
Boat: Bateau TW28 Long Cabin
Posts: 3,585
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A portlight is any shape other than a circle.
A port hole is a round so the water can't hit you square in the face!
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Yours Aye! Rick
~^~^~^^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~~^~^~~^~^~^^~~^~^
"It's not the boat "you built" until you've sworn at it, bled on it, sweated over it, cried beside it and then threatened to haul the POS outside and burn it!"
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06-05-2010, 08:56
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#3
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Bocas del Toro, Panama
Boat: Catalina 30 "Niunia"
Posts: 180
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I think portlight and porthole are used interchangeably.
__________________
Michał
"The acquisition of the knowledge of navigation has a strange effect on the minds of men." /Jack London/
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06-05-2010, 09:00
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#4
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Wherever the boat is!
Boat: Marine Trader 34DC
Posts: 4,619
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Porthole
An opening in the topsides or deck structures that allow light in, and which may be opened for fresh air. Portholes are usually small, with a sturdy hinged glass cover called a portlight, that can be dogged shut against a watertight gasket. (From the French "porte" meaning "door.")
Portlight
The heavy glass cover for a porthole that can be opened for air, or dogged shut when the seas are rough.
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06-05-2010, 17:16
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#5
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: A real life Zombie from FL
Boat: Gulfstar 53 - Osiris
Posts: 5,416
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If you look at the marine catalogs of yesteryear you will see that "portlights" are fixed glass prisms or transparent material that is permanently mounted mostly in a deck to allow "light" into a dark area of the boat. They do not open. A "port hole" is an "open-able" window in the side of the vessel. In the ancient days they were round but now are mostly rectangular.
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06-05-2010, 19:46
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#6
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Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Wherever the boat is!
Boat: Marine Trader 34DC
Posts: 4,619
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This is where the definitions I posted came from.
http://tinyurl.com/2u2zuty
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06-05-2010, 19:49
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#7
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Registered User
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Keene, NH / Boothbay Harbor, ME
Boat: Island Yachts Peterson 34
Posts: 374
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I agree with waterwayguy's definitions. What osirissail is talking about are called "deck prisms"
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06-05-2010, 19:51
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#8
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Moderator Emeritus

Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Eastern Tennessee
Boat: Research vessel for a university, retired now.
Posts: 10,405
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I was taught at the maritime academy that the portlight is the glass that allows light through. It must be able to be opened.
A deadlight is a heavy cover that blocks light from coming through the portlight.
A deadlight can also be a portlight which does not open.
A deadlight can also be a watertight glass or prism in the deck or cabin overhead which does not open.
__________________
David
Life begins where land ends.
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06-05-2010, 19:55
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#9
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Registered User
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: A real life Zombie from FL
Boat: Gulfstar 53 - Osiris
Posts: 5,416
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Misiu
I think portlight and porthole are used interchangeably.
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Seems Misiu is the winner in this category. See;
whatport
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06-05-2010, 20:44
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#10
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Registered User
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: STX and Portland, until refit finished
Boat: 1999 Steel (Tom Collin's design)
Posts: 371
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I always thought a portlight was a fixture that allows the light in, but does not allow air.
A porthole is an openable hole that can allow air/light and maybe even water into the boat.
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07-05-2010, 04:19
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#11
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Senior Cruiser

Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: Thunder Bay, Ontario - 48-29N x 89-20W
Boat: (Cruiser Living On Dirt)
Posts: 51,818
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- PORTHOLE is a general term originally used to describe more or less any opening in the hull such as a gun-port.
- DEADLIGHTS are the ‘windows’ which are fixed and non-opening.
- PORTLIGHTS can be opened.
- DECK-LIGHTS are prisms of rectangular or round shaped glass or acrylic set flush into the deck to give a constant stream of light below deck.
__________________
Gord May
"If you didn't have the time or money to do it right in the first place, when will you get the time/$ to fix it?"
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07-05-2010, 11:29
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#12
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Registered User
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Bocas del Toro, Panama
Boat: Catalina 30 "Niunia"
Posts: 180
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Quote:
Originally Posted by GordMay
- PORTHOLE is a general term originally used to describe more or less any opening in the hull such as a gun-port.
- DEADLIGHTS are the ‘windows’ which are fixed and non-opening.
- PORTLIGHTS can be opened.
- DECK-LIGHTS are prisms of rectangular or round shaped glass or acrylic set flush into the deck to give a constant stream of light below deck.
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So it is mostly consistent with Waterwayguy's definition.
As always in teminology there are two issues. First - what is the original/proper meaning of the word and second - how most people understand the word. I think it's called generalization.
Also known as extension, generalization is the use of a word in a broader realm of meaning than it originally possessed, often referring to all items in a class, rather than one specific item. Generalization is a natural process, especially in situations of "language on a shoestring", where the speaker has a limited vocabulary at his/her disposal, either because he/she is young and just acquiring language or not fluent in a second language. That's me, and I am not young
__________________
Michał
"The acquisition of the knowledge of navigation has a strange effect on the minds of men." /Jack London/
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07-05-2010, 16:02
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#13
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cat herder, extreme blacksheep
Join Date: Jul 2008
Location: furycame alley , tropics, mexico for now
Boat: 1976 FORMOSA yankee clipper 41
Posts: 18,967
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decklights and deck prisms are different from portholes/lights. they are able to be walked on, and are the same thing. the porthole/light is a window in the side of the boat opens for air and light.
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12-05-2010, 03:08
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#14
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Marine Service Provider
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: La la Land
Boat: 37' Oyster Heritage
Posts: 416
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Neither! I was brought up to call them "scuttles".
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12-05-2010, 16:44
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#15
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Registered User
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Northern British Columbia, part of the time in Prince Rupert and part of the time on Moresby Island.
Boat: 50-ft steel Ketch
Posts: 1,884
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It is, I believe a matter of differing terminologies in the different English-speaking parts of the world. If I recall, in the RN the term used was sidescuttles, which included the frame, glass and cover. The actual hole was the porthole, the glass, if able to be opened was a portlight, if fixed it was just the glass; The deadlight was the hinged, metal storm cover used in foul weather and when the ship is blacked out.
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'Tis evening on the moorland free,The starlit wave is still: Home is the sailor from the sea, The hunter from the hill.
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