portlight shades or blinds

[SweetSailor]

I'm looking for a good set of shades/blinds for my Lewmar portlights (the kind with the hardware actually on the plexiglass) without much luck.

We are moving to a new slip in the marina closer to the main area, which means more traffic on the docks. I love to give a show but want to keep it to a minimum

Here are some I found - but again my portlights have the hardware on them & are Lewmar brand so these particular ones won't work (but it gives you an idea what I'm looking for):
Sail2000 - Peek a Booo
Beckson Ports - shutters

[windsaloft]

Wow. Those are nice.
I have resorted to rubber bands and light muslin dishtowels, but that isn't very classy.......

In seriousness, have you checked through a Catalina dealer? Some of the bigger ones seem to have specialty items like those.

[David M]

I throw a couple terrycloth rags over mine....but then, I'm probably more like your typical guy.

[Gene :^)]

David M,

Great minds think alike. I have white terry cloth rags (costco bag of them) over my port lights. From outside you can't tell what they are and from inside they still let light in. Perfect size too.

SweetSailor,

Probably need to break out the sewing machine or make a rough pattern/mock up and have a seamstress make some up. I would think some covers made to the same size as the glass with velcro corners would work good.

[miss-m]

We have regular roller blinds from B and Q (UK hardware store) over our hatches and also over the front sloping windows to our pilot house. They're brilliant- especially the one above our bed which is a black out blind- handy for those lie ins! They were really easy to cut to size and then put the ends back on, so maybe you could cut some small ones? I made curtains for our windows and portlights, but in fairness we dont use them much- no neighbours at the moment!!

[GordMay]

OCEANAIR MARINE LTD offer numerous different Hatch Shades, Blinds and Screens, available worldwide:
Goto:
OCEANAIR MARINE LTD: blinds, screens and soft furnishings for boats, yachts, superyachts, road vehicles and the home

Just (2) of many options:

[waterworldly]

Try calling Lewmar, they may offer some suggestions, as they sell the product and hear back from the buyers.

[elf]

Hi SweetSailor,

We installed these on the four opening Lewmar Portlights in our Catalina 30 this year. They work great!

http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|6880|6881|301238&id=662883

I can't recall the exact size we got, but these look to be right. We have the standard 12" x 5" Lewmar portlights used in Catalina 30 Mark II boats; and these work very well. If you have the same size portlights in your C34, these should work for you as well.

If the bulkhead is curved around your portlights, you might have to use extra washers to mount shade on one side -- we did this for two of our four portlights so that the shades would mount straight.

Good luck!

elf

[SweetSailor]

Thanks for everyone's responses.

I think we're going with GordMay & Elf's idea of the Oceanair product. Looks like you can get them in cream/beige too so when retracted the cassette won't stand out so much. What color did you get Elf?

In researching the Oceanair blind a bit more, found some other folks who had done it on their boat:
Portlight with new shade (retracted) pictures from christmas photos on webshots
Portlight with shade down - one of our boat projects pictures from christmas photos on webshots

Looks good & gets the job done.

In the meantime until the order arrives, we'll go with a variation on the plastic bag in the portlight option which is a piece of cardboard or a folder cut to the dimensions of the portlight on our high traffic side

Thanks again for all your ideas!

[elf]

Originally Posted by SweetSailor

I think we're going with GordMay & Elf's idea of the Oceanair product. Looks like you can get them in cream/beige too so when retracted the cassette won't stand out so much. What color did you get Elf?

We got the white. We actually got them from West Marine and that was the only option offered. If I'd known, I would have gone for the beige -- oh well, they're only down at night.

Originally Posted by SweetSailor

In researching the Oceanair blind a bit more, found some other folks who had done it on their boat:
Portlight with new shade (retracted) pictures from christmas photos on webshots
Portlight with shade down - one of our boat projects pictures from christmas photos on webshots

Actually, that's our boat. I forgot I had posted those. Glad it was helpful!

elf

[SweetSailor]

What a small world! That is hilarious!

Originally Posted by elf

Actually, that's our boat. I forgot I had posted those.

Well thanks for posting them! It looks great! I love it when people post pictures of their projects because you can typically see what it actually looks like much better than in the marketing photos the company posts.

[SweetSailor]

Just wanted to share the rest of what I found out about the blinds in case anyone else is interested.

A few places sell the Oceanair product, West Marine, Ahoy Captain & Defender to name a few.

The biggest question for me was whether the color differences noted for the product referred to the cassette color or the blind color. The color (silver, beige or white) refers to the *cassette* that holds everything, not the pull-down blind.

Defender was great in answering my questions & giving me Oceanair's customer service number (it's 802-362-5258 in case you want it).

So, it turns out that Defender sold the blinds in the color I want (beige to match the bulkhead) in the size I want (2) for $10 cheaper a set than Ahoy Captain so I'm going with Defender. Also - no sales tax!

Here are links in case anyone is interested:
Defender: Port Shade
Ahoy Captain: Oceanair PORTshade Portlight Shade at AhoyCaptain.com - Always your best source.

Thanks again for everyone's suggestions & links!

[cabo_sailor]

On our boat we use a product called Peekaboo. Simple - durable.

Here is a link:
Sail2000 - Peek a Booo

[SweetSailor]

cabo:

Does the peek-a-boo shade go around any hardware on the portlight or can you only use them on portlights that have the fastening hardware underneath?

[elf]

Originally Posted by SweetSailor

Just wanted to share the rest of what I found out about the blinds in case anyone else is interested.

A few places sell the Oceanair product, West Marine, Ahoy Captain & Defender to name a few.

The biggest question for me was whether the color differences noted for the product referred to the cassette color or the blind color. The color (silver, beige or white) refers to the *cassette* that holds everything, not the pull-down blind.

Defender was great in answering my questions & giving me Oceanair's customer service number (it's 802-362-5258 in case you want it).

So, it turns out that Defender sold the blinds in the color I want (beige to match the bulkhead) in the size I want (2) for $10 cheaper a set than Ahoy Captain so I'm going with Defender. Also - no sales tax!

Here are links in case anyone is interested:
Defender: Port Shade
Ahoy Captain: Oceanair PORTshade Portlight Shade at AhoyCaptain.com - Always your best source.

Thanks again for everyone's suggestions & links!

Great sleuthing! Wish I'd known about the beige color when I ordered...oh well...

elf