What’s happened to our beloved, classic, nautical portholes? Apparently sailboat designers have decided that it’s time for their creations to look like some sort of Porche on the water. Eyecatchers for the buyers with bucks I guess. They’ve been around for quite awhile, sailboat manufacturers Hunter, Catalina etc. have tried to jazz up the appearance of their models with large, non-opening plexi windows that look more like a campy Buck Rogers prop rather than a sea going vessel. To me it was the chacteristic of a boat that was dated, and of likely lesser construction, again – trying to appeal to the newbie sailor. My own 1980 Morgan 323 has two big ol’ ugly plexi windows that crack, sratch and look like an after thought with all the screws around the outside edge. I love my Morgan, just not those fugly windows. As soon as I can muster the $750+ for each new stainless porthole, I will. In other words, they’ll be there forever.
Recently a lot of these ugly plexi’s have been flush mounted with no signs of fasteners, became curvy, tear dropped or look like some bizarre cat’s eye - but they still say “I’m posing as a sportscar”. Big, long and sleek with points on the end – you would think the boat needed to cut down on it’s wind drag because it moved so fast. A sailboat is one of the slowest forms of transportation built by man. It slogs along, light air or heavy seas. It rocks, rolls and sometimes smells down below. Need more light? I need more air from a simple opening porthole that can be battened down to withstand a pounding by hundreds of gallons of water. I’ll stick with the classic porthole, and dark, cozy saloon.
