I Need Windows

[Caribbeachbum]

My wife and I were shopping for Last Boat III in Annapolis last weekend. I really like it there. Once again Dock Street served up a top-shelf crab cake. We saw a very nice Jeanneau 54DS at the city wharf on Saturday while walking to a bar, and we looked about for the owner. The boat name was Auspicious, and I think there's a forum member with a similar boat and boat name, so we were going to say "hi." We missed them, though.

We looked at six boats, and along the way I had a true "A-Ha!" moment. I really love sailboats. I'm to the point where I can name a lot of them on sight, and even tell you who designed them. But I keep not liking them after I go aboard. But on this trip we spent some time aboard a CT-56, and this was the first boat I was really, really happy to be aboard (down below, not on deck — I like them all on deck). We next looked at a Bristol 51, and then an Island Packet 45. I liked the Island Packet as well, but not the Bristol, and then it struck me: the boats I like on the inside are the ones I can see out of!!

There are a lot of boats that have see-outside visibility when down below, but the marketplace of ones that do not is much, much larger.

So I have a question or few:

(1) Has anybody added windows (topside portlights, for the sailing pedants among us) to a sailboat that didn't have them?

(2) And especially, does anyone have any idea what it would cost to add some windows? I told my wife -- a guess -- that we could do it for no more than $3K/window, needing a fiberglass tech and a cabinetry guru for a half day or so each, per window. But I'd love to hear from someone who knows.

Finally, my apologies for the copy/paste on more than one well-traveled forum. I know there is member overlap, but it's far from universal.

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[hellosailor]

Some boats have more portlights and opening ports than others. In the investigations following the Fastnet disaster, a great deal was made over portlights being stove in by heavy weather and they are considered still to be something of a weakness or an expense. Which is not to say you can't add them. But perhaps what you would be after is a motorsailor, a pilothouse boat, where there's a raised pilothouse area with good all-around visibility to spend time in?

If you plan to install portlights, bear in mind that you'll need to pick a boat with flat areas to install them in, or else you'll need to make up custom bases for each one, as they need to install in nearly flat surfaces.