Portholes questions.

[Tigerr]

I’ve been looking at a boat with sealed portholes throughout. Handsome looking but increasingly I was wondering what that’s like in the bedroom on a hot summer night like we’ve been having.

Our previous boat had windows with a central panel that could be opened/removed which helped stop the bedroom sauna getting too bad.

There are side hatches elsewhere but leaving them open on some places we’ve been doesn’t feel wise, and the only ventilation in the bedroom is a single ceiling vent. Then I found it has a noisy fan in it. As did all the other vents - suggesting to me this is indeed a problem. 

Questions - do such sealed porthole boats get as hot as it looks they might?

Are little fans in the vents effective? 

Is there any reason not to have fitted opening portholes? 

Is porthole replacement an infeasible expensive option?

Ive withdrawn my offer because on top of all the other work it looked like this wasn’t the right boat - but it would be useful to have opinions from folk who’ve been there as we keep on looking. 

[Tracy D'arth]

9 minutes ago, Tigerr said:

I’ve been looking at a boat with sealed portholes throughout. Handsome looking but increasingly I was wondering what that’s like in the bedroom on a hot summer night like we’ve been having.

Our previous boat had windows with a central panel that could be opened/removed which helped stop the bedroom sauna getting too bad.

There are side hatches elsewhere but leaving them open on some places we’ve been doesn’t feel wise, and the only ventilation in the bedroom is a single ceiling vent. Then I found it has a noisy fan in it. As did all the other vents - suggesting to me this is indeed a problem. 

Questions - do such sealed porthole boats get as hot as it looks they might?

Are little fans in the vents effective? 

Is there any reason not to have fitted opening portholes? 

Is porthole replacement an infeasible expensive option?

Ive withdrawn my offer because on top of all the other work it looked like this wasn’t the right boat - but it would be useful to have opinions from folk who’ve been there as we keep on looking. 

Like being in a coffin, or a submarine. I think leaving it was a good decision.

[Rob-M]

We have no opening portholes in our bedroom but there is a pigeon box which we leave open and we keep the blinds down all the time.  It wasn't too bad in the recent heatwave, a bit cooler in the bedroom compared to the rest of the boat which has large windows.

[blackrose]

Sealed windows of any shape does seem an odd choice. I assume you've had a good look at them but are you sure they don't open? Some portholes look sealed from the outside but the glass drops back by a few inches and you can take it out completely.

Edited July 27, 2022 by blackrose

[Tonka]

9 minutes ago, blackrose said:

Sealed windows of any shape does seem an odd choice. I assume you've had a good look at them but are you sure they don't open? Some portholes look sealed from the outside but the glass drops back by a few inches and you can take it out completely.

Have you not seen brass portholes

[frahkn]

30 minutes ago, Tonka said:

Have you not seen brass portholes

I have all brass portholes, two of them open an inch and the glass can be lifted out.

[Mike Tee]

Ours is as described by the op - but we do have pigeon box, four side hatches and front and rear doors. But I think the best barrier to the heat is the sprayfoam insulation. On the hottest day, an egg could easily have been cooked on the roof, and walking down the gunnels was not on as the cabin roof rail was literally burning hot, but the inside walls were remarkably cool.

[Hudds Lad]

We are fully portholed and none open. Long as you keep the sun side curtains or bungs in, open rear doors/hatch, front doors and side hatch (depending on sun, we only have one) for a through draught its still cool. We are sprayfoamed and most of the roof is a pale grey which probably helps.

[Stilllearning]

2 hours ago, Tigerr said:

I’ve been looking at a boat with sealed portholes throughout. Handsome looking but increasingly I was wondering what that’s like in the bedroom on a hot summer night like we’ve been having.

Our previous boat had windows with a central panel that could be opened/removed which helped stop the bedroom sauna getting too bad.

There are side hatches elsewhere but leaving them open on some places we’ve been doesn’t feel wise, and the only ventilation in the bedroom is a single ceiling vent. Then I found it has a noisy fan in it. As did all the other vents - suggesting to me this is indeed a problem. 

Questions - do such sealed porthole boats get as hot as it looks they might?

Are little fans in the vents effective? 

Is there any reason not to have fitted opening portholes? 

Is porthole replacement an infeasible expensive option?

Ive withdrawn my offer because on top of all the other work it looked like this wasn’t the right boat - but it would be useful to have opinions from folk who’ve been there as we keep on looking. 

Talk to the builder about pigeon boxes. We had a boat with two and they act a bit like wind towers in the Middle East and the one in the bathroom was a perfect place to hang washing, as well as allowing steam from the shower to escape.

[Tigerr]

Thanks all. Yes - brass sealed portholes, no drop back/slidout option.

Looks the real business but to my mind a design flaw.

If the sellers fitted fans in all the ceiling vents to try and get air moving, I reckon the warning bells are ringing. 

If that had been the only issue, I'd have bitten the pigeon holes bullet but I am happy enough to swerve this one.  

I can see we might have regretted it next heatwave. 

[robtheplod]

Being sealed sounds like it might be hot?  We have 10 portholes and the glass opens about an inch in each... when its hot we just take all the glass out - the danger here is the boat can look like a recycle bin and people put in their bottles etc.... !!

[cuthound]

The portholes on my boat have removable glass, which can be replaced with plastic mesh screens (when I remember to put them on board for a summer trip).

 

With these in the bedroom portholes you get a coming breeze across the boat.

 

I wouldn't entertain fixed glass portholes, sounds like a recipe for a boiling hot boat in 30°C temperatures.

[ditchcrawler]

4 hours ago, Rob-M said:

We have no opening portholes in our bedroom but there is a pigeon box which we leave open and we keep the blinds down all the time.  It wasn't too bad in the recent heatwave, a bit cooler in the bedroom compared to the rest of the boat which has large windows.

We just left the slide open all night

[Stroudwater1]

We have all portholes, didnt seem to be a problem in the heat, perhaps as theres less glass to let the sun in. Two of the eight open slightly, rest are sealed. We leave the sidehatches on the canal side open if its hot at night, hope no midnight cruisers jump in through them.

 

Its built before sprayseal but the Rockwool still keeps the interior cool despite red roof that gets hot. However we do tend to cruise and aren't liveaboards , so tend to have  all doors and sidehatches open for much of the day  which probably helps a lot.

 

Have hired a few boats with full glass no sidehatches and sprayseal which did seem to get much hotter 

 

 

[Bargebuilder]

10 hours ago, robtheplod said:

Being sealed sounds like it might be hot?  We have 10 portholes and the glass opens about an inch in each... when its hot we just take all the glass out - the danger here is the boat can look like a recycle bin and people put in their bottles etc.... !!

Agreed.

Even with 50mm of spray foam insulation, in a hot summer, our barge was warm and too stuffy at night for a sound night's sleep without opening all of the 4 portholes in the bedroom.

 

If no windows open, then having extractor fans on every ceiling vent may not be very effective.

[blackrose]

20 hours ago, Tonka said:

Have you not seen brass portholes

 

Yes, I've seen brass portholes which open and ones which don't. What's your point?

Edited July 28, 2022 by blackrose

[Tonka]

2 hours ago, blackrose said:

 

Yes, I've seen brass portholes which open and ones which don't. What's your point?

You said in your post that they were an odd choice.