In the Force 50, the pilot house had 3/8" safety glass as large as most ocean going trawlers and we did not have storm plates. We had waves break on the boat and rolled to 90 degrees with no damage. We did have 1/2" plywood cut and predrilled to go over all windows and kept under bunks. There were 2x4" strong backs with bolts installed. to back the plywood from inside. On the Cal 46 we removed the 1/4" plexiglass and installed 3/8 lexan with at least 1 1/2 inch overlap over the fiberglass, fastened with a few bolts and a high strength structural adhesive--no problems. We found that many passagemakers started out with storm shutters, but took them off after crossing an ocean or two. Hard to keep clean between the glass and plastic, and poorer visability. Also we found that ports in the hull were just as likely (or perhaps more so) to break as windows. Bob Austin

Now you guys have me thinking.... Do I need storm plates on my boat? Here is a photo http://www.hatteraslrc.com/ 1st picture at the top of the page. I have a Portuguese bridge that is supposed to protect the forward windows, now I wonder.... Side windows are big too. Opinions please? Mike Mike Cowan MV Sue's Pool III 65 Hatteras LRC hull #2 Off-List email: mikec@wirelessconnections.net

Mike, When I was considering a Hatteras 48LRC, I called the factory and they sent me one-off color reprints of brochures, price lists, drawings, etc. They included an article about Carleton Mitchell's 48LRC. Hatteras might know if Carleton ever had installed storm plates. His boat was returned from Columbia recently and was taken to the Florida West Coast. Her cosmetic condition was very bad, but she returned on her own bottom. Hatteras might have an opinion on this. For my Willard, I have to first consider replacing 20 year old plastic-framed windows with aluminum framed commercial grade windows. Ron Rogers ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Cowan" <trawler-world@wirelessconnections.net> | | Now you guys have me thinking.... Do I need storm plates on my boat? Here | is a photo http://www.hatteraslrc.com/ 1st picture at the top of the | page. I have a Portuguese bridge that is supposed to protect the forward | windows, now I wonder.... Side windows are big too. Opinions please? | 65 Hatteras LRC hull #2

Bob Austin At 04:00 PM 1/21/05 -0600, you wrote: >In the Force 50, the pilot house had 3/8" safety glass as large as most >ocean going trawlers and we did not have storm plates. We had waves break >on the boat and rolled to 90 degrees with no damage. We did have 1/2" >plywood cut and predrilled to go over all windows and Bob, Your post last year on this is one of the few under this topic on the internet and worth reading. http://www.irbs.com/lists/trawlerworld/0308/0566.html Capt. Mike Maurice Tualatin(Portland), Oregon

At 04:00 PM 1/21/05 -0600, you wrote: >In the Force 50, the pilot house had 3/8" safety glass as large as most >ocean going trawlers and we did not have storm plates. We had waves break >on the boat and rolled to 90 degrees with no damage. We did have 1/2" >plywood cut and predrilled to go over all windows and kept under >bunks. There were 2x4" strong backs with bolts installed. to back the >plywood from inside. > I am trying to recall the incidents of broken windows or portlights or near misses. Seems to me that Bob Griffith reported a broken portlight coming down the Oregon coast in winter, about 1972? or so. It is mentioned in his book "Blue Water Cruising". But I don't have my copy handy. I believe the port was below the deck level, near amidships open water side. I think it broke from a wave impact not from falling off. About 1967 a 32' Chris Craft Lapstrake charter boat broke out the starboard window of three in the pilothouse while crossing the Columbia River Bar. The windows were NOT safety glass, tempered I think and it broke into shards. The 1/4" glass was set in a frame that was about 1/2 inch larger than the inner opening. The frame was mildly damaged. The entire 3 windows were replaced, but it is hard to recall what was done. I think they were made smaller with a plywood frame and the exposed glass was made about 2/3 as large. I believe the breaker that did the damage was about 20 feet high. I took a breaker about 9' high in the dark in the Santa Barbara Channel about 1993 in January in a Grand Banks 42', hull #169. It hit up in the bow without any warning and and gave the boat a solid crack. I am convinced that had we been another 20 feet further forward we would have lost one of the starboard side salon windows. This was one of those Santa Ana wind storms with a speed of about 45 knots. The strike was of such violence that I think it would have done some real damage even if the entire side of the boat had been solid wood. As it was it broke the hand rail where it dives down to the deck. The only close call I ever had was with a 26' Chris Commander Sportfisher where we took 21 waves clear over the top of the boat and had standing green water over the tops of the windows. The windows were 1/4 inch safety glass and the framing was about 1/2" or maybe a little less. I only mention this incident because none of these waves ever was allowed to strike from overhead down into the windows. If even one of them had the windows would have broken, of that I am sure. They were breakers about 10-12 feet high and about 50 feet apart. It is hard to know what to deduce, but what I think is this. If the wave does not break directly onto or come down from a height and hit the window or port directly, in other words just submerges it then most typical windows will survive at least one or a couple of such events. On the other hand, if the wave can drop from a height and hit a window directly, then it had better be jolly well rugged, the first time. If a boat falls off a wave onto a window, then all the bets are off. This does not tell you much about Storm Plates, but at least part of the debate is in regards to whether they are necessary or even useful. At the very least I would be inclined to follow Bob Austin's ideas and have repair material ready. I am suspicious that one could carry a full set of storm plates and never use them, and then again, you could just get into a storm, where you would be well served to have them and it would happen only once in a lifetime. That's a hard call. Mike Capt. Mike Maurice Tualatin(Portland), Oregon