Making your boat homy!

Karyon

Karyon

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Jun 8, 2004
171
Hunter 23.5 Red deer, Alberta
Been working on the boat quite a bit this spring, now the admiral wants to put up some curtains in to cover the windows, so she will have to break out the sewing machine and start sewing some curtains.

I was thinking of that stretchy curtain rod, but how do I attach that to the side walls? could I pilot drill a small hole in the fiberglass and screw in a little eye hook?

What do you guys have for curtains in your boat?
This would make our little H23.5 nice and homy I would think.
 
justsomeguy

justsomeguy

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Feb 20, 2011
7,999
Island Packet 35 Tucson, AZ/San Carlos, MX
FWIW, my curtain rods are attached with small through-bolts.
 
rgranger

rgranger

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Jan 19, 2010
12,409
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
I have this book

http://www.amazon.com/Why-Didnt-Think-That-Countries/dp/0070532214

It has a lot of little ideas to make a boat more homey..... one idea for curtains is to glue a ceramic drawer knob onto the cabin sides on either side of the port. Then hang your curtains using shock cord looped around the knob. I tried this on a Coronado 25 that I used to own and it worked very well. I found some nobs at Lowes that were marine themed ... I was lazy and just went ahead and glued the seam on the curtains as well. The entire project took less than 15 min. (I used super glue).

1002091309a.jpg
 
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Kermit

Kermit

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Jul 31, 2010
5,657
AquaCat 12.5 17342 Wateree Lake, SC
Wow! A topic I have experience with! We struggled with the same question on our H260. In the end we bought the simple inexpensive expandable rods with the bent ends. I drilled small holes in the liner for the bracket screws. After stressing an insane amount it worked just fine. I wish I had pictures for you. Good luck!
 
kimelmore

kimelmore

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Dec 28, 2010
462
Catalina 380 san pedro
I used drawer knobs that I drilled a hole in. Screwed them in place. The admiral sewed up some curtains and I used two shock cords top and bottom to hold them in place. They are able to be pulled open to allow light in and closed for privacy.
 
centerline

centerline

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Mar 20, 2012
3,983
Cal 34-III, MacGregor 25 Salem, Oregon
We use shock cord... also known as bungie cord... attached with an eyelet I made out of some small diameter stainless rod... it is held in place with one countersunk machine screw thru the side of the cabin..
The curtains are hemmed top and bottom so they are held up, and held down, so they dont swing as the boat rocks.

If you had a bare fiberglass you could epoxy the anchors on the wall, but we have a vinyl liner so i drilled thru....
 
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B

Benny17441

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May 24, 2004
7,131
CC 30 South Florida
Go to an RV place, they have tracks, hooks, and all kind of miniature accessories for window treatments.
 
C

Crazy Dave Condon

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Jun 8, 2004
10,072
-na -NA Anywhere USA
walmart even sells inexpensive accordion shades as well in various lengths which can be shortened as well to consider.
 
Siamese

Siamese

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Aug 2, 2009
645
Catalina 315 Muskegon
I'd go with plastic curtain track (where you sew the little tabs onto the upper edge of the curtains). That leaves the bottoms of the curtains hanging away from the cabin sides, though. A few one inch square velcro tabs spaced along the bottom of the curtains would allow you to stick the bottoms to the cabin sides for more privacy when you want it.

We have the accordion type window treatments on our Catalina 28 (original to the boat). They do a nice job when we want them closed, and they look okay, although a little plain. Biggest negative with them is that rolling them up is a little tedious, as you have to sort of pinch and gather the pleats together and wrap secure them at the top with velcro straps.
 
kito

kito

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Sep 13, 2012
2,011
1979 Hunter Cherubini 30 Clemmons
Siamese said:
I'd go with plastic curtain track (where you sew the little tabs onto the upper edge of the curtains). That leaves the bottoms of the curtains hanging away from the cabin sides, though. A few one inch square velcro tabs spaced along the bottom of the curtains would allow you to stick the bottoms to the cabin sides for more privacy when you want it.

We have the accordion type window treatments on our Catalina 28 (original to the boat). They do a nice job when we want them closed, and they look okay, although a little plain. Biggest negative with them is that rolling them up is a little tedious, as you have to sort of pinch and gather the pleats together and wrap secure them at the top with velcro straps.
Click to expand
Same here. I bought the plastic channel and cut to length and mounted with some screws into the headliner. I then just sewn the plastic tab strip to the top of the square curtain I made. Easy as pie. I bought the channel and tab strips at Sail-rite. Like you said, the bottom hangs away but it works well if you have the port open anyway.
 
GL-WindPower

GL-WindPower

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Jul 24, 2012
45
Hunter 240 Muskegon
I've never seen a nice DYI curtain job. What I did on my Hunter H240 was used some foam gym floor mats cut to fit inside the window frame. They don't fall off, they provide more privacy, acts as insulation to stop the build of moisture on the windows during the night, don't get in the way and as a bonus they block the street lights while docked at the marina for the night.

There is a commercial solution as well that may work for you. They are called CloZures and you can find those at http://www.zarcor.com/products/clozures/index.php#gal-image-0

My boat is more of a mans cave than a ladies lounge, but hey do what you got to do. I guess you could sew a slip cover to fit over these to dress em up a bit.

Foam Shade 1.JPG
Foam Shade 2.JPG
.
 
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Justin_NSA

Justin_NSA

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Jul 7, 2004
8,405
Hunter 30T Cheney, KS
We use fitted foil insulation sheet in the windows that the PO made. It gives privacy and heat control but they wear out and fall. I'm looking into opaque static window film that can come on and off. They have some decorative patterns out there. Some films say not to use on plastic or Plexiglas. Probably gets too hot. Maybe it is the metallic ones.
 
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