Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Tinting Tug Windows (Vol. 59)

By Andy Mutch, Loon #57
(As excerpted from a 7 March 2013 Forum posting)

We had window tinting ('Mylar' type foil sheet) professionally installed on the inside of the windows on Loon several years ago and we are still very pleased with the results. We picked a fairly 'dark' tint in the salon and, after a lot of discussions, we picked a much 'lighter' tint in the pilothouse. Both worked out as we had hoped. In the daytime, the heat buildup is noticeably less in the salon and we get some privacy help but that is not why we did it. At night, there is no privacy advantage but, again, that is not why we did it. We feel that the fabric colors have held up very well since we put in the tinting and we are cooler during the day. There is, also, much less glare from the sun and water. In the pilothouse, the lighter tint seems to be a fair compromise between heat buildup, color retention in the berth fabric, and visibility (which was my main concern on the bridge). There are some reflection issues underway at night and I find myself checking out the open doors from time to time, but I have never felt that we might miss something important on the water (like a supertanker coming at us) or even a hard-to-find navigation aid. The trick, we feel, was having the film put on by a professional. Ours did a really great job for us. We would do it again. Happy boating.

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