18-R

Amel Mango 53'

Kirsty Watson & Conn Williamson have an Amel 53' 1982 Mango, named Jasmyn, which currently resides in Moreton Bay, Brisbane, Australia. They are working 600km from where they keep the boat on an inland cotton farm until they have enough 'cruising dollars' to sail away to the Pacific. [18R]

"The PortVisors are fantastic ... we put them on at Christmas and went out on the Bay for 4 days and had continuous rain. We were able to keep the portholes open and had great ventilation. We are so happy with them and have mentioned them to all our sailing friends here in Australia. Thank you so much for the personal message in the package ... it really makes a difference to get wonderful service when purchasing goods. Keep up the good work."

Monk '41

Lon and Susie Woodrum's 41 Monk Gulf Commander. [18R]

Monk '41

Lon and Susie Woodrum boat in Sausalito, California aboard their 41' Monk Gulf Commander. They installed one visor portside for the forepeak stateroom and the other starboard for the head. It gives nice cross ventilation. [18R]

We had our first rain last night and the ports could be open and not a drop came in. Thank you so much.

Amel Mango 53'

Kirsty Watson & Conn Williamson's Amel 53' 1982 Mango. [18R]

Manta

Rich Wellman won a pair of PortVisors for his Manta at the 2010 SSCA Annual Gam. [18R]

Roberts 34

Klaus Gruber's Roberts 34 is a cold molded hull built in Edmonton, Canada. Klaus writes, "We have been sailing her on the west coast for 16 years including trips to Alaska and around Vancouver island, as well as many trips to Desolation Sound and the Broughton Archipelago. We travel from Edmonton AB to our boat in Sidney BC every year and usually spent 2 to 4 months on board 'Solitude' cruising the above areas." [18R]

Finally pics of the window rain shields. It took a while to get these to you but better late than never. They look great and are getting compliments. The fit is perfect and installation was a breeze.

Roberts 34

Roberts 34. [18R]

Roberts 34

Roberts 34. [18R]

Blue Wave

Blue Wave in Malaysia. [18R]

Arends 33

Privateer is sailed by Steve and Vickie on Moreton Bay, Queensland, with hopes to explore the Pacific islands to their east. Privateer is an Arends 33, built by John Arends who incorporated many unique and functional ideas into Ron Swanson's design. The result is a solid, seaworthy and functional yacht with a great reputation — now improved with an opening port protected from almost any rain. [18R]

Steve writes, "I received and installed my 18R PortVisor last week, and am very pleased with it. It has already passed the test of being rain proof in various moderate to heavy wind and rain conditions, and still allows good airflow through the head. It suits the boat, and has proved not to be an obstruction to the side deck. If I decide to install any more opening ports, they will be matched with a PortVisor! Your personal service and attention is appreciated."

Arends 33

Arends 33 with PortVisor on head porthole. [18R]

Manta

Great Catsby is Rich Wellman's Manta. She sails from Satellite Beach, Florida. [18R]

S-2 11 meter

Dennis VanBeest's 1981 11 Meter S-2. [18R] "The hatch cover is a sunbrella fabric and you can see the teepee shape. Wind doesn't bother and keeps most all rain out and the sun too. V-berth is always cool. I use the spinnaker halyard to hold up the center. I'm having one made for the main salon hatch too."

S-2 11 meter

Dennis VanBeest's 1981 11 Meter S-2. [18R]

S-2 11 meter

Dennis VanBeest's 1981 11 Meter S-2. [18R]

Humber 35

Margaret and Peter Prudhoe have had to deal with an extremely soggy season aboard their Humber 35 in York, UK. As they report, "The attached pix show Phoenix on the mooring with galley and heads ports OPEN. This has been pretty well impossible this season as we have had almost continuous rain! We had hoped to 'showcase' our visors at the City of York Festival of Rivers, part of the city's 800 year celebrations. Unfortunately the event had to be postponed. Although the weather on the day was good, the previous rainfall meant the River Ouse was in flood. In fact the water was over the top of the lock. We had to wade through knee high water just to get to dry land in the marina!" [18R]

Thank you for the extremely efficient service. We are really looking forward to fitting the visors. There's been a lot of rain and we are looking forward to being able to cook and breathe at the same time! ... We are delighted with our rain visors. Work like a dream and so easy to fit. Thank you again for your excellent service and terrific product. [We're] looking forward to having some days when the rain visors are redundant!

Humber 35

Margaret and Peter Prudhoe's Humber 35. [18R]

Blue Wave

Laurent Bastin sails in the Pacific. Blue Wave now has 10 Visors to stay breezy and cool. [18R]

Gulfstar 50

Bill wrote, “I have been slow getting around to sending photos but that is no indication of our satisfaction with your product. After a dozen years of circumnavigating, these PortVisors are one of the best things we have bought for our cruising comfort. Today we are in Siracusa, on the SE coast of Sicily, and the weather is terrible. We sleep comfortably however with plenty of fresh air because your product keeps the pelting rain out of our open ports. Wonderful!” [18R]

Marvin Benoit

Marvin Benoit has been living aboard Choices (Beneteau 390 Oceanis) since 2001 when he bought her in Tortola. He’s been sailing for over 30 years, mostly off the California coast before sailing to the Caribbean. Marvin lives there now, primarily in the British, US and Spanish Virgin Islands, although he goes south to Grenada during the storm seasons. He is an artist (see previous picture) and mostly sails singlehanded, unless friends are visiting. Marvin plans to eventually go up the east Coast, then perhaps across the Atlantic to the Med. [18-R]

Marvin writes, "I think these PortVisors are awesome! They look great and will make a huge difference in liveaboard comfort here in the Caribbean where we get rain squalls 2-3 times a day. I know these new portlight shades will get some attention from other cruisers. We sailors may not know what the current fashions are but we notice new equipment for boats and love sharing our finds with other sailors. Again thanks for a great product."

Gulfstar 50

Bill Fleetwood's Gulfstar 50, Blue Banana, is based in Monterey, CA, and regularly roams the seas. These photos come from the Mediterranean. Blue Banana and the Fleetwoods are featured twice in the June 2010 issue of Latitude 38. Check them out on pages 86, 87, and 94. [18R]

Fortuna Island Spirit

Kookaburra is a Fortuna, Island Spirit 37' sailing catamaran. Keith and Jamie Pomeroy write, "We purchased her in Cleveland OH (catamaran capital of Lake Erie) September of '08 and have been moving East and South since. She is just trying to find warmer weather and is heading to the Keys for the winter. From there is anyone's guess." [18R]

Stanley Boats

Doug 'Jack' Gemmill writes, "We haven't yet installed the PortVisors. This is Invictus, our Stanley 361 power cruiser. It is welded aluminum, made in 2006, and designed by myself. We sold another one last spring, so we are open to anyone interested. She can be powered with gas or diesel out/inboards. They can be made any length from 30' to 45'. Find out more at Stanley Boats or call 519-371-8787 in Ontario." [18-R]

S-2 11 meter

Nordic Light is Dennis VanBeest's 1981 11 Meter S-2. He writes, "It is my summer home and a great liveaboard. I have hope that your product will allow me the comfort of leaving my portlights open while I'm on errands or out sailing with another yacht club member." Bay City, Michigan is home port." [18R]

"The 18R is slightly larger than the opening horizontally but seem to cover the light well. I'm afraid one light was difficult and got cranky and didn't stick well and would ask to send me a new length of tape for one visor. The other three went on without a problem. I'll let you know how they endure the Michigan rain...Thanks for your prompt service and quality product."

Fortuna Island Spirit

Dinghy view of PortVisor™ installation on Fortuna Island Spirit. [18R]

Fortuna Island Spirit

Keith Pomeroy writes, "Thanks for your note, yes the port shades were EASY and quick. We had a wonderful storm pass through two days ago to test them and we are really pleased. No water in and good air." [18R]

On the road in Australia

After amost four decades of involvement with boats, Ken & Trish Proud still prefer using boat products to keep the rain out of the windows of their motor home. Ken jokes that this is the world's fastest PortVisor™. [18-R]

Galley porthole protection

Linda Rees insisted on a way she could keep the galley porthole open during the frequent Florida summer rains. She's very pleased with the results. [18R]

Barens Seatrader

The PortVisor™ on the galley porthole of Fezela makes cooking much more comfortable, especially during the year of being on the hard during the massive refit. [18R]