How to Make Portlight Window Covers

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Small portlight windows are great for letting a little extra light and air into your boat's cabin. However, they can be a little difficult to cover when you want some extra privacy. In today's quick how-to video tutorial, we're going to show you how to make easy-to-sew elastic covers for your portlights. Join us in today's DIY project and learn how to make covers for your boat's portlights.

Video Chapters:

Measuring & Patterning – 0:23 min.
Sewing Sleeve With Shock Cord – 2:27 min.
Material List – 4:58 min.

Materials List:

Shade Fabric – we used Sunbrella^® Shadow Sand 54" Fabric, #51000-0001
Shock Bungee Cord White With Black Marker – #29303
Tex 45 (V-46) White UV Bonded Polyester Thread – #20202

Tools List:

Tape Measure 120" – #102986
Sailrite^® Edge Hotknife Package – #103800
Sailrite^® Ultrafeed^® LS Walking Foot Sewing Machine – #311502
Pencil, L-Square, Scissors

How to Make a Portlight Window Covers Video 2

The benefit of using these elastic portlight covers is that they effectively provide privacy when they are in place. They are also super easy to remove when you need a little more light or want to open the window. For our covers, we used a shade fabric that has an open weave that allows a small amount of light to still come through. If you want a darker shade, try using a heavier fabric like an upholstery fabric.

In this video, you’ll learn how to measure the portlights for the cover, pattern the fabric and sew up the covers. These covers include a sleeve with shock cord so the covers can easily be put on and removed with the elastic insert.

The best part of this project is how simple these portlight covers are to make. You can sew covers for all your portlights in no time at all!

Do you cover the portlights on your boat? Leave us a comment and share how you did it!