sun block

The beauty of the design of our catamran is the wrap around windows in the salon. We have fabulous natural lighting and fantastic visitbility. But in the heat of summer these windows, like all windows, are one big heat radiator. You can literally feel the waves of hot coming off of them while our air conditioning struggles to keep up. Many modern cats have textilene shades built to snap on the outside. They allow visibility while blocking out much of the UV. We may yet do that one day, but it's a fairly decent cost for all of the windows, so it's not high on "the list".

This year I seem to be especially sensitive to it, probably because I have my own personal radiator strapped to my belly. So in a spontaneous fit to block some sun, I did this.

Yes, those are my son's beloved playsilks playing the role of psychadellic curtain. I just took some suction cups and stuck them along the top, while tucking in the bottoms behind the toys.

They seem to be doing the trick. The silks let in enough light so we're not living in a cave, but block out the direct heat. In the past we've taken quilting sqaures from the bargain bin at the fabric store and laid them in the hatches between the screen and the hatch. Those REALLY do the trick, but they also let in almost no light at all, which in the bedroom and other places is actually ok.  But here in our main living/ playing/ eating/ everything space we need to have some light.

At night I just unhook them from the suction cups and tuck them in behind the toys. It'll be interesting to see if they color fade after a few weeks. If they do, it'll be a good excuse to make some more.  ;)
Any other ideas out there for beating the heat?